Researchers: Thin Out Trees to Avoid Fire Dangers

A piece in The Economist cites an OpEd by two members of the College of the Environment’s think tank that advocates thinning forests on federal lands to increase water supply and reduce wild fire hazards. In their original Los Angeles Times piece, Helen Poulos, postdoctoral teaching fellow, Mellon Environmental Studies Program, and James Workman, visiting professor of environmental studies, argued that the practice of simply letting nature take its course in federal forests has led to disastrous trends of massive wild fires and sapping of precious water resources.