Kate Field’s Scathing Warning on Forest Fires
Prominent journalist Kate Field demands action against the 'carelessness or wickedness' of campers whose fires destroy the region's natural beauty.
Have you ever had the good luck to visit Puget Sound, the loveliest inland sea in the world? If these fires are accidental, of course there is no help for them; if, as I believe, they are due to the carelessness or wickedness of campers, they are criminal. Besides the destruction of trees, which centuries cannot replace and the value of which is enormous, the states of Oregon and Washington are ruined for tourists the very months dedicated to excursions—July and August. Nobody wants to visit the Columbia river when everything literally ends in smoke. Not only is nature invisible, but the smoke stifles the lungs and makes life a burden. For all these good and sufficient reasons, my friends of the North Pacific should look to the forests and stop the fires.
“Nobody wants to visit the Columbia river when everything literally ends in smoke.”
Kate Field’s 1892 frustration with 'smoke-filled' summers on the Columbia River echoes the modern reality of the PNW wildfire season. Her appeal to protect the region's natural capital is a sentiment that has remained constant in Washington state identity for over a century.
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