This special six-month project titled "Catastrophe: A Forest in Flames" combined efforts from the White Mountain Independent and its sister publication, the Payson Roundup, to detail the fire that changed the landscape of forest management in Arizona - particularly in the White Mountains. It discuses how a century of bad decisions left the entire West primed for large-scale wildland fire.

​

I and Payson Roundup editor Pete Aleshire collaborated for this six-month-long series that has Pulitzer Prize consideration.

​

In truth, the chain of mistakes started with the horrific 1910 Big Burn — which scorched 3 million acres in three states and killed 87 people. This disaster set the stage for the Forest Service’s fire management strategy.

​

The longtime strategy of “put it out by 10 a.m. the following day” removed fire from its natural role in the forest, but the mission put the Forest Service at odds with the natural world.

​

Over time, the forests became overgrown and incredibly prone to deadly crown fires — largely because of the fire suppression strategy, over-logging and grazing, then the lack of logging and sustainable grazing.

​

The series discusses the firefighting crisis, building codes and “Firewise” initiatives and how the Forest Service’s fire management approach has evolved over the years.

​

It outlines the timber industry — its successes, like Forest Energy, the wood pellet plant in Show Low — and the challenges with thinning projects and the Four Forest Restoration Initiative.

​

It details the success of the Payson Ranger District’s thinning efforts and how the White Mountain Stewardship saved Alpine from the Wallow Fire.

​

It also discusses the area’s largest wildfires, starting with the deadly 1990 Dude fire, and what lessons were learned from them.

​

The series concludes with a solutions overview.