What exactly are the Oregon Arsonists guilty of?

[PufPuf23]

15. The federal government has been entering "stewardship contracts" to restore

wildlands surrounding Burns, OR (by forest thinning and prescribed fire) and providing jobs to local businesses since the mid-1990s.

I have been personally out of the loop for over 20 years (my work there was 1991-1993) but less than a 90 second internet search indicates the program continues on local lands managed by the US Forest Service and various Department of Interior agencies (Park Service, Fish and WL Service, Bureau of Land Management).

The program began in response to the decline in the timber industry to introduce more ecological management (fire and thinning mostly) mandated to be performed by local labor and businesses where immediate $ return to Treasury was secondary.

I don't know the current size of the program but would wager that it could still be expanded substantially.. The odd thing about programs like this as folks on both the "wise use" and "environmentalist" sides often do not make the decision to support or work in good faith with the federal managers. Back in 1991 the two sawmills had closed in Burns and there was a recent very large forest fire nearby. I worked for a management consulting firm in Portland that was hired by a group from the Burns business community to work with the US Forest Service for strategies to replace the jobs losses, give locals more stake in the nearby forests, and improve wildland management. We had recently worked in northeastern California on a similar regional program. Now such programs are quite common and standard (and could still stand a major expansion in most cases).

The rw militias are of the "wise use" type and are whiny babies. The stewardship program around Burns is heavy to introducing fire at pre-historic levels to improve wildlife habitat and reduce susceptibility to wildfire. They could support the Feds who are trying to funnel monies into the community and involve locals directly in land management. But then we know these asshats are not acting in good faith, want something given to them, and will resist the Feds by definition.

Public announcement (2012) of two recent BLM stewardship contracts out of Burns:

http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/burns/files/BU-StewardshipAwarding2012.pdf

Presentation on the stewardship contract program on the Malheur National Forest at a 2014 conference:

http://www.sustainablenorthwest.org/uploads/general/Steve_Beverlin_PPT.pdf