Recently The Post Courier published a story about a man who poured gasoline on a dog and set it on fire. For this crime of cruelty to animals, he was sentenced. Civilized persons consider such an act sadistic and barbaric, and it's contrary to our laws.

Then The Post and Courier published a May 20 article about the U.S. Forest Service conducting a 1,600-acre prescribed burn that same month, the prime season for nesting birds and the birth of animals.

By its own account, the Forest Service intentionally fire-bombed 1,600 acres. It used a helicopter to maximize the heat and to burn the area in one afternoon, creating an absolute inferno.

We who work in the woods all year find during this time of year newly born white-tail deer fawns. These fawns instinctively remain in place as you approach and can easily be touched, petted and picked up. Then they crouch down to await the return of their mothers. In the conflagration, these fawns are burned to death as they are unable to comprehend the danger. Where could they go when the helicopter fire-bombs 1,600 acres at once?

I find it ironic that if the Forest Service had a wildfire of any size, it would be scrambling to extinguish the blaze and minimize the acres burned. A news story about this wildfire would certainly bemoan the loss of wild animals and destruction of habitat.

Yet, in the same time frame, the Forest Service deliberately sets off an even more destructive fire by using a helicopter to incinerate 1,600 acres in one afternoon.

My business partner Willie Mims and I perform prescribed burning for a private landowner. We have over 50 years of combined experience.

Our burning, while expensive, is necessary for the production of timber and for the improvement of wildlife habitat. This year, we burned 7,000 acres, all by hand, using old-fashioned drip torches. By the smoke management guidelines established by the S.C. Forestry Commission, our average daily burn is 200 acres. We accomplished 7,000 acres by burning from January through April 1. We finished before the birds nested, before the fawns were born and while reptiles were in hibernation.

The Forest Service, using a helicopter for mass ignition, can, on any good burning day ignite at least 1,000 acres.

By burning on the days we burn, it can easily burn 35,000 acres a year and be finished by early spring, as we are.

But the Forest Service insists on a "growing season burn" ostensibly to control brush and native plants that it considers a nuisance. In this same "brush," we find nesting songbirds, nesting wild turkeys and nesting bobwhite quail and new-born fawns.

Willie Mims retired from the Forest Service after 30 years, during which time he was in charge of prescribed burning and wildfire suppression for the entire Francis Marion National Forest. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Forest Service, under Willie's direction, burned as much as 50,000 acres a year, all by hand with the drip torch method. With the helicopter, the Forest Service can easily accomplish burning 35,000 acres and, by following our example, complete their burning by April 1. If not, they can postpone burning until September or October when there is heat, the winds have settled and the woodland creatures are mature enough to escape an inferno.

A local ornithologist tells me you can expect to find in those wild woods an average of one songbird nest per two acres. For 1,600 acres this is a loss of 800 nests. The adult birds can escape and hopefully nest elsewhere. But all hatchlings in these nests, unable to fly, are burned to death.

The Forest Service speaks long and loud about using fire to control vegetation. So do we. But realize that these plants have no nervous system and cannot feel pain. The helpless creatures burned to death certainly feel pain.

Would those Forest Service employees responsible for these helicopter fires go out to stand in the middle of a 1,600-acre prescribed burn and let the helicopter rain fire on them? Of course not. They, like the other creatures, would be burned to death.

There been have recent actions taken by Charleston and Mount Pleasant to restrict development inside the boundaries of the Francis Marion. The plans cite critical wildlife habitat that needs to be protected. Yet the Forest Service is deliberately devastating this same habitat with devastating fires.

The public can observe firsthand the effects of this burning. From Mount Pleasant, drive up U.S. Highway 17 to Awendaw, turn left on Steed Creek Road and continue north toward Huger. You'll know it when you see it. Drive the Forest Service rock roads to get a complete view of the devastation to birds and animals.

Prescribed burning is necessary in timber/wildlife management. But it is imperative that these burns be conducted at the proper time. Are there not laws in our state to protect helpless animals from widespread, intentional carnage? I hope so.

W. RUSSELL TYLER
Tyler Land Management, Inc.
121 Old Plantation Lane
Moncks Corner