Scorched Earth

Hidden in this account of Yellowstone’s fires (all of them, not just the terribly destructive “burn” of 1988) is a pretty fair outline-history of our national park itself, from the time of Gen. Phil Sheridan in 1870. In addition, we have the story of our belatedly changing attitude toward forest fires; from a demand by conservationists for their total suppression to a more reasonable and practical solution—learning to live with some of Nature’s fires, rather than stopping them entir