Eastern Washington University EWU Digital Commons Smokejumper and Static Line Magazines University Archives & Special Collections January 2018 Smokejumper Magazine, January 2018 National Smokejumper Association Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.ewu.edu/smokejumper_mag Part of the Forest Management Commons Recommended Citation National Smokejumper Association, "Smokejumper Magazine, January 2018" (2018). Smokejumper and Static Line Magazines. 106. https://dc.ewu.edu/smokejumper_mag/106 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the University Archives & Special Collections at EWU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Smokejumper and Static Line Magazines by an authorized administrator of EWU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The National Smokejumper Quarterly Magazine Association January 2018 Smokejumper The Wilderness Religion ........................................................ 3 Pearson and the Parachute Scheme ..................................... 9 Oldest Surviving Smokejumper Dies.................................. 39 CONTENTS Message from Message from the President ....................................2 The Wilderness Religion .........................................3 The 1959 Lava Fire – It Started on the the President Shasta-Trinity and Ended Up on the Modoc ......5 T.V. Pearson and the Parachute Scheme ..................9 Snapshots from the Past........................................14 comes as a surprise. Four Years ............................................................16 During September I shared First Canadian Smokejumpers Smokejumpers Were a Small about an NSA Trail Project in But Brave Crew ..............................................18 northern Minnesota, an area The Jumper Connection and How It Has Affected My Life..............................................19 immediately adjacent to the A Louder Thump But No Real Injury .....................21 Boundary Waters Canoe Area The Hat Makes the Man ........................................22 Wilderness. This was our 10th John Maclean on the Yarnell Hill Fire ...................26 Rebuttal – Hotshots History of Bad Decisions .......27 year working in this area. A Recording Smokejumper History ..........................29 total of 19 former jumpers, Sounding Off from the editor ................................31 Update from National Smokejumper spouses, and associates took Program Manager Roger Staats ......................32 part in the project that worked Gathering at the Gobi June 2018 ...........................32 Remembering John “Mike” MacKinnon ................33 by Jim Cherry for the Gunfl int Ranger Dis- Book Review.........................................................34 (Missoula ’57) trict and Wilderness Canoe Off the List ............................................................35 Listening To Tanner: Finding Help for a President Base, a camp that has a major Functional Gastrointestinal Disorder ..............38 Again, in this issue I must focus on serving at-risk and An Interview With Stewart S. “Lloyd” Johnson .......39 report the loss of a friend and disadvantaged youth. I’m Odds and Ends .....................................................45 Gathering at the Gobi June 2018 ...........................47 colleague when Chris Soren- looking forward to being able Blast from the Past................................................48 son (Assoc.), age 57, lost his to read about all of the 21 life in a one-vehicle accident projects that took place this September 10 on I-90 near past summer in eight states Cardwell, MT. The accident from the Atlantic to the Pacifi c occurred when a tire blew out and from Montana to New and the vehicle rolled. Chris Mexico. That trails report will was an associate member of come out in electronic form the NSA and wrote the col- sometime in January 2018. umn The View From Outside I live in Iowa. Not the sort The Fence for Smokejumper of area that one thinks of as SMOKEJUMPER, Issue No. 99, January 2018 magazine. His passion for the being impacted by wildfi res. ISSN 1532-6160 Smokejumper is published quarterly by: NSA made him a highly valued And yet, this past summer The National Smokejumper Association contributor to the magazine there were several times in c/o 10 Judy Lane and through his wide range Iowa when we had red sunsets Chico, CA 95926 The opinions of the writers are their own and do of contacts he could keep us and yellow-tinted days due to not necessarily refl ect those of the NSA. Permis- up-to-date on developments the smoke that was blowing in sion to reproduce Smokejumper in any manner must fi rst be obtained in writing. in the firefighting world. He from fi res in Canada and the NSA Website: http://www.smokejumpers.com also served as administrator western states. We even had Managing Editor: Chuck Sheley for the NSA Facebook page. some pollution alerts due to Associate Editor: Ed Booth We are reminded once again particulates in the air. I can Editing: K. G. Sheley of the very fragile thread that only imagine what it was like Photo Editor: Johnny Kirkley holds us to life. Life holds no for those of you who had those Illustrators: Dan Veenendaal, and Eric Rajala guarantees. We live each day fi res near where you live. I just Layout/Printing: Larry S. Jackson, Heidelberg in a tension between our vision looked at the InciWeb Inci- Graphics, www.HeidelbergGraphics.com for the future and the potential dent Information System… Front cover: Trimotor taking off from Red Horse Ranch (Courtesy Fogg Family McCall, that today could be our last. one of the links available on Idaho) I suspect that for many death www.Smokejumpers.com. As Check the NSA website 2 www.smokejumpers.com I write this article, it’s obvious that the fire season Our nation has experienced a year of devastating is still very active even at this mid-October date. events from fire, wind, rain, and the evil that ex- As of today the fires in northern California are plodes out of the heart of man with all too great of recording 13 deaths. That number is expected to frequency. Do your best to stay safe in uncertain rise. Over 1500 structures reported destroyed. times, seek wisdom and patience, be courageous in It will be interesting to see the post-fire season the face of danger, shun hatred, and pray for peace reports on how many acres went up in smoke. and unity of spirit. The Wilderness Religion by Earl Dodds (McCall ’49) I recently received a copy of Earl’s book “Tales From area of almost 800,000 acres as District Ranger. The Last Of The Big Creek Rangers.” In 1958, the As a continuing part of preserving smokejumper his- Chamberlain District, Payette N.F., was combined tory by this magazine, the second of three stories from with the Big Creek District, and Earl headed up an Earl’s book follows. (Ed.) hen I was promoted to the position NSA Members—Save of ranger on the old Chamberlain WDistrict in June 1957, most of the This Information backcountry on the eastern part of the Payette Please contact the following persons directly if National Forest was classified as the Idaho Primi- you have business or questions: tive Area. Forest Service management direction for Smokejumper magazine the Primitive Area centered upon keeping the area Articles, obits, change of address wild and free of road building and logging, but Chuck Sheley with a heavy emphasis on fire control. 530-893-0436 At that time, fire control played the major role [email protected] in the management of all the national forests in 10 Judy Ln. Chico, CA 95926 the West. This emphasis had its origin in the big Membership fires of the 1910 season that burned 3 million John McDaniel acres of prime timberlands in northern Idaho and 785-404-2847 western Montana and killed 87 people. The Forest [email protected] Service was going all out to prevent anything like 807 Eileen Ln. Salina, KS 67401-2878 this ever happening again. All else Consequently, the backcountry districts on the NSA President Payette were primarily firefighting outfits. The Jim Cherry Forest Service had small initial-attack fire crews 641-927-4428 based at Chamberlain, Cold Meadows and Big [email protected] Creek, a system of fire lookouts, and miles and 2335 300th St. Ventura, IA 50482-8502 miles of trails and telephone lines to tie everything together for communication and access purposes. Smokejumper base abbreviations: There were also three airfields on the Payette, Anchorage ..........ANC Grangeville ........ GAC Redding .............RDD part of the Idaho Primitive Area, that were origi- Boise .................NIFC Idaho City .......... IDC Redmond ............RAC Cave Junction ........ CJ La Grande .......... LGD West Yellowstone WYS nally constructed and maintained for fire-control Fairbanks ............ FBX McCall ...............MYC Whitehorse Yukon YXY purposes. Fort St. John ........ YXJ Missoula ............MSO Winthrop .........NCSB And then there was the smokejumper program Check the NSA website 3 www.smokejumpers.com to those existing before the time of the Forest Service arrival in the backcountry – more like the conditions that Lewis and Clark would have found if they had visited the area. We started off by getting rid of all of our motor-powered equipment. The power saws were sent out to the fire warehouse in McCall and replaced with the old hand-powered crosscut saws for trail maintenance and cutting firewood for the station. Likewise with the gasoline- powered lawn mower used to tidy up the lawns around the station. This