YAKIMA VALLEYS HAUNTED CORN

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LIFE, PAGE 1DDESPITE MUGGY CONDITIONS, IKES MAHONY,

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Vol. 111, No. 337 /6 sections, 62 pages

81 TODAY

48 TONIGHT

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WILDFIRE PREVENTION

GORDON KING/Yakima Herald-Republic

Ken McNamee, with the Washington state Department of Natural Resources, walks through a forest near Ellensburg on Wednesday. The Snag Canyon Fire swept through the area this summer and burned all the trees in the heavily wooded area on the right, while the trees in the thinned area on the left survived mostly intact.

ELLENSBURG In an intense wildfire, trees can practically melt as needles and small branches become fluid enough to bend and then freeze as they cool and re-solidify.

Its a sign of serious heat. So its surpris-ing that just 10 yards from a contorted tree whose limbs appear to be hugging a blackened trunk are other trees with green crowns that look barely touched by the fire. Its as if some invisible line separated life and death.

This summers Snag Canyon Fire burned across 12,600 acres of brush and forest north of Ellensburg, but the intensity of the fire and resulting damage varied dramatically across the ridge slopes.

Sometimes, its hard to know why one island of green inexplicably survived a wild-fire, but Ken McNamee knows exactly what created this invisible line logging.

In the dense, untreated stands, the fire moves from tree top to tree top and thats not good for anybody, said McNamee, a division

manager for the state Department of Natural Resources. In this logged area where the remaining trees stand far apart, all the tree tops are still green, the fire scorched some small bushes and seedlings, but its not all black.

In the face of increasingly destructive fires, cutting down some trees may be the only way to save our forests from themselves.

This summer was Washingtons worst fire season ever. Ignited by lightning, driven by hot, windy weather on bone-dry rangeland and tinderbox forests, flames ripped across 567 square

miles, destroying at least 336 homes and costing close to $200 million to fight.

The Snag Canyon Fire was mild in comparison to other fires, but McNamee says its a prime example of how commercial logging and thinning treatments designed to improve forest health can reduce fire severity.

Some folks still think when we talk about logging that we are clearcutting, but thats not how we do business anymore, he said.

Indeed, the area logged by Boise Cascade a decade ago, before the state acquired the land, still has 35 or 40 large trees on each acre. Saplings and bushes grew in those spaces, allowing the fire to move fast and low to the ground where it didnt get hot

BY KATE PRENGAMANYAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Damage from Snag Canyon Fire demonstrates how cutting down some trees can save forests from devastating blazes

Supporters: I-594 closes loophole in gun lawsOpponents say background check is overly burdensome, first step toward gun registry

RIDGEFIELD The long guns and pistols here at the Clark County fair building spill across folding tables and stack up on portable racks.

The customers, mostly older men, have come to the Vancouver Gun and Knife Show to check out weapons with classic brand names like Winchester, Remington, Browning and Ruger.

These gun shows are also where someone barred by federal law from buying a gun a felon, say, or someone who had been committed for a mental illness can purchase a gun at one of the tables manned by a private seller.

That anomaly in the law critics call it a loophole has put gun shows like this in the center of the debate over Initiative 594 on the November ballot.

Under current federal law, back-ground checks are required only for sales by licensed firearms dealers. I-594 would expand those background checks to private transfers or sales, like some of the transactions at gun shows.

If the measure passes, Washington would have one of the strictest back-ground-check laws in the nation. Just six states and the District of Columbia require such checks for all gun sales and transfers.

I-594 is also the states highest-profile campaign this fall.

Several wealthy donors Bill Gates, Jr., Nick Hanauer, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer donated millions of dollars to the pro-I-594 advocacy group Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility. The group has so far raised $7.6 million, including a $1 million donation from former New York Mayor Michael Bloombergs advocacy group, Everytown for Gun Safety.

The initiatives backers, like Snohomish County Prosecutor Mark Roe, say that expanding background checks would make it harder for crimi-nals or people with severe mental illness to get guns.

There were plenty of guys I spent my time prosecuting, where you make it a

SEE FIRE PAGE 6 A

BY JOSEPH OSULLIVANTHE SEATTLE TIMES

The case for logging

SEE INITIATIVE PAGE 8 A

Roslyn seeks 15 more minutes of fame

KAITLYN BERNAUER/Yakima Herald-Republic

The film crew works on a scene with actor Luke Kleintank, on phone, during the filming of a television pilot for The Man in the High Castle in downtown Roslyn on Thursday. The show is an adaptation by a novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick.

ROSLYN This small Upper Kittitas County town has been Cicely, Alaska, for nearly 25 years, and now its going to be Canon City, Colo.

It was the fictional city of Cicely in the cult-classic TV series Northern Exposure,

and fans still make frequent pilgrimages to pose for pictures in front of The Brick Saloon or the Roslyn Cafe.

And now its a stand-in for the 1962 version of Canon City in a new adaptation of Philip K. Dicks novel The Man in the High Castle, which is being executive-produced by Ridley Scott,

whose work includes Blade Runner, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down.

The Man in the High Castle is a Hugo Award-winning novel Scott has been working to adapt for years. It is set in an alternate universe in which the Axis powers won World War II, leaving Germany and Japan as superpowers that control North America. Much of its appeal to Dick fans a group known for their fanati-cal devotion stems from

its metaphysical themes and the questions it raises about the authenticity and real-ity of any universe.

For now, the crew in Roslyn is just shooting scenes for an Amazon.com-produced pilot. In addition to Scott, the names associ-ated with the production include X-Files producer Frank Spotnitz, Lost producer Jean Higgins and actors Alexa Davalos, D.J. Qualls, Rupert Evans and

BY PAT MUIRYAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Famous for setting of Northern Exposure, city officials hope new Amazon show pilot being shot in town brings economic boost

SEE ROSLYN PAGE 7 A

We lost this habitat that critters need by not managing it. We need to find a way to protect this habitat

we need to have so we dont lose the whole thing.KEN MCNAMEE

Division manager, Department of Natural Resources

THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE

2014 ELECTION

Heat is on