‘Burn boss’ arrest inflames Western land use tensions

By ANDREW SELSKY
Associated Press

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A ranching family in Oregon is applauding the arrest of the leader of a U.S. Forest Service crew that carried out a prescribed burn in a national forest that spread onto the family’s property. The repercussions of the singular incident have reached all the way back to Washington, where Forest Service Chief Randy Moore denounced the sheriff’s action. The incident has once again exposed tensions over land management in the West, where the federal government owns nearly half of all the land.