Wow! Now that's dry. I have seen entire forests closed to any entry during high fire danger periods. They allowed people to drive down the highway, but all the turn outs were cordoned off, and rangers were patrolling.

Here where I live, the closest national forest is Angeles National Forest. There's a standing order: no fires except in developed campgrounds. Here, wood fires aren't really practical in the back country -- unless you want to be a scofflaw.

In the nearby San Gorgonio and San Jacinto Wildernesses, wood fires are completely banned. I think the bans in the San Gorgonio and San Jacinto Wildernesses are more based on the popularity of the location. Allow wood fires in those two popular wildernesses, and you'd soon have the whole place stripped bare.

Again, though, if you're in an area where there's plenty of wood, the forest isn't a tinderbox about to go up in flame, and there aren't any ethical misgivings, wood stoves make a lot of sense.

HJ