The West is burning and politics are fanning the flames

As smoke from summer Western wildfires spreads all the way to Maine, the entire country finally realizes what the West has long known: America’s forest-management policies are not working.

This record-breaking fire season has seen more than 5 million acres burn in 81 large fires across 10 states. California’s Dixie Fire has torched more than 700 homes and now totals nearly 1 million acres. It is approaching the size of Rhode Island. Oregon’s Bootleg Fire is now so large it’s generating its own weather, including lightning.

In my home state of Wyoming, 20,000 acres are currentl...