About John McCarthy

John McCarthy, Idaho Forest Program Manager

John McCarthy completed Basic Fire School in 2006, to qualify for a Red Card firefighter certificate to be safe and knowledgeable on the full scope of wildfires. As the Idaho Forest Campaign Manger for the Wilderness Society, McCarthy spent many days observing fires and learning about current fire management throughout the 2006 fire season - starting in March and ending in October.

McCarthy presented a summary of his observations on fire policy and fire ecology in a slide show through the winter of 2006-2007, to three Idaho universities, to public audiences in Boise and McCall, to the Resource Advisory Council of the Boise and Payette national forests and to the Forest Leadership Team of the Boise forest.

McCarthy also spoke on an implementation panel at the Advanced Fire Use Applications, a week-long interagency training for 120 top fire managers in April this year at Tucson. He also attended the full training, to learn from the leading fire managers how to get fire back in the landscape for ecological benefit. Jaelith Hall-Rivera, TWS wildfire policy analyst, also participated in the wildland fire use training.

McCarthy was the only non-agency person enrolled in the first offering in Boise of Wildland Fire Management and Ecology, a graduate level course taught by University of Idaho professor Leon Neuenschwander, in 1995. McCarthy has been a professional conservationist in Idaho for 14 years and has a BS degree in journalism and forestry from the University of Idaho.

The Wilderness Society works on fire policy to assure community protection and to re-establish ecological functions of fire. Fire is a fact of life in arid ecosystems, such as Idaho forests and rangelands. Fire management is changing and must continue to change, to adapt to expanded human habitation, changes in fire fuels and changes in climate, as well as to restore ecological functions of fire.