State of South Dakota covering up cause of Legion Lake Fire

Since 2013 alone at least 41 fires in the Black Hills region have been caused by trees falling on transmission lines.

South Dakota is a perpetual welfare state and a permanent disaster area. Just as the State of South Dakota sued Black Hills Power and Light after the 2002 Grizzly Gulch Fire, Black Hills Energy should sue the shit out of the State of South Dakota for the Legion Lake Fire. A lawsuit settled in 2006 compelled Black Hills Energy to pay the state and federal governments a total of $5.9 million; but the agreement also allowed Black Hills Energy to pretend lightning caused the fire.

Logging slash and piss-poor planning turned the Legion Lake Fire into a wildfire. During his investigation South Dakota State University forester John Ball was able to determine the tree that fell on the power line causing December's blaze in Custer State Park hadn't been hit by bark beetles.

Before offering his theory, Ball stopped his phone interview with the Journal and said he needed to seek permission to continue the interview from an attorney working for the state. Later, Ball said the permission was denied. Bob Morris, a Belle Fourche-based attorney who has been designated by state government to handle any legal matters that might arise from the Legion Lake Fire, also declined an interview request from the Journal. Authorities with the state Department of Game, Fish & Parks, which oversees Custer State Park, declined interview requests from the Journal.

Read it all here.

Being the only blogger covering the Black Hills daily has its rewards. Seth Tupper clearly used The Dakota Progressive and interested party as sources for his story.

The absence of prescribed burns and the persistence of invasive cheatgrass in the park are just two more examples of poor planning by Game, Fish and Plunder. Instead of allowing native aspen to be restored stands of doghair ponderosa pine that grew after the Galena Fire fed the blaze.

The Black Hills National Forest is every bit as guilty of pandering to the Greedy Old Party. The fire danger today in the Black Hills is in the moderate category at all reporting sites but after overreach by Senator John Thune (earth hater-SD) federal fire managers have become increasingly timid to burn prescriptively.

Fact is: the human-caused Legion Lake Fire represents strategic failures by the State of South Dakota, South Dakota Game, Fish and Plunder and the South Dakota Republican Party.