by On Tuesday, Melinda Rich Marshall drove her white S.U.V. down the now-empty roads that led to the Grand Canyon’s burned North Rim, aiming it at a towering column of smoke.
She had been among hundreds of visitors and seasonal workers who had escaped a wildfire that was raging through the ponderosa pines and dry sagebrush a few days prior. She was now on her way back to see how things were doing at her family’s 102-year-old lodge, the Jacob Lake Inn, which is located just outside Grand Canyon National Park.
We are unsure of how we will compensate our staff. Looking ahead to months or years of financial losses as the park recovers from one of the most damaging fires in its history, Ms. Marshall, 43, said. How do we proceed? How do we live?
Residents like Ms. Marshall and political officials in Arizona are questioning why the July 4 lightning-caused Dragon Bravo fire was permitted to burn for days in hot, dry conditions before exploding over containment lines and tearing across the center of the North Rim. Some people are also demanding to know if the budget cutbacks and Forest Service layoffs implemented by the Trump administration are contributing to the fires that are raging near national parks in Colorado and Washington, in addition to the Grand Canyon.
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