That said, it's a pretty thin effort from a man whose best work is as layered and intricate as a psychedelic wedding cake.
Current thinning efforts cover just 2.4 million acres a year, a fraction of the 40 million acres judged to be at serious risk.
Current thinning efforts, which rely on prescribed fire and mechanical thinning, cover just 2.4 million acres a year, a fraction of the 40 million acres of public land that remain at catastrophic risk of fire.
Because the local timber industry is almost nonexistent, Forest Service officials in the Ruidoso area who have carried out limited thinning efforts in the past have had to reach out as far as Arkansas and Oregon to enlist crews for the work.
But in places like Ruidoso, which ranks No. 1 on New Mexico's most-imperiled list, the priority assigned this year will allow Forest Service officials to increase their thinning efforts sevenfold, to 3,500 acres.
Mr. Murphy has played countless variations of this man-brat in movies that range from inspired to dull, and "Imagine That," directed by Karey Kirkpatrick from a screenplay by Chris Matheson, is one of the thinner efforts, partly because this PG-rated movie requires Mr. Murphy to keep a lid on his mouth.
Forest stand densities increased throughout the 62-year study period, and modern thinning efforts resulted in localized stand density decreases in the latter part of the study period.
Some researchers, however, worry that poorly planned thinning efforts could be at best a waste of money and at worst do more ecological damage to forests than they prevent.
(Veblen acknowledges that smaller scale thinning efforts are necessary to reduce fire risk around homes and critical infrastructure, such as reservoirs, but notes that such strategies are often useful whether or not trees have been killed by beetles).
An estimate by the General Accounting Office has put the total cost of a thinning effort at $12 billion over 15 years.
