At the age of 90 years, Roger Hale is

The Twentyfive Mile Veteran

...is as stalwart and independent as theenormous yellow-bellied pines he remembersgrowing on the landscape around his home atthe mouth of Twentyfive Mile Creek, on thewest shore of Lake Chelan, 25 milesnorthwest of Chelan, Washington.

Just like those pines, he brandishes scarswrested from a rugged life in the remotecountry on the eastern slopes of the northernCascades.

On June 26, 2004, he watched the Pot PeakFire ignite and burn on the forested slopeadjacent to his house. It was one of manyfires that he either fought or simply observedover the years. To Roger, wildfire is nature'sway of cleaning up the forest understory.

Roger grew up one of six children and son ofTitus Hale, an early pioneer and scholar whowas educated at Princeton University in NewJersey. Titus came to the Chelan area in1903 in search of a friend. He found hisfriend and liked the area so much, he neverreturned home

Together, the two men built a small cabinalong the South Fork of the Twentyfive Miledrainage. At first, they carved out anexistence trapping marten, weasels, bobcatsand lynx.

Titus married Mary Murdock of Waterville,Wash., in 1909 and started building a log houseabove the mouth of Twentyfive Mile Creek. In1913, Roger was raised in that log home,which stands today across the drainage fromthe Pot Peak Fire Incident Command Post atthe Twentyfive Mile State Park.

Roger, shown above in1937 at age 24 with hisdog, Tuffy, and again, 66years later at age 90.Roger has always had away with animals,including the rattlesnakesthat frequent his property.He's never been bitten, butrecalls a time when heinadvertently grabbed onethat was wrapped around awater bag, thinking that itwas the drinking ladle."Apparently, the snakedidn't mind the attention,"he said.

Roger Hale ...

Living off money his father earned tutoringstudents in New Jersey, the family prosperedas they lived off the bounty of the land andwatched fires burn and reburn throughout thearea.

"I remember seeing herds of hundreds ofdeer, not just 20 or 30," Roger said. "Theyseemed to like the open, grassy forests," hesaid. "The Pot Peak Incident Command Postarea was a wintering ground for thousandsof deer," he added.

A 1927 fire that burned from a campfire onLake Chelan along Big Creek to the top of theridge sent ashes, cinders and fleeing animalstoward the Hale Homestead. "Flocks of bluegrouse were flying ahead of the fire and theylit on our house. I grabbed my 22 and

Aging gracefully with fire ...Roger's granddaughter, Michelle, recalled a story that

Roger once told her. She said he treed a cougar and

climbed an adjacent tree to get a better shot at it. The

cougar leapt into the tree where Roger was sitting.

He jumped from the tree, with

the cougar in pursuit, killing it

as they fell to the ground.

Right: Roger and a friend pose

by a lone pine that survived

many fires above the Twentyfive

Mile drainage; Far Right:

The landscape above the Hale

Homestead, 1935.

Left: Titus Hale's

homestead cabin

under

construction in

1909; Below: The

old Hale

homestead cabin

today. Roger's

brother, David

Hale, 89, lives on

the original

property but the

cabin has been

sold outside the

family. His sister

Dorothy, 93,

lives in Seattle.

Another sister,

Caroline, 85,

lives in

Wenatchee,

Above: Roger Hale in 1929 at

Whitworth College in

Spokane, Wash; .Below: It

took 221 hand cranks to

bring a bucket of water from

the creek up a cable to the

"water horse" in Roger Hale's

backyard.

directly from fire, such asredtail hawks whose preyis exposed in burned-overareas. Tree-boring insectsand the animals that preyupon them also benefitfrom fire.

Roger learned how to huntfrom his father. Eventually,he became a hunter,packer and hunting guidehimself. He built a huntingcamp on Big Hill, ten mileswest of his home.

Fires replenished the landwith wildlife and plants.Some plants benefitedfrom the affects of fires,enjoying the increasednutrients and sunlight.Fires stimulatedresprouting in importantwoody shrubs, such asceanothus, currant, rose,bitterbrush, andelderberry. Other plantsquickly seeded into burnedareas. The plantsprovided food for wildlife,roots to hold fire-ravagedsoils, and fallen leavesand twigs to nourish thesoil.

The fires also nourishedRoger's livelihood. Hestarted fighting fires whenhe was eight years oldwith his father andsiblings. After attendingWhitworth College inSpokane, he returned towork for the USDA ForestService as a firefighter,packer, jammer operator,water truck driver and trailmaintenance technician.

Fires burned thelandscape frequentlyduring Roger's life in theTwentyfive Mile CreekWatershed. Rogerremembers vast, treeless

shot one," he said.

Because they can quicklyflee, large mammals andbirds do not often die inwildfires. But, fireschange habitats, andintense fires changehabitats dramatically.Some species benefit

slopes with maybe one or two pine trees thatescaped wildfire.

"There were lots of re-burns ... the same thingthat is going on with this fire," he said. "Fireskept everything healthy. Bunchgrass and flowerslike roosterbill grew everywhere. Flowers grewso thick you could smell them from home," hesaid.

Roger knows the benefits of fire. He also knows

From Left: Roger Hale, 90, great -grandson

Trinity, 9 months, granddaughter Michelle

Hancock, 30, of Sedro-Woolley, Wash., and

daughter Marci Hale , 57, who resides at the Hale

household. Roger has four children, 14

grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren, who live in

Washington and Montana.

the powerful impacts they have on thewatersheds in which they burn and upon hislife that is so integrated with the TwentyfiveMile landscape.

When a thunderstorm dropped more than athird of an inch of rain over the Pot Peak Fireon Monday, July 19, 2004, the runoff raisedthe level of the South Fork of Twentyfive MileCreek by 4 to 6 feet and choked the channelwith sediment, ash and debris. Boulders andtrees were flushed from stream shores to itsmouth at Lake Chelan. The fire consumedorganic matter and reduced the soil'scapacity to store water which acceleratederosion to the mouth of the creek.

Washouts like these have an economicimpact on Roger and his neighbors. Thesediment clogged his brother David'sirrigation system because his water comesfrom the South Fork. The mile-long pipeRoger built in 1945 to divert water from theNorth Fork of Twentyfive Mile Creek to hishome for generating electricity and forirrigation escaped damage.

The Forest Service and incident managershave reduced the risk of wildfire to Roger'sproperty. Firefighters treated hazardous fuelsin the forest close to his home. Theystationed engines and crews at his homewhen the fire was threatening it and kept himinformed about the fire activities.

Roger has also helped the firefighting effortsby providing staging areas on his property,water, access, and sound advice he'sgarnered from nearly a century of life in thedrainage. Amazingly, he finds the strength tolift himself above his hardships to help others.

Roger Hale is a spokesman for the land andfor the fires that burn in the Twentyfive Miledrainage. His eloquent stories draw listenersinto the past from where it is possible toenvision the way things will be in the future ...stories by an incredible man who has foundpeace by blending his life with the forest inwhich he has lived.

Washington Incident Management Team 4

Tel: 509 687 3082 Cell: 509 630 0980 creichelt@fs.fed.us www.fs.fed.us/r6/colville/wimt

Above: The intake pipe

for the North Fork

Twentyfive Mile Creek

water system; Left: A

plaque near the water

system dedicated to

Roger Hale; Below:

Roger and daughter Marci

Hale.