Controlled Fires Are Harmful to Forests

Forest fires have become more and more prevalent in the past few years. Just recently, there were four fires in California that were all occurring at the same time. They created quite a scare and caused a lot of damage. Just as those fires caused damage, Thomas M. Bonnicksen states in his article “Controlled Fires are Harmful to Forests” that controlled fires create a lot of damage to forests. In this article, Thomas M. Bonnicksen is trying to persuade the American public to not support the use of controlled fires as a means to prevent devastating wildfires by using sarcasm, statistics, authoritative figures, and threats.

One of the tools used by Bonnicksen is the tactic of inundating his readers with statistics. He states, “…One among thousands of fires that ravage Western forests each year, and they are growing worse.” He then goes on to say, “So far 81,697 fires burned 6.9 million acres…compared to the ten year average of 64,908 fires burning 2.9 million acres.” The first thing that should be noticed is that he never stated where these numbers came from, he could have gussied up the numbers himself. To make these numbers more credible he needs to say where he got this information. By including these large numbers he is counting on the reader to just look at the large number and not look at the number in the correct context. Most people cannot comprehend 6.9 million acres; they just know it is an extremely large number. If Bonnicksen can get the reader to take his word that 6.9 million acres is a large amount of land, he has convinced the reader to believe his other points. By using statistics, Bonnicksen gains the trust of the reader.

Bonnicksen quotes authoritative figures as another mean of convincing the reader to side with him. He says, “U.S. Representative Helen Chenoweth-Hage (R.-Id.), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health summed it up when she said, ‘the USDA Forest Service has gone from being a model of federal organizational effectiveness to the gang that can’t shoot straight.’” Bonnicksen’s purpose for using an authoritative figure is to get the reader to believe what is being said by the all-powerful person. People tend to believe anything that they are told from a government official. He is banking on this belief in order to get the reader on his side.

Issues Paper Thesis

Oil is a non-renewable resource that is being used at an exponential rate, because one day there will no longer be oil, it is important that other sources of energy are located.