I went to Rushmore this spring, they had an area where they talked about how they've thinned and removed trees that the pine beetles have killed, showed before/after pictures, and had areas where you can see they have thinned vs haven't. Any tree hugger/rock licker would be insane to say the areas didn't benefit.
Different agencies, so different management policies.
And letting Yellowstone burn was far from a disaster.
As Eric points out, the Yellowstone fires of 1988 were far from disastrous to the parks ecosystem; many coniferous trees will only spread their seeds if a fire comes through. And now, 29 years later, the areas that burned are thriving. In fact, they were starting to thrive only a few years after the fires. Now, I'm not saying that we shouldn't allow logging of dead pines and forest thinning, but fire is not always a bad thing. This one, being caused by man, is unfortunate and should be fought with vigor and the firefighters who are down there are doing what they are supposed to be doing, protecting lives and property. But when a fire gets to be this size and there is this much fuel, which lets face it even with thinning efforts we'd still have a ton down there, thats all they can hope to do. This fire is going to burn to it's natural conclusion and in some ways, the land is going to benefit from it.
