Ruth Frey and Donna Grauer, volunteers with the Forest Conservancy, remove the traces of a fire ring left in the American Lake area. There has been a concerning uptick in the number of illegal fire rings the volunteer organization has found this summer amid fire restrictions and exceptional drought conditions. Courtesy of Forest Conservancy

With weeks still to go in the busy — and extremely dry — summer camping season, volunteer rangers have already dismantled more than three times as many illegal campfire rings as they typically do in an entire season.

Volunteers with the Forest Conservancy, which was formed in 2001 to lend a hand to federal staff on the White River National Forest amid budget cuts, have removed 35 illegal rings as of mid-August. For the past three years, that numb

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