When I first started backpacking I built campfires. After several years I stopped. It was a personal choice. I was seeing too much damage done in too many places as a result of people mishandling fires or inappropriately gathering wood or just chopping at living trees for no discernible reason. I saw my own mistakes with fire, too. They scared me.

I finally decided that no fire was usually the safest choice. Since then I have only built one fire in the backcountry. I was caught by a sudden turn of the weather that I was ill-equipped for and I felt that a fire was safer than no fire in that situation. So I built one and felt no guilt about it.

I have heard that native americans in my locality considered it very bad manners to kill a porcupine. They considered them to be an emergency food supply that should be reserved only for times when one's survival was at stake. In places where wood is scarce (certainly not everywhere) I think it's more prudent to leave firewood in place for fires that are truly necessary, as opposed to recreational. I understand that many people would disagree with me about this. As I say, it is a personal choice.