The dilemma of climate change is an issue we are all going to have to address, but to say that the wildfires in California are the sole result of climate change is inaccurate.
California forest management for millions of acres is driven by regulations so strict it is not profitable for a business to harvest timber. Consequently millions of acres are not managed or treated. Years and years go by, some drought years, some record rain and snowfall. Tree mortality is high during those years. Dead trees eventually fall over, break off, and the forest becomes littered with dead trees in “pick up sticks” fashion and are never cleaned up.
I was a licensed timber operator in California for 15 years, and I was owner of a tree service business in the Lake Tahoe basin. I wrote numerous letters to California Department of Forestry, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency and regulators of the state in the mid-1980s, alerting them to the devastating potential for catastrophic fires, and asking for less restrictive rules that would help with prevention.
Nothing changed, and in 2007 a fire started near south shore and 165 homes were destroyed in a matter of hours. This scenario is repeatedly ignored all over the state. Fire after fire destroys homes businesses and entire towns and there are no prevention methods being utilized to protect at-risk towns and subdivisions.
I don’t need to list all the similar situations that have devastated homes and towns. State regulatory agencies are fully aware of the situation, yet nothing changes.
The president’s comment about poor forest management, or the lack of prevention measures employed, is absolutely correct. The federal grant funding California received for their high-speed train would be better spent on shaded fuel breaks for all at-risk towns and subdivisions.
Homeowners are required to have a defensible space around their homes, yet there is no push or money spent to make viable defensible space around cities and small towns.
I think it is funny that some would use California wildfires to justify illegal immigration. “These would be great jobs for millions of young Mexicans and Central American (illegal) immigrants.” The homeless problem in this country is out of control. Where will these millions of people live? Where will all the tools and training for these millions of people come from? Who will pay for all these tools and training?
Proper forest management installing shaded fuel breaks around towns has very little to do with raking the forest floor. In fact, during drought situations it is detrimental because that layer of debris holds the moisture in the ground.
Fire prevention measures should be done by trained, skilled contractors. Yes, thousands of jobs would be created working for these contractors. These are jobs for the legal immigrants in our country. It is against the law to hire illegal aliens.
Conservation is the wise use of a natural resource; this equates to fire safety. Preservation is the nonuse of a natural resource, and when that resource is the forest, devastating fires are the result of this management style.
Kevin Turner
Mossyrock
