Being good stewards of the land is something everyone can agree on. Unfortunately, liberal policies in California are contributing to massive wildfires that seem to get worse each year.
The Eaton Fire and the Palisades Fire started in Los Angeles County on January 7. The Palisades Fire has burned more than 40,600 acres and destroyed over 12,300 homes and buildings, with at least 27 fatalities.
Democrat politicians in the Golden State blame capitalism and climate change. Maybe they should take a look at their own policies.
I traveled with our local Boy Scout troop to New Mexico twice, in 2004 and 2007, for 11 days of hiking and camping at Philmont Boy Scout Ranch.
Every group of scouts attending Philmont is required to spend one day helping manage the forest. This includes removing brush or excess fuel and thinning growth by cutting trees.
During the off-season, Philmont utilizes chainsaws, tractors, and woodchippers to reduce fuel loads and performs prescribed burns to improve the health and productivity of its forests.
This is just common sense. Native Americans knew this as many tribes practiced annual burning.
They knew how to manage the forest.
Then along came the white man with fire suppression techniques who thought he knew better.
My wife and I live on 2.98 acres at the edge of Owensville — yet still within the city limits. Our property is full of trees — just the way we like it. Every couple of years, I burn off the backyard. It keeps the ticks and fleas down, helps the native plants grow better, and keeps the brush down, too.
Many Missouri farmers also do this.
It’s different in California. In 2016, then-Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bipartisan wildfire management bill that would have mandated “prescribed burns.”
Thankfully, we don’t have that attitude here in fly-over country. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, “The careful use of prescribed fire can actually improve your Missouri woods and wildlife habitat, as well as protect life and property.”
Unfortunately, in addition to the lack of controlled burns and the buildup of underbrush, more liberal policies are causing California’s wildfire problem.
Radical environmentalists attack attempts in California to harvest timber from dense and fire-prone areas with frivolous litigation.
These people would apparently rather allow communities to burn than see a logger in the woods.
Again, this is the complete opposite in Missouri. The Missouri Department of Conservation has a 49-page booklet to help loggers harvest trees in ways that protect local natural resources.
Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) whistle-blowers have made the following claims in the last week:
• Severe budget cuts hindered the ability to attack the fire fast enough. A video released by NewsNation last week shows that it took the LAFD 45 minutes to respond to the Palisades fire.
• The 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir near the Palisades Fire has been empty since February 2024 for a tear in it’s cover.
• The LAFD is severely understaffed, having less than half as many firefighters per 1,000 residents as other major cities.
• One hundred fire engines and other equipment are currently out of service due to budget cuts as the city spends money on DEI programs, including $100,000 for Juneteenth celebrations and $13,000 for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Heritage Month Programs.”
Ten years ago, California voters passed a proposition authorizing $2.7 billion in bonds to build more reservoirs and groundwater storage facilities. As of today, no new reservoirs are online.
Miranda Devine said in a Oct. 30, 2019 New York Post op-ed, “It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. They warn of cataclysmic climate change if we don’t suddenly remove the cheap, fossil-fueled energy on which this nation’s economic prosperity was founded.”
“Then they work against any sensible management of California’s forests that would reduce the severity of routine regular wildfires,” Devine said. “Then, when the wildfires become record-breaking conflagrations, they point and say, ‘See, I told you so.’”
In a report from February 2018, the bipartisan Little Hoover Commission said that California’s forests suffer from neglect and mismanagement, resulting in overcrowding that leaves them susceptible to disease, insects, and wildfire.
This neglect came from the Democrats who have controlled California since 1999. The only Republican in power was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who served as governor from 2003 to 2011.
Look around this great country of ours. The devastating effects of liberal policies are there for anyone to see who is brave enough to open their eyes.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gov-newsom-cut-fire-budget-100m-months-lethal-california-fires
https://www.foxnews.com/us/water-systems-expert-has-message-public-la-wildfires-rage
https://www.foxnews.com/us/la-fire-sounded-alarm-budget-cuts-impacting-wildfire-response-memo
