I was slated to be hiking in Yosemite National Park today, but the Ferguson fire in the area forced our family to shorten our vacation. Instead, I am back at my front line battle station in Southern California. The good news is that the wildfires are being contained, including the historically largest blaze in state history...The situation has been so dire, California had to import firefighters from Australia and New Zealand. Before working, they had to learn English, such as a drainage is a gully or ravine and a tanker is a water-dropping helicopter, not a water-carrying truck, which is known as a tender. During his recent tour of the state, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke fanned the flames of eco-activist ire by blaming their policies for contributing to the fire...The term, environmental terrorist groups, may seem extreme at first read. The definition of terrorism is, “the unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims.” Once could make the case the green justice warriors have been using lawful intimidation for their political aims, which includes control of vast swaths of this country so they can no longer be used by the American people. The crusade for climate justice, which has been the banner for more big-state policies, has meant that practical and reality-based forest management techniques have been ignored or negated in the quest for the elusive, green ideal. Yet terrorism leads to death and destruction. The loss of life and the billions in recovery efforts attest to the horrendous consequences of blindly implementing rules because they reflect the science du jour. So, in that way, Zinke is correct. Serious policies makers would be considering solid data an analysis, such as the 207 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, the Tree Mortality Task Force in California and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The analysis concluded that there are a record 129 million dead trees in California that have been killed due to forest mismanagement. Randy Moore, Regional Forester of the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region stated in the report that these dead trees, if not cleared, would help wildfires grow and spread...MORE
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