Zinke from Interior and Trump are playing politics with American lives. They want Americans to believe good forest management is all that is necessary in ending California wildfires. That is a lie.
Good forest management has been the practice of federal and state foresters (silvaculturalists) since the 1960s. There isn’t enough funding for it because of the very difficult wildfires that demand the biggest allotment for the US Forest Service. That was supposed to be solved after the deadly Yarnell, Nevada fire that took the lives of 19 firefighters. Congress was suppose to fund fire fighting separately from the US Forest Service. That still hasn’t happened.
But, as to Stinky Zinke and his crony politics; the best forest management in history could not have prevented the Carr Fire.
The Carr Fire began with a spark from a flat tire on a car when the rim hit the pavement and sparked. Now, a simple spark from metal hitting rock alone would never result in such a fire, but, the spark was met with a perfect storm resulting from 105 F degree heat and 20 percent humidity. It is called the Climate Crisis and it is directly responsible for the Carr Fire, the burned acreage, the lost homes and loss of human life as well as wildlife.
Zinke thinks it is okay to distract from the facts. That should be no surprise, he is a loyalist to Trump.
The USA needs to officially recognize the Climate Crisis and legislate prevention like moratoriums on fossil fuel exports. Trump is too scared to take a real stand on climate, because, his base is currently engaged in reaping wealth from exploitation of fossil fuels. It takes a President with real political courage ready to accept facts and act on them. In the meantime, the truth is there is no effective leadership for California except Governor Jerry Brown. At least California has one seat of power where facts matter.
