Why? Because loggers weren’t allowed to thin overcrowded stands of trees. Because grazing animals weren’t there to thin out the undergrowth. Because anytime the Forest Service or large landowners tried to start a project to manage the land, they got tied up in court and buried under years of environmental impact ‘studies.’ Because any fire, regardless of cause or location, was put out as quickly as possible for decades. Because any controlled burns were restricted by overzealous and shortsighted pollution thresholds set by the California’s Air Resources Board. Because politicians and bureaucrats stopped listening to the people that actually lived in the forest.
And all of those things happened because well-meaning morons at organizations such the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council managed to get a stranglehold on state politics and the courts. It’s because of ‘concern for natural conditions’ that we’re in this mess; because of a myopic focus on certain species, entire ecosystems are being overtaken by flames. But they’ll never accept responsibility.
They persist in blaming fire conditions in today’s West solely on climate change. Even if every single thing that they claim about climate change were to be true, it wouldn’t undo the consequences of decades of mismanagement driven by their ‘advocacy.’
And all of those things happened because well-meaning morons at organizations such the Sierra Club and the National Resources Defense Council managed to get a stranglehold on state politics and the courts. It’s because of ‘concern for natural conditions’ that we’re in this mess; because of a myopic focus on certain species, entire ecosystems are being overtaken by flames. But they’ll never accept responsibility.
They persist in blaming fire conditions in today’s West solely on climate change. Even if every single thing that they claim about climate change were to be true, it wouldn’t undo the consequences of decades of mismanagement driven by their ‘advocacy.’
