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The US Forest Service, CalFire, National Park Service, aren't doing better forest management because Trump talked about raking the forests? That's a pretty redu
by cowmoo728 4y ago
The US Forest Service, CalFire, National Park Service, aren't doing better forest management because Trump talked about raking the forests? That's a pretty reductive take. It's because of the immense manpower cost that they don't have funding for, how quickly human settlements are expanding into and encroaching on forest areas, the incredible risk of doing prescribed burns that could get out of control, and myriad other bureaucratic messes between native rights, federal land and agencies, and state agencies and air quality regulations.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/01/why-isnt-california-using-more-prescribed-burns-to-reduce-fire-risk/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/01/why-isnt-california-...
- godshatter 4y agoI shouldn't have added the bit about Trump (I'm not an R or a D, btw), I just find it annoying that the idea gets shut down so quickly. Funding is an inherently political subject, and we've never been great as a country about working together and thinking ahead. I acknowledge all the problems mentioned and I realize the cost is huge to address them. But I live in the PNW and have seen the air quality get so bad due to locally close fires that I couldn't see the house across the street from my doorstep due to the smoke. For whatever reasons, movement politically on this subject has been a non-starter. I just hope we decide somewhere along the line that some preventative maintenance might go a long way to helping mitigate this.