Preventing Forest Fires

For John, BLUF:  I think even California Governor Jerry Brown has figured out that better forest management would have limited the damage from this year's forest fires.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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TRUMP TAKES STEPS TO PREVENT CATASTROPHIC FOREST FIRES, INCLUDING MORE LOGGING

Here is the sub-headline:

• President Trump issued an executive order allowing agencies to do more to prevent massive wildfires.
• The order came one day after Trump signed GOP-backed wildfire legislation.
• Wildfires have burned more than 8.5 million acres this year.

From The Daily Caller, by Energy Editor Michael Bastasch, 24 December 2018.

Here is the lede plus five:

President Donald Trump moved forward with policies aimed at preventing catastrophic wildfires while the media breathlessly covered the government funding battle.

Trump issued an executive order Friday to allow for active management of forest and rangelands, including thinning and removing debris from millions of acres of federal lands.

The order also calls on federal officials to streamline regulations and permitting processes to allow the harvest of at least 3.8 billion board feet from U.S. Forest Service lands and 600 million board feet from Bureau of Land Management lands.

That represents a massive increase in timber sales from federal lands.  For example, loggers harvested 2.9 billion board feet from Forest Service lands in 2017, according to federal figures.  But even Trump’s increased allowance for loggers is still about one-quarter of what was harvested in 1973.

Do you think the forest fires this year have been because of global warming?

I don't think so either.nbsp; On the other hand, advocating for reasonable, and light handed, forest management might help.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff