Gavin Newsom says new climate change policies will solve California’s wildfire problems! He’s ignoring California’s YEARS of forest mismanagement as the culprit in this disaster.

“After touring the fire damage in the North Complex Fire near Oroville in Northern California, Governor Gavin Newsom was in no mood for one of his usual, careful media statements.

“If you do not believe in science,” Newsom said bluntly while standing in the ashes of what once was a Butte County forest, “I hope you believe observed reality.”

“The hots are getting a lot hotter and the wets are getting a lot wetter,” he observed. “The science is absolute. The data is self evident.”

“We have to own that reality and we have to own the response to that reality,” said the governor. Last year by this time, 118,000 acres had burned, he observed. This year, it’s over 3 million acres charred. The state is currently battling five of the 20 most destructive fires in the last century, he reported.”

Oh and that’s not all. 

CA Gov. Gavin Newsom: "California, folks, is America fast-forward." pic.twitter.com/Kkfts3Ar8p

— The Hill (@thehill) September 11, 2020

This isn’t an intellectual debate. This isn’t about ideology. The proof is right in front of our eyes. The impacts of climate change simply cannot be denied.@NBCNightlyNews pic.twitter.com/gohbZ67Fyb

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 12, 2020

First of all, it is very evident that Newsom doesn’t understand weather patterns. Nor does he understand that weather events such as drought are …CYCLICAL! 

Secondly, the forests have been mismanaged for the last thirty plus years from the national to local levels.

Remember in the 1970’s when the logging companies were the bad guys? They were destroying the forests you see! They were taking away the trees that the spotted owls love! BAN LOGGING!

Want to know what happened next? Dead trees and tinder dry underbrush combined with overgrowth of the forests has led to thousands of acres of trees stressed, dead, and dying. All of which lead to fires that are out of control from the very minute a spark hits.

All up and down the Rocky Mountain range we’ve watched entire forests turn rusty and then gray. From what? Beetle kill. Was anyone allowed to thin those trees out? Nope. Why? BECAUSE FORESTS MUST BE LEFT ALONE!! 

Guess what folks. Those beetle kill trees go up like bombs when the fire hits them because they are so dry. Which again, leads to catastrophic fire events like we are seeing in CA, Oregon, WA, WY, MT and more. 

This from a former CalFire chief is spot on. 

“CONTROLLED BURNS:
Going back to Native Americans in America, controlled burning (later called Prescribed Fire) have saved the west from huge conflagrations. By burning large brush fields and using fire to thin understory brush in the forest, we kept the big boomers at bay. We had programs designed to reduce “chaparral” in the west, thus limiting the ability for fires to get ragingly out of control.
In the early days of settling the west, ranchers regularly burned brush fields to make way for grazing and wildlife habitat.
This entire program of controlled or prescribed fire is a near thing of the past.
ROADS/FIRE BREAKS:
When I started with the fire service in the 1970’s we had regularly scheduled building, repairing, cleaning, and maintaining fire breaks around rural housing areas and developments. We kept fire roads cleared and usable for large fire equipment. We had access to remote areas which allowed us to attack fires when they were small. Roads provided a place to start a safe backfire. Oh, backfires! Another art nearly lost today due to liability and excessive oversight by the media and radical enviro groups who have political power.”

As Albright correctly points out, timber stands and grasslands were managed much better until the late 70’s/early 80’s. Now, however, forests are overgrown and filled with dead growth, dead trees and underbrush. All of which is an environmental hazard. Secondly, all that fabulous open space land that we are supposed to leave alone so it will look “pretty?” When those lands (which ranchers and farmers aren’t allowed to graze livestock on) are full of cheat grass, all it takes is one lightening strike or spark from a train track and the whole thing goes up. 

Towns and homes have been burned down and thousands of fire fighters are risking their lives trying to get all these fires knocked down.

Gavin Newsom stands in the middle of land and towns devastated by fire and pushes for more windmills, electric cars, and solar panels. As if THAT will be the 100% solution to fixing the wildfire problems. 

Oregon is having to prepare for the possibility of a mass casualty event, and the air quality up and down the West Coast is the worst it has ever been. But what do Newsom and WA Governor Inslee do? Blame climate change. 

“In Washington, 10 large fires were burning Friday, state officials said. One death has been reported, according to an NBC News count. Fire destroyed 80 percent of the small town of Malden on Monday, wiping out its post office, fire department, City Hall and library, sheriff’s officials said.

Gov. Jay Inslee blamed climate change for the extreme and devastating fires.

“These are not just wildfires, they are climate fires,” he said Friday at a news conference.”

More political jackassery and Green New Deal crap is NOT the solution. 

• Controlled burns
• Forest thinning
• Underbrush clearing
• Better roads management through forests and grasslands

THOSE are actionable and workable solutions to our wildfire problem. Windmills, electric cars, solar panels, and climate change drivel from Democrats is not and never will be a solution no matter how they spin it. 

Feature Photo Credit: fire fighters by skeeze via Pixabay, cropped and modified