Interestingly, controlled burning was a common tradition in native american cultures. Maybe we should've listened to the people who lived here for potentially thousands of years instead of oppressing the fk out of them to near genocide levels. But I digress.
Bad policy is a contributing factor to these fires. The Paradise Fire’s destruction and human toll was exacerbated because Paradise implemented “road diets” — squeezing critical evacuation and first responder routes. [1][2]
It’s a problem of policy being made by people that have no concept of unintended consequences: environmentalists opposing proper forest management as well as creating public safety risks by narrowing roads, “calming” traffic without the common sense to realize that roads serve an extremely valuable public safety function and that many so-called environmentalists promote policies that feel good to the simple minded, but actually do more harm. [3] It’s like the people that oppose hunting — they think they are saving an animal but they end up causing greater damage to the ecosystem because hunted species such as deer end up overpopulating and starving to death. You see similar effects with wild mustangs. People fiercely oppose culling herds even when not doing so results in mass starvation and disease that ends up harming more horses. The idea of shooting a wild horse gets “environmentalists” up in arms because they can’t see the forest for the trees.
My point is that forest and environmental management should be done from a position of rationality, reflecting reality rather than some emotional response. Examples: laws against cutting trees over a certain diameter without a time consuming permit process from CalFire. Opposition to logging, even when done responsibly. Protecting of trees when a spotted owl is in the area — even if those trees and associated underbrush become extreme fire dangers. More owl habitat is lost from an uncontrolled fire than would have been lost by properly managing it in the first place. You rarely see this sort of bad policy in other states even though other states do have wildfires. Californians do care deeply about the land — we want to preserve the beauty and majesty of the landscape — but some of us have no idea what we are talking about — we respond to emotional pleas rather than with informed maturity. It’s like having environmental policy designed by well-meaning, but naïve teenagers.
[1] https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-camp-fire-dea... [2] https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ln-paradise-e... [3] https://thefederalist.com/2018/11/16/misguided-environmental...
