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Saturday, November 9, 2019

Who is Responsible for California's huge wildfires -- Hint, not climate change !

2019 Cal Fire and 
2018 LAO reports
identify that 
California’s government 
and regulatory agencies 
are responsible 
for the present 
terrible condition 
of California’s forests 
along with the resulting 
increased wildfire risks 
and occurrences. 

The excuse that 
“climate change” 
has caused 
these problems
is propaganda 
to conceal that 
the state government 
is really responsible.


California governments 
are responsible for 
significantly increased 
wildfire risks 
and outcomes 
as a consequence of 
decades long poor 
forest management 
decisions, practices 
and priorities by 
responsible government, 
regulatory and political 
leaders.

These extensive failures 
were documented in two 
comprehensive reports.
one by CalFire 
in February 2019 
and another by 
the California Legislative 
Analyst Office (LAO)
issued in April 2018. 





















From the 
April 2018 
LAO Report
( please note those red numbers ! )
“The draft Forest Carbon Plan states that 20 million acres of forestland in California face high wildfire threat and may benefit from fuels reduction treatment. 

According to the plan, Cal Fire estimates that to address identified forest health and resiliency needs on nonfederal lands, the rate of treatment would need to be increased from the recent average of 17,500 acres per year to approximately 500,000 acres per year. 

The plan does not include associated cost estimates.”



“Forest management” is generally defined as the process of planning and implementing practices for the stewardship and use of forests to meet specific environmental, economic, social, and cultural objectives. 

Activities forest managers employ include timber harvesting (typically for commercial purposes), vegetation thinning (clearing out small trees and brush, often through mechanical means or prescribed burns), and reforestation (planting new trees). 

Figure 5 describes specific activities that managers typically undertake to improve the health of forests. 

As discussed later, research has shown that these are the types of activities that are most effective at preserving and restoring the natural functions and processes of forests, and thereby maximizing the natural benefits that they can provide. 

Efforts to extinguish active wildfires are not generally considered to be forest management activities, as they are more responsive than proactive.”




“As noted above, forest management practices and policies over the past several decades have 
(1) imposed limitations on timber harvesting, 
(2) emphasized fire suppression, and 
(3) instituted a number of environmental permitting requirements. 

These practices and policies have combined to constrain the amount of trees and other growth removed from the forest. 

This has significantly increased the density of trees in forests across the state, and particularly the prevalence of smaller trees and brush. 

Overall tree density in the state’s forested regions increased by 30 percent between the 1930s and the 2000s." 


FIVE  CHARTS  BELOW:
The first three charts 
are from the 
2018 LAO Report

The last two tables, 
are from the 2019 
CalFire Report