The Wall Street Journal is reporting on yet another avoidable California wildfire tragedy.
While politicians in Sacramento are quick to invoke "climate change" as the sole cause of the state's wildfires, the reality is wildfires can be more directly traced to failed state policies in the areas of forest management and defensible space.
Case in point: the town of Berry Creek sought permission to thin surrounding forests to stem the risk of wildfire. The state bureaucracy sat on the request for two years. Just as one of the contracts to thin the forest was finally about to go out for bid, the town was burned to the ground.
For those of us living in fire prone areas, bureaucracy and inter-governmental infighting can be as threatening as wildfire itself. For the bureaucracy, wildfire has become institutionalized -- it's about permits and paperwork. For some of the politicians, it has become about adherence to an ideology that does not permit sound forest management.
Read about what happened to Berry Creek here:
WSJ: A California Town's Fire-Protection Plans Hit Red Tape, Then the Flames Came
While politicians in Sacramento are quick to invoke "climate change" as the sole cause of the state's wildfires, the reality is wildfires can be more directly traced to failed state policies in the areas of forest management and defensible space.
Case in point: the town of Berry Creek sought permission to thin surrounding forests to stem the risk of wildfire. The state bureaucracy sat on the request for two years. Just as one of the contracts to thin the forest was finally about to go out for bid, the town was burned to the ground.
For those of us living in fire prone areas, bureaucracy and inter-governmental infighting can be as threatening as wildfire itself. For the bureaucracy, wildfire has become institutionalized -- it's about permits and paperwork. For some of the politicians, it has become about adherence to an ideology that does not permit sound forest management.
Read about what happened to Berry Creek here:
WSJ: A California Town's Fire-Protection Plans Hit Red Tape, Then the Flames Came
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