Big Green policies destroying national park

 Washington Examiner:

As a wildfire rages in the iconic Yosemite National Park, "green" federal policies are being blamed for adding literal fuel to the fire.

While members of Congress stop short of saying environmental policies caused this fire, it’s clear that the massive firestorms of the past decade would not have happened without the fuel to feed them. California House members have been trying for years to pass laws that would resume clearing tinder, but they have repeatedly been voted down.

“The U.S. Forest Service used to have a 10 a.m. policy that fires reported one day needed to be put out 10 a.m. the next morning,” said Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, whose district includes Yosemite. “[Democrats] believe we should leave the forests alone and nature will take care of them. A policy of benign neglect.”

Environmental laws from the 1970s stopped paper mill loggers from removing dead and overgrown trees to keep the forests healthy and create firebreaks. California had 149 paper mills in 1980, and today, that number has shrunk to 27.

As a result, 50 years of neglect have created forests that are 400% denser than what the land can support, McClintock said. In drought-ridden California, a lack of water only heightens the problem.

Now, a “human start” fire has consumed 3,772 acres with only 17% containment as it gobbles up fuel in Mariposa Grove, where more than 500 giant sequoias top 200 feet. President Abraham Lincoln signed legislation in 1864 protecting the grove and surrounding areas from encroachment.

McClintock said he toured Mariposa Grove a week ago and was told by a federal official that fires need to occur at 14-year intervals as nature’s way of clearing out timber.

“I couldn’t believe my ears, but there it is,” McClintock said.

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This burn policy is not a sane response to managing a forest.  As the owner of several wooded acres, I am constantly on the lookout for dead wood that I harvest and use for firewood in my wood-burning stove and sometimes use to turn into lumber for furniture making.  I wouldn't dream of allowing the forest around my home to become a fire trap. They need to go back to the pre-1970's polices.