As the Rim fire continues to burn closer and into Yosemite, nobody seems to want to point out why this fire is burning so well, or so fast.
The answer is environmentalism, and budget cuts that have prohibited proper forest conservation.
Environmentalism is the idiotic belief that man knows what’s best for the forest, and can bend mother nature to his will. In this particular arm-wrestling match, nature will always win. It was here before man, it will be here after man. The current wave of environmentalism culminated in huge budget cuts, which has allowed undergrowth to grow unchecked. Controlled burns were cut out of budgets, as was undergrowth removal.
Supposedly, this stupidity was to allow the forest to ‘return to the wild.’ Yet, in the wild, fires started by nature – by lightning strikes, for instance – occur regularly. Man, compounding the errors of environmentalism, promptly stopped any wildfires. Not a bad plan, but one that runs contrary to the whole ‘return to the wild’ idea. Environmentalists seem to think that they can have it both ways; control mother nature, and let mother nature run wild.
It doesn’t work that way.
From Sierra News Online:
For almost two weeks the Rim Fire has continued to burn and expand in northern California. By the time it is contained and put out it will, undoubtedly, be one of the larger – if not the largest – fire in California’s history. There are many reasons for the fire, and the finger-pointing will begin before the ashes are cool, but in the meantime there are amy photographers on the scene recording incredible, heroic, frightening, and even horrific images.
Dick Hagerty, an Oakdale real estate developer active in community nonprofits, has written an excellent community column in the Modesto Bee about getting outdoors and hiking the Sierras.