EDITORIAL: Feinstein is right: Time to ramp up thinning of federal forests

Aug. 2--A new study published last month by the science journal Earth's Future laid out the biggest reason that California's wildfires have grown so much more intense in recent years: The climate is hotter and drier. It also laid out a hard truth: The potential for large fall wildfires is increasingly being enhanced by this "warming and consequent fuel drying."

Since 1972, the average summer temperature in Northern California has increased 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit. That may not seem dramatic, but as the study's lead author Park Williams told the Atlantic, "Each degree of warming causes way more fire than the previous degree of warming did." By speeding up evaporation, hotter conditions dry out soil, trees and vegetation, turning them into fuel for raging infernos. Williams, a Columbia University climate scientist, says it's possible that in 60 years, California has no more forest fires -- because it has no more forests. They will have all burned down.

But he also pointed out that making the state's problem worse is increasingly effective efforts at fire suppression. Because of the default view that all fires are bad -- even in remote areas where no people or structures are threatened -- blazes are both rarer and much more intense they would be if fire were accepted as a natural part of life. This problem is compounded by the fact that many environmentalists have the default view that logging is bad.

Thankfully, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-San Francisco, grasps the nuances of this issue and wants to do something about it. On Thursday, Feinstein and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, announced they were preparing legislation meant to reduce wildfire risks on federal lands by sharply increasing the removal of dead and dying tries and by allowing more logging in the "dangerously dense forested areas where wildfires are most likely to start." That's crucial. With nearly 150 million dead trees in California -- most of them on federal property -- this fall could see the worst wildfires of all.

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The Feinstein announcement came the day after Gov. Gavin Newsom implored the federal government to make a "more robust commitment" to reducing fire risks on the 19 million acres it owns and manages in the state. Despite President Donald Trump's criticism of California's forest management efforts, Newsom said 33 of the state's 35 high-priority forest-thinning projects are on track to be done by Dec. 31 -- a big improvement on past years.

State officials said progress was slow because of delays in getting approval for forest thinning from private landowners. One project required 719 permits. After such destruction in recent years, no Californian should accept that. Newsom should press the Legislature to pass an emergency law streamlining approvals for forest thinning, and environmentalists opposed to weakening such rules should reconsider. The risks are too great to do too little.

Yes, wildfires will be an ongoing headache for California going forward. But if federal and state leaders appreciate the urgency of minimizing their devastating effects, lives and property will be saved.

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