As @realDonaldTrump prepares to land in California to talk wildfires, here’s a quick refresher:

1. Approx 57% of CA’s 33 million acres of forests are owned and managed by the Feds. Just 3% are owned and managed by the state or local gov’t...

2. Talking about forest management: The US Forest Service’s budget has remained fairly stagnant for the past decade. More and more of the Dept’s budget has gone into firefighting, which means less and less is going into prevention, vegetation management and dead and dying...

... tree removal. AKA “raking the forests”

3. The US Forest Service here in CA needs approx $300 million per year to meet their annual forest management/dead and dying tree goals. If the President is so concerned, he should step up and fund the CA office.

4. The State of CA has been spending $200 million per year on vegetation management/dead and dying tree removal. Much more is needed.

5. Quick perspective: These devastating mega wildfires are impacting the entire Western United States and Alaska. For example: Between 1997 & 2018, of the 198 largest U.S. wildfires in that timespan, Alaska had 49 of the largest wildfires. CA had 23.

6. Climate change is real. It’s making vegetation drier which means fires are burning stronger, longer and larger than ever before. We must modernize our fire prevention and response efforts across the west and here in the Golden State to meet this reality. And...

... end our reliance on fossil fuels.

7. On November 3, vote like our lives and democracy depend on it.

It’s not too late to register: https://registertovote.ca.gov/ 

#ClimateChange
#Vote
#Wildfires