i just wanna say

forest management is a HUGE HUGE HUGE part of the wild fire crisis out west. i hate that its coming from that fucking clowns mouth because people are going to discredit it but

we have been excluding fire from western ecosystems for as long as we have colonized it. we do the same thing here in florida but when we exclude fire from florida fire dependant ecosystems they often succeed in to "hardwood hammocks" which are full of oaks that do not burn.

however in the west its different. when we deny the chances for fire-dependant ecosystems to burn naturally (i.e putting out ever single wildfire for 100+ years) we get fuel backlogs. ponderosa pine forests were NEVER as dense as they are now. my whole job working in AZ was

hazard fuel reduction. felling trees and burning them in controlled piles in the winter because its simply too dangerous to do prescribed burning.

BUT of course greenhouses gasses and global warming is only exacerbating the issue! its making a bad situation WORSE. i know a lot of people understand that but it worries me how many people are turning the idea of there "being too many trees" in to strawman bc trump is saying it

yes he is saying it to deflect and distract from actual emissions issues but dont belittle this concept just because of how he is weponizing it. we are FAR more reactive than proactive when it comes to this measure.

the fact of the matter is we have altered the land scape out west by denying natural fire cycles (i.e poor forest management) AND we have altered the climate to favor hotter drier conditions. We have enhaced two parts of the fire triangle (fuel and heat) but find ourselves stuck

arguing over which is more important. its a joke.

signed by someone who knows a bit about this stuff

not my words but a worthy addition