Be Firewise, Not Logging Foolish

Mainstream media, corporations and politicians keep advocating we will “get back to normal” soon. Speeding at 90 mph towards the abyss of ecological collapse followed by human extinction is the normal we seek to return to? During COVID-19, civilization applied the brakes, perhaps slowing to 60 mph towards the ecological collapse.

However, despite the best science, even Oregon’s Sen. Jeff Merkley is advancing ecological collapse by promoting logging as a cure to wildfire across the West. This is not only poor policy it is wasteful and dangerous. Spending billions to implement Firewise Incentive Program measures on and within 100 feet of millions of homes is the best life saving mitigation measure. The worst thing to do is give residents in fire prone landscapes a false sense of security by implementing logging as the cure for wildfire.

In addition to Firewise measures, all state and federal agencies should mandate campfire and sale of firework bans across all Western states immediately. Nearly 70 percent of all wildfires are human caused. Most wildfires could be prevented with these prohibitions and enforcement. 

Other pivotal measures to prevent ecological and societal collapse are to prohibit spending hundreds of billions of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure funding to build new or expand existing airports, freeways, expressways and electric vehicle infrastructure. Let us fix what is broken or ready to collapse and begin to create infrastructure that will provide food, shelter, water and mass transit without the need for liquid and natural gas fossil fuels.

Shannon Wilson

Eugene