Editor,
The “Fix Our Forests” legislation currently on the U.S. Senate floor is less about fixing forests than it is about fixing profits for timber industry executives. By fast-tracking logging projects and gutting public oversight, this bill reads like a wish list written in a corporate boardroom, not a serious attempt to protect communities from wildfire.
We know what works best for wildfire risk reduction: home hardening, defensible space, and community‑level fire preparedness. What doesn’t work is pretending that industrial logging, which the bill enables, will somehow reduce fire risk. In reality, logging practices leave behind slash piles, dry out microclimates, and create the very conditions that make catastrophic fires more likely.
So why is such a misguided policy soon to be up for a vote, and why is it likely to pass? One answer lies in the corrosive influence of money in politics. Ever since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate spending on political influence, legislation has increasingly reflected the priorities of wealthy donors rather than the needs of ordinary citizens. The Fix Our Forests Act is a textbook example: a shameless giveaway to timber corporations dressed up as “resilience.”
Congress should reject this bill and instead invest in science‑based, community‑centered wildfire strategies. Additionally, Congress should tackle the outsized role of corporate money in shaping policy; until it does, we’ll keep seeing legislation that prioritizes profits over people and the planet.
Jennifer Normoyle
Hillsborough
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(1) comment
Thanks for your letter, Ms. Normoyle, but we’ve gone through this before. The status quo regarding forest management that you’re in favor of didn’t work out too well for folks in Los Angeles County. Wouldn’t it be better if we can make use of trees instead of allowing wildfires to burn trees and houses and many other things standing in their way? You say you want to invest in science based, community centered wildfire strategies. That’s exactly what is occurring with the “Fix Our Forests” legislation.
Shouldn’t we protect the climate from forest fires and also conserve biodiversity by preventing our forests from burning down in the first place? Wildfires will occur but we can limit the size and scope of these wildfires with proven fire and forest management techniques. We know the status quo doesn’t work. As for prioritizing people, how’s that working out for folks in Los Angeles County? Seems we need a “Fix our Democrats” legislation to remove feckless and incompetent Democrat “leaders.”
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