Secretary Zinke on Calif. Wildfires: ‘It Is a Matter of Gross Mismanagement, There Is No Question’

‘This is unacceptable that year after year, we are watching our forests burn, our habitat destroyed and our communities devastated’

EXCERPT:

ZINKE: "First, our firefighters, 30,000 of them, are doing spectacular things. We've had six deaths related, and we forget that firefighters, while they are on the front lines, their homes and families are in jeopardy, and our hearts and prayers need to be with our front line firefighters that are out there every day. It is a matter of gross mismanagement. There is no question. The fuel loads are up. The density of our forest is historical. We have dead and dying timber. If you don’t believe me, believe your own eyes; go out and take a look at our forest. Take a drive out there and look at the dead and dying timber. It’s been in gross mismanagement for decades, but we are burning our forests, we're destroying our habitats and we're destroying our communities and neighborhoods by these catastrophic fires of 200,000, 300,000 acres. Thus far, there’s 5.7 million acres of our public lands that have been destroyed at a cost of about $3 billion this fiscal year."

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