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The Lockean Project

State’s Democrats get an ‘F’ in wildfire management

“State’s Democrats get an ‘F’ in wildfire management,” Monterey Herald—April 16, 2022

One-party rule hasn’t worked out well in California for wildfire management. Experts and fire chiefs assert that a main problem is a lack of clearing dead wood in our forests. The state even has a goal of clearing such flammable wood, but has fallen short by 690% in the last year, due to Newsom’s cuts in this program. We are now quite vulnerable to the 2022 wildfire season. In addition, Newsom and Democrats halved the emergency prisoner response force, and eliminated much of the aerial resources for fighting hard to reach fires. Perhaps it is time to give the other party an opportunity to attain the Republican stated goals of reducing dead wood in forests as well as reducing dead wood incumbents. Both me and Peter Hernandez on the Central Coast have strong platforms on wildfire prevention.

— Dalila Epperson, Monterey