The monstrous, 150,000-acre Camp Fire that nearly swallowed whole the town of Paradise, CA, has finally been subdued. Out of the ashes arises a new kind of resolve: a resolve never to let such a tragedy happen again.
WLJ spoke with U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-01), whose district was unwilling host to the Camp Fire, the Carr Fire (both of which earned “federal emergency” status), the Klamathon Fire, the Delta Fire, and others—all in this year alone.
“First we get through the crisis,” said LaMalfa of the Camp Fire. But then, he said, it’s time to “act boldly” to stop future uncontrollable blazes from claiming more lives and property.
LaMalfa has made several visits to Paradise in recent days, including a trip on Air Force One with President Donald Trump to tour the wreckage on Nov. 17. LaMalfa spoke with the president about a more aggressive tree thinning policy on federal land.
[inline_image file=”477f6fa8f97395d189de4fcb1d89e147.jpg” caption=”USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue (left) and U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (right) at Paradise Lake are briefed on fuel management project done in the area by Paradise Ridge Fire Safe Council, in Magalia, CA, on Nov. 26, 2018.”]
He’s also been having ongoing discussions with Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on the subject. On Monday, Nov. 26, he hosted Zinke and Perdue in a tour of Paradise and other areas impacted by the Carr Fire. An open round-table discussion was held involving victims of the fire.
Of his tour with the president, LaMalfa told WLJ, “He totally is on board with the idea that we’re not doing nearly enough with forest management and with what is supposed to be the stewardship of public land.”
“He also understands the connection between overcrowded forests and water availability. The sort of artificial drought created by overcrowded forests, compounded with actual drought, turns a marginal situation into crisis.”
Overcrowded federal forests, while not solely responsible for blazes such as the Camp Fire, have been major players in the devastation, LaMalfa said. That fire started in Feather River Canyon and went through a lot of federal forest on its way to Paradise, he pointed out.
“There’s private property there too,” he acknowledged, “but the question is, has [the Forest Service] done enough? We know that they’re way behind [on thinning projects].”
[inline_image file=”d82b7380ef269f58edf397490a8fd158.jpg” caption=”President Donald J. Trump, California Gov. Jerry Brown, California Governor-elect Gavin Newsom, FEMA Administrator Brock Long, and Mayor of Paradise Jody Jones survey the Camp Fire’s destruction of a mobile home village surrounded by a forest of dead trees on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018. Rep. Doug LaMalfa was also part of this survey but is not pictured.”]
According to the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, nearly 60 million Forest Service acres are at high risk of catastrophic wildfire nationwide. In California in 2017, just 250,000 Forest Service acres were treated in 2017—out of 15.4 million acres of forest land owned by the agency in the state. That’s a 1.6 percent treatment rate.
Some in the Forest Service want to accomplish those thinning jobs, and some don’t, LaMalfa said. He also noted that so-called environmental groups share a lot of the blame for thwarting forest management.
Federal legislation
While LaMalfa acknowledged that vegetation management will have to be tackled at all levels—local, state, and federal—and from multiple angles (don’t forget grazing, he pointed out), he said federal legislation is probably going to have to be enacted to make the biggest difference. And while the clock is running out for a Congress potentially friendlier to increased forest management and decreased regulation, LaMalfa said the president “wants to move the ball.”
On the plane ride to California from Washington, D.C., the president pledged to help “get farm bill money” for federal forest management and fuel reduction, LaMalfa said. “He said we need to get the farm bill passed with its forestry provisions, and in a timely fashion.”
Secretaries Perdue and Zinke have also been pushing the forestry provisions included in the House version of the farm bill.
Those House provisions—which have been a stumbling block in the Senate—would exempt many forest management activities from full Endangered Species Act (ESA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews. Forest management projects on non-wilderness and non-roadless areas could be exempted from ESA consultation, if the appropriate secretary (Agriculture or Interior) determined there would be no harm to listed species. Where ESA consultation would be required, it would be expedited.
Furthermore, the House-passed farm bill would allow certain forest management activities to be “categorically excluded” from the full review process under NEPA. Categorically excluded activities include those which: address insect disease or infestation; reduce hazardous fuel loads; protect a municipal water source; protect critical habitat from catastrophic wildfire; or increase water yield.
Salvage logging would also be categorically excluded under NEPA, although stream buffer and reforestation requirements would remain. Projects to improve or create “early successional forests” would also be categorically excluded. All the above categorical exclusions would apply only to acreages of 6,000 or less.
Resilient Federal Forests Act
The House recently passed another bill that has the potential to improve federal forest management. The Resilient Federal Forests Act contains the ESA and NEPA provisions that made it into the House farm bill, and much more.
For example, it would put an end to “fire borrowing,” where funds get robbed from forest management activities to fight fire. It would stop attorney fees going to environmental groups that sue to stop forest management projects and require the use of arbitration rather than litigation. These are just a few of many provisions in the bill.
Although the future for the forestry legislation pending in Congress, the resolve to make something happen seems strong. Gov. Jerry Brown has, in fact, signed bills and executive orders to ease some of the regulations hindering forest management on private lands (see the related forestry regulations story on page 5).
“The California governor and Trump are talking about working together,” LaMalfa said.
“I look at it this way,” said LaMalfa. “Anything you can do to increase your odds to fight back and survive, you do.”
He was talking about treating as many acres as possible to slow down wildfires—but perhaps politicians looking for real solutions can find success following the same tack. — Theodora Johnson, WLJ correspondent
