I've Never Seen the American West in Such Deep Distress

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/opinion/fire-coronavirus-west-california.html

I’ve Never Seen the American West in Such Deep Distress
We’re choking on smoke and staring out at Martian-red skies in a world becoming uninhabitable.
By Timothy Egan
Sept. 11, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ET

About 330,000 acres of the Evergreen State burned last Sunday — more land consumed by fire in a single day than all the acreage of an entire typical season in Washington.

Oregon held California’s smoke, and many of its recent refugees. A record 2.5 million acres have burned in the Golden State this year, and the fire season has only just begun.

Meanwhile, the world’s most dangerous climate change denier continued to spout gibberish. “You gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests,” said President Trump, scolding California.

That’s like telling people to drain their wading pools in advance of a hurricane. Nearly 48 percent of the land in California is federally owned. Those are his floors. And this West in distress is made sicker by his defiance of the globe’s existential threat. If ash were falling on his hair, he’d be more alert.

[Adsos Letter]

1. Our air quality index right now is 253.

253... “Very Unhealthy Air Quality.”

Car is absolutely covered in a very fine, talcum-like ash this morning.

Fairfield, California.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Once he's out and we start to count the damage, we'll be in shock. And, the cleanup will...

be on Biden's watch, so he'll get blamed for the mess.

MAGA, motherfucker, MAGA

[Bayard]

3. "Those are his floors"

Well, no they're not. They are OUR forest floors, and he is supposed to be a good steward of them. Instead, the land is being laid to waste by this petty little tin god for personal reasons.

Its heartbreaking to watch. I talked to a friend of mine in Fresno County a few days ago. He said it hasn't reached up as far as we lived yet, but its still pretty scary. This is fire season, no rain since last winter, where everything is a tinder box.

[Baked Potato]

4. I and Mrs Potato have California in our hearts. Please be safe Californians.

[SunSeeker]

5. Actually, the feds own 57% of CA's forest land, not just 48%.

The state of CA owns only 2% of CA forests; 57% are federal property, and the rest is private property. Similar numbers are found in Oregon and Washington.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/11/18/letter-poor-forest-management-lies-east-of-california-in-d-c/
Also, it's not just a forest management problem. Even the timber industry admits climate change is increasing wildfires: "We have had climate change, so temperatures are hotter and there’s less humidity and the fuel is drier,” said Rich Gordon, president of the California Forestry Association. “And there is more fuel to burn. It would have been positive [to expand tree thinning and timber harvests] but there are a lot of factors. I don’t think that would have completely eliminated this problem.” https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-managing-its-forests-president-managing-its-federal-lands-n942581