Montana’s Path To Burning Back Better
Montana’s Path To Burning Back Better
"Fixing America’s Forests will require a variety of tools, but Montana has a substantial opportunity to expand the use of prescribed fire on private lands."
"Fixing America’s Forests will require a variety of tools, but Montana has a substantial opportunity to expand the use of prescribed fire on private lands."
"With proactive measures like these to expand Montana’s forest restoration and wildfire response capabilities, we can take our wildfire destiny back into our own hands."
"Thanks to Governor Gianforte’s Red Tape Relief Initiative, the Legislature appears to be striking a better balance between preserving Montana’s innate beauty and ensuring all Montanans can thrive."
"While the fate of the Root and Stem act is still unsure, it is still a good sign that those in Washington DC are finally beginning to take the wildfire crisis seriously."
"Expanding partnership opportunities for private groups to accelerate approval and implementation of forest restoration projects is a needed step to fix America’s forests."
"Prescribed burns, especially done in conjunction with mechanical treatments, proved their value as a proactive tool in controlling wildfires in Montana this summer."
"With these treatments applied, the wildfires this summer lacked the fuel sources to grow big and out of control."
"The Cottonwood decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2015 emphasizes how litigious groups have weaponized the Endangered Species Act to prevent forest management projects."
"Forests across the west are facing similar threats as California’s giant sequoias. By actively working to restore forest ecosystems and reducing fuel buildups, we can preserve our nation's cherished forests."
"Even when public land managers, officials and researchers agree that this mitigation work is needed on a landscape, the tools that reduce wildfire severity face a long, bureaucratic process of approvals and delays."
"As we approach fire season we should reject calls to abandon the science and instead double down on the best tools currently at our disposal — expanding active forest management to address our yearly wildfire crisis."
"Policymakers must ask whether the minuscule risk of an escaped prescribed burn is worth doing nothing, allowing fuels to build up and putting the forest at a higher risk of an all-consuming destructive wildfire."