Randi Spivak

With tweets and taunts and political posturing, President Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke have made one thing clear: They apparently have no genuine interest in reducing the loss of life and property from wildfires. Instead, they’re misleading the public about the causes of California’s fires and potential solutions. And they’re using these tragedies to force through provisions for large-scale logging. It’s nothing more than a gift to the timber industry. When it comes to wildland fires, the public simply can’t rely on Trump or Zinke to act in their best interests. …“Radical environmental groups” aren’t the problem. …Human activity due to sprawl development in fire-prone areas has been shown to cause more fires and likely ignited both. Lawsuits aren’t preventing federal and local governments from keeping communities safe.