Opinion Pieces

The piece was originally published in The Sacramento Bee.

In 2021, the Caldor Fire swept through Northern California and devastated parts of El Dorado, Alpine and Amador counties. The fire, which decimated the town of Grizzly Flats, blazed for over two months and destroyed over 200,000 acres of land in the region. Many residents in the town of Grizzly Flats are still trying to rebuild what was lost because of this devastating fire, which resulted in part from years of forest mismanagement.

Unfortunately, forest management issues are all too common for California and communities throughout the West.

California is a state abundant with natural beauty. We are blessed to have some of the most beautiful forests, mountains and natural habitats in the entire world. Unfortunately, that beauty is at risk. Each year, California wildfires threaten the safety of our neighbors, the protection of property and the preservation of scenic lands we all value. These devastating wildfires destroy communities and property and cause tragic losses of life, as well as inflicting great harm on the environment. This year alone, there have been over 5,000 wildfires and over 300,000 acres burned in California.

While fire is an important part of life for these ecosystems, years of mismanagement of our forests has created tinderboxes across the state. For years, biomass and brush have built up in our forests, creating the perfect environment for catastrophic wildfires. This is a reason why California has experienced nine of the 10 worst fires in the state’s history since 2010. Also contributing to this is changing climate conditions, including higher temperatures, and California’s sharp decline in logging. While clear cutting practices of the past were wrong, we have over-corrected and made it too difficult for logging companies to operate cost effectively. Overgrowth, such as underbrush and excess trees, will be removed one way or another. It is up to us to move it ourselves, so fires do not remove it for us. We can, and must, do better.

Luckily, there’s an abundance of ways in which we can improve our forest management practices. One obvious way is to remove biomass that has built up for years. This can be done through prescribed burns, mechanical thinning or simply physically removing debris. Another important practice is properly cleaning up debris from past wildfires. More often than they should, dead trees and debris left behind by wildfire are left in place, becoming potential fuel for another wildfire.

While these solutions seem simple enough, the regulatory process that’s been created at the federal level to protect forests often creates roadblocks. It can take years to process applications to treat forest land, leading to more biomass buildup and loss of time. We’ve created a system where the federal government is getting in its own way and preventing good forestry practices.

Thankfully, we’ve seen legislation become law, such as the Water Resources Development Act of 2016 which included the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, that removes these barriers. These, in the form of categorical exclusions, are given to the Lake Tahoe basin to allow for proper treatment of their forest and the creation of fire breaks, both of which saved the town of South Lake Tahoe from the 2021 Caldor fire. This should be replicated in other forests across the West.

It is our duty, as stewards of these beautiful lands, to make sure that future generations can enjoy them as we do. This can only be done if we take proper care of our forests. We know what happens if we don’t — just look at Grizzly Flats.

As members of the Congressional Western Caucus, we believe we have the ability to right this ship, and ensure California’s beauty can be enjoyed for generations to come.

Rep. Dan Newhouse represents Washington’s 4th congressional district.

Rep. Kevin Kiley represents California’s 3rd congressional district, which includes Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Placer, Alpine, Mono and Inyo, and parts of Yuba, El Dorado and Sacramento counties.