Letters to the Editor: Reducing wildfire threats

Each fire season we return to the threat of unprecedented fire danger. It will only get worse. Pamela Swartz believes private-public partnerships are the best way to develop a strong collaborative approach to reduce the cost of forest management, mitigate fire danger and boost local economies.

Some of these collaborative efforts include: 1) Sustainable logging by thinning our forests back to a healthy density to improve fire resiliency; 2) Removal of dying and dead trees, creating fuel breaks and conducting prescribed burns; 3) Educating landowners through outreach programs and funding assistance on effective methods to reduce vegetation, to create a defensible space, and to provide for evacuation routes from their neighborhoods; and 4) Work to create a new industry that uses the biomass removed from lands.

Ms. Swartz will fight for funding that goes directly to our communities and residents to improve the health and diversity of our forests, creating a safer environment as well as much needed rural jobs.

As a home-owner in a fire-prone area, Ms. Swartz will also work to ensure that every homeowner has access to adequate and affordable homeowner’s insurance and will strongly advocate for better emergency follow-up for wildfire victims by state and the federal agencies.

In 2018 Brian Dahle voted no on SB465 Wildfire Safety Improvements and Home Hardening. This bill added wildfire safety improvements and home hardening improvements to the PACE program as an option to pay for these fire hardening improvements. Thankfully this bill became law without Dahle’s vote.

Pamela Swartz has ideas to help our North State. Brian Dahle has none. Please vote for Pamela Swartz this November.

Ayn Perry

Yreka