I’ve long been a fan of saying “Log It, Graze It, or Watch It Burn.”
It looks like Trump is of the same mind. But he can do something about it.
- President Trump issued an executive order allowing agencies to do more to prevent massive wildfires.
- The order came one day after Trump signed GOP-backed wildfire legislation.
- Wildfires have burned more than 8.5 million acres this year.
President Donald Trump moved forward with policies aimed at preventing catastrophic wildfires while the media breathlessly covered the government funding battle.
Trump issued an executive order Friday to allow for active management of forest and rangelands, including thinning and removing debris from millions of acres of federal lands.
The order also calls on federal officials to streamline regulations and permitting processes to allow the harvest of at least 3.8 billion board feet from U.S. Forest Service lands and 600 million board feet from Bureau of Land Management lands.
That represents a massive increase in timber sales from federal lands. For example, loggers harvested 2.9 billion board feet from Forest Service lands in 2017, according to federal figures. But even Trump’s increased allowance for loggers is still about one-quarter of what was harvested in 1973.
Trump also asked federal officials to do more to maintain roads into hard-to-reach areas where fires can spread.
Trump Overhauled The Way We Prevent Wildfires And The Media Totally Missed It
7:22 AM 12/24/2018 | Energy Michael Bastasch | Energy Editor President Trump issued an executive order allowing agencies to do more to prevent massive wildfires. The order came one day after Trump signed GOP-backed wildfire legislation. Wildfires have burned more than 8.5 million acres this year.