Anson Stevens-Bollen
Cover, May 17: “The Heart of Darkness”
Ain't What You Think
Of course global warming is real and disastrous. But there ends the reliable science in this article. Instead, we get the usual US Forest Service propaganda that "decades of fire suppression" are the problem—and as the tree/matchstick image suggests, that trees are the problem.
Recent peer-reviewed science has disproved the notion that high-severity fires were historically rare. Forests managed themselves very well for tens of thousands of years, and they will continue to do so. The best thing humans can do is learn to live with natural fires and leave the forests alone. But there is no money in that. Forest "management" is all about money, not forest health. ...
One hundred percent of the Jemez fires were/are human-caused, most of them intentional "prescribed burns." The Jemez were burned up by the US Park Service (which started the biggest fire, Cerro Grande) and a utility company that failed to maintain its power lines. The incredible thing is that the Forest Service is still burning aggressively in the Jemez. It seems they will not stop burning and logging (aka "thinning") until there is no tree left standing.
Most people do not know that the Forest Service's stated goal is to kill 95 percent (not a typo!) of the trees on our public lands. ... Killing 95 percent of trees is not management; it is deforestation. Opposition to prescribed burns is growing. As this article points out, the trees will have a hard time coming back.
Cate Moses
Santa Fe
Cover, May 10: “Sugar Crash”
Follow the Money
Huh. Not enough to fund pre-K? Can someone write a story on what Michael Bloomberg's interest in the sugar tax really is and if he's a contributor to the mayor's fund to run for governor? I'm just a flaky arts writer but gosh I bet the hard news folks could find *something* about that, gosh darn.
Gregory Pleshaw
via Facebook
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