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Republican donor who owns almost 2% of California contributes significantly to wildfire hazard [1]
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Date: 2025-01-16
The Republican donor was mentioned in Lucy Walker's 2021 documentary Bring Your Own Brigade, which is about the Camp Fire that incinerated the town of Paradise in 2018. Valuable insights are provided by this film, as Walker interviewed numerous wildfire and land use experts as well as local residents.
Many of the lessons and insights these experts and residents provide apply to the LA fires as well.
Footage of the Camp Fire takes up the first 40 minutes, after that the experts tell us why it happened. Warning; some of the footage of the Camp Fire is pretty gruesome, so if you just want to watch the expert analysis, skip forward to approximately time point 40:00 or 41:00.
Here are a few samples. Some of the quotes are residents, other are experts or the narration.
There are too many trees in California
“In the past it was more a savannah situation. Bigger trees, farther spaced apart.” “There’s more trees up there than there’s ever been. Too many trees up there.” “Now you create a heat source that you can’t stop.” (Time point ca. 51:45)
“When we first came to Malibu, of course, there were no trees anywhere.” “But people who move here think they want to build a tropical paradise in the desert, people who aren’t really paying much attention.” “There was so much fuel. The eucalyptus trees, the palm trees that people have planted, they’re matchsticks.” (Time point ca. 52:20)
Logging industry creates the conditions for massive fires
“Sierra Pacific is owned by one guy, Red Emmerson. He’s the largest private landowner in the state of California. In fact, he’s one of the richest people in the world. But nobody seems to have heard of him. He’s also a huge Republican donor, especially to members of the agricultural committee which oversees forestry. He personally owns 1.9% of California, making him the third largest landowner in the U.S. And it turns out Sierra Pacific industries is very controversial. For one thing, because their practices involve clearcutting.” (Time point ca. 55:00)
“What we’re being told by the logging industry is that the more trees you pull out of the forest, the more that’s going to stop fires. And the reality is it’s exactly the opposite.” (Time point ca. 55:55)
California forest practice rules are creating more fire-prone conditions
“California forest practice rules require timber companies to plant a lot of trees when they clear-cut. The result is that now we have enormously thick forests that we have to come and thin, creating more fire-prone conditions in the woods by having slash and small branches and pine needles and everything laying everywhere.” (Time point ca. 56:10) “And the logging is spreading invasive grasses like cheatgrass, which is incredibly combustible and spreads fire very quickly and very intensely.” (Time point ca. 56:20)
Given facts like these, solutions to the fire crisis are going to take time.
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