[Genuine Realist]

My house burned to the ground in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire. The hills were full of bushes, pine and eucalyptus. These are the worst propagators of urban wild fires. Oak and redwood are slower to catch fire and not as explosive. They are preferred by the city of Oakland. 

We rebuilt on the same lot. We get inspected every spring to be sure we are in compliance with vegetation management. If you fail the first inspection you have to pay a $400+ fee for the second inspection. It ends up on your property tax bill if you resist paying. Getting permission to cut down large trees in the Oakland Hills seems to be pretty easy. Our neighbors just removed several.

That's a fairly easy fix in a suburban area, but California forests extend hundreds of miles into areas that are still uninhabited.

What I'd like to see is an end to demonization (fat chance). I'd like to see an end to politics that treat timber companies as if they were going to strip the forest bare. I'd like to see a sensible environmentalism, that does not regard every tree as a good tree (any more than every deer is Bambi.) We should be able to agree on what sensible density of a forest is, and strive for that.

Politicians such as Trump, who politicize and exaggerate a kernel of truth, are not helpful. Neither are the other kind, who damn every kind of corporatism. (One of the weird ironies is that students who are interested in environmental protection end up with perfect resumes for oil and mineral companies, as well as timber. There are a ton of environmentalists in management there, who are far more knowledgeable than the amateurs.) I'd like to see a lot less sloganizing and more trust in good faith.

[Genuine Realist]

My house burned to the ground in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire. The hills were full of bushes, pine and eucalyptus. These are the worst propagators of urban wild fires. Oak and redwood are slower to catch fire and not as explosive. They are preferred by the city of Oakland. 

We rebuilt on the same lot. We get inspected every spring to be sure we are in compliance with vegetation management. If you fail the first inspection you have to pay a $400+ fee for the second inspection. It ends up on your property tax bill if you resist paying. Getting permission to cut down large trees in the Oakland Hills seems to be pretty easy. Our neighbors just removed several.

That's a fairly easy fix in a suburban area, but California forests extend hundreds of miles into areas that are still uninhabited.

What I'd like to see is an end to demonization (fat chance). I'd like to see an end to politics that treat timber companies as if they were going to strip the forest bare. I'd like to see a sensible environmentalism, that does not regard every tree as a good tree (any more than every deer is Bambi.) We should be able to agree on what sensible density of a forest is, and strive for that.

Politicians such as Trump, who politicize and exaggerate a kernel of truth, are not helpful. Neither are the other kind, who damn every kind of corporatism. (One of the weird ironies is that students who are interested in environmental protection end up with perfect resumes for oil and mineral companies, as well as timber. There are a ton of environmentalists in management there, who are far more knowledgeable than the amateurs.) I'd like to see a lot less sloganizing and more trust in good faith.