It also says that these professionals simply react to fire conditions rather than getting out in front of hazardous conditions and take proactive steps to mitigate the drivers of catastrophic wildfires before it’s too late. Apparently this is caused by a lack of available resources, which is probably true.

A lack of available resources, in this case, is the funding shortfalls for all of our land management agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service and Fish & Wildlife Service.

We love the public lands, but our representatives fail to live up to their funding responsibilities and, like it or not, the real driver of excessive fires over the past 20 to 30 years is drought caused by climate change. A carbon tax would help the “available resource” situation as well as long term drought.

A front-door approach to the problem might be welcomed.

Chet Anderson

Durango