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It's now clear that only the U.S. Forest Service and other land management agencies, freed to use prescribed fire and other methods, well funded by Congress, and well supported by the public, can prevent catastrophic wildfires.

Here comes the public works programmes that reward the agencies for their failures. This "opinion" ignores of course how the USFS and other agencies have worked hand in hand with the RICOnut NGOs. They'll screw this one up on analysis paralysis as well. The lawyers will eat all the cash.

Uh, isn't "agencies, freed to use prescribed fire and other methods, well funded by Congress, and well supported by the public" what we had all during the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s??? Oh, my mistake, they think that they're smarter now.

Yeah, right.

Isn't it time for something really different?

I can solve this problem with a minor editorial shift:

It's now clear that only PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNERS, WITH MOTIVE AND FREEDOM TO MANAGE FUELS IN FORESTS UNDER PRIVATE OVERSIGHT, can prevent catastrophic wildfires.

That should work. See, it's even shorter.

It's now clear that only PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNERS, WITH MOTIVE AND FREEDOM TO MANAGE FUELS IN FORESTS UNDER PRIVATE OVERSIGHT, can prevent catastrophic wildfires.

There was a discussion of Weyerhauser forest closures on another thread. Has anyone done a comparison of fire losses on Weyerhauser and GP lands, as compared to Forest Service lands? I think it would be quite revealing.