Elected officials have a moral duty to protect the health and lives of citizens they represent and to be good stewards of resources. According to the EPA, wildfire smoke has microscopic particles that penetrate deep into your lungs and cause aggravated chronic heart and lung diseases and is linked to premature death. Tree and vegetation removal correlates to less wildfire and smoke. It seems reasonable for elected officials to pursue policies and legislation that protect citizen’s health and exercise good stewardship.
Politicians on both sides are now talking about “managing forests” and “fuel reduction.” However, only one of the two major US political parties is overwhelmingly supported by members of activist organizations that repeatedly file lawsuits against the US Forest Service to stop and delay tree and vegetation removal projects. Members of these “hands off our forest” organizations have now even resorted to attack campaigns against local elected officials, e.g., county commissioners.
Montanans need to wake up and stop electing candidates from the one major party in our country that has been inundated by people who care about protecting diseased trees more than humans, pets and livestock.
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