We need forest management, not climate change blame

As we drive around our great state, we quickly understand why Colorado experiences devastating forest fires. Whether we are driving into the mountains via I-70, driving through the canyons in Northern Colorado, or taking the scenic route down south, we can see the fire scars left throughout our forests.

I recently visited the part of my district where just last year, over 200,000 acres, covering a large section of rural Larimer County, was burned during the Cameron Peak fire. If you had ever driven through the Poudre Canyon before the devastating fire, you would have seen an abundance of dead, beetle kill trees and dead pine. This was a major contributing factor in the growth of the Cameron Peak fire.

This is not just a problem in my district, over 40 percent of the state’s forests have been devastated by beetle kill. Add to that decades of poor federal forest management policies and fire suppression, leaving our forests to burn. And after, the soil, without any support from living trees and other growth, is increasingly likely to experience landslides and erosion that can have an impact on water quality and even the damage of infrastructure seen in Glenwood Canyon this spring.

Unfortunately, without proper management, forest growth has reached an unnatural level of density, significantly increasing the fuel to keep these fires going. A study from the United States Forest Service found that active forest management could help to reduce the size and severity of forest fires by up to 70%.

Forest fires have a myriad of impacts on our state, from personal devastation of people’s homes, to the huge economic impact on our tourism industry, to the potential loss of not harvesting this great resource. The more they burn, the less we have to offer.

A big economic driver is the devastation of the logging industry. Colorado has not utilized these agricultural resources for a number of years. Increasing logging not only helps to reduce the impact of future fires, but also helps firefighters seeking to fight them, by having clear cut fire breaks to mitigate the spread of fires. It is estimated that for every dollar spent removing trees from fire-prone forests, an estimated seven dollars will be saved in firefighting costs. This could be very helpful in a state budget where millions of taxpayer dollars are used every year for fire mitigation.

So, what can we do better?

A well-managed forest is a healthy forest. While we may never eliminate forest fires entirely, we can work to reduce the severity and frequency at which they burn.

By thinning forests, prescribing burns, and cleaning up dead underbrush, we can shift the focus from managing already-burning wildfires to improving growth of a healthy forest.

Unfortunately, the failed policies of the ’70s to not manage the forests like any other agricultural crop are coming to haunt us with the current dilemma we are facing with massive destruction of our air quality and personal property. President Biden and Governor Polis are trying to muster up fake solutions to a real problem. Instead of focusing on real forest management, they have placed all of the blame on climate change. They are just ignoring the problem and the contributing factors to increased carbon emissions and a disrupted wildlife habitat. By managing forests and proactively clearing dead trees, the fire will have far less to burn and therefore far less fuel to keep it going.

If Joe Biden and Jared Polis truly want to help reduce climate change, they should want to help reduce emissions from forest fires that have devastated the western United States. But, addressing the issue would limit their talking points. Instead they have allowed so called “environmental” groups to control policies and decisions that have only delayed any sort of real solutions.

Forest management is a “common sense” policy that can help save Colorado’s beautiful forests for years and years to come. Together, we can work to not only save our beautiful state but also improve air quality and public health. In order to do so we need action not only from the Colorado Legislature, but the federal government, especially when they control over 36% of Colorado’s land.