Forest Service should post bonds before controlled burns

The admittedly incompetent U.S. Forest Service fire starters (Hermits Peak, Calf Canyon, etc.) should be required to post a large performance bond — at least $2.5 billion, half the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire damage costs, against the destructive potential of unsound Northern New Mexico thinning programs.

John G. Loehr Montezuma

Respect local knowledge

The recent article in The New Mexican (“Wildfire risk sparks concerns,” April 13) addresses the concerns of the Coyote-area residents and presents the beginnings of a clear picture of some very important landuse issues. The locals are suggesting they be heard, as real experts in the forest management situation. They suggest locals be paid to help manage the forest, to harvest the poles and trees, to thin and utilize the wood products so the forest represents wealth, not disaster.

I suspect U.S. Forest Service personnel do not have the hands-on, deep knowledge of the forests required to actually use and protect them, do not probably heat with wood as a lifelong practice or live by utilizing the forest.

These workers are unqualified to make profound and life-threatening decisions as they, sadly, play with matches and act like they are deeply knowledgeable. Correct ideas are born of lifetime experience. The U.S. Forest Service has proved its ability to damage, so now it needs to listen to the locals and observe the actual, non-theoretical state of the Earth. What is a slash pile anyway but a setup for sleeping embers? There is an important place for fires in the forest; the science is there. Yet there are deep issues with proper implementation, which should only be done using profound knowledge.

Thor Sigstedt Santa Fe

New generation

I am responding to the My View written by Mika Old (“County candidate: I’m a Democrat now for a reason,” My View, April 14). I appreciate that Old, running for a seat on the Santa Fe County Commission vacated by the incumbent in December, decided in November to switch her lifelong Republican Party affiliation to the Democratic Party — although her decision does seem opportunistic. Not mentioned in her column, but worth noting, is her public confirmation elsewhere she voted for former President Donald Trump in 2016.

A new generation of leadership is needed at all levels of government. I will be supporting Adam Fulton Johnson, a lifelong Democrat, born and raised here, with a doctoral degree in Western history, and executive director of the Old Santa Fe Association, for this seat. Adam understands the need for activism as well as preservation.

Please join me in supporting Adam Johnson to represent District 4 — and remember that this year, with no opposition, whoever wins the June 4 primary likely wins the election.

Charlene Cerny Santa Fe