Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke slammed critics of the Trump administrations plan to use new forestry techniques to help mitigate wildfires.
According to The Daily Caller:
Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke accused critics of the Trump administration’s position on forest management of being unscientific in their approach to mitigating future California wildfires.
“People who claim forest management means clearcutting or largescale logging are either lying or just don’t know what they’re talking about,” Zinke wrote in a tweet Wednesday reiterating claims that activists are not taking forest management issues seriously.
He added: “Management = scientifically determining unhealthy tress to remove, prescribed burns, reseeding diverse species, salvaging burnt logs, etc.” Zinke made similar comments in a phone conference Tuesday suggesting activists would rather “burn down the entire forest” than thin forests.
People who claim forest management means clearcutting or largescale logging are either lying or just don’t know what they’re talking about. Management = scientifically determining unhealthy tress to remove, prescribed burns, reseeding diverse species, salvaging burnt logs, etc.
— Secretary Ryan Zinke (@SecretaryZinke) November 21, 2018
His remarks come more than two weeks after wildfires scorched more than 240,000 acres across California, including the nearly 150,000-acre Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise and heavily damaged surrounding communities. The death toll could surpass 100, once emergency crew sift through the wreckage.
Forest management has been a major issue for the Trump administration and one of the major factors in the feud between him and California Governor Jerry Brown.
