Over
the past several months intense wildfires have been raging in 11 Western
states, fueled by dense forests and underbrush. Wildfires in Colorado
and in California have been the largest on record. The ferocious wildfire
in Arizona took the lives of 19 firefighters. The one in California’s
Sierra Nevada and Yosemite National Park is unprecedented with some
walls of fire running through river canyons at heights over 300 feet.
Nearly 3,700 firefighters have been battling these blazes. Why so
many, and why so intense? The answer lies in federal destruction of
private ranches and logging operations and in federal mismanagement
of wilderness lands.
Destruction
stemming from the Sierra Nevada fire is feared to present a risk of
contamination to the HetchHetchy reservoir, endangering the water
supply for the 2.6 million residents of San Francisco Bay. Hydroelectric
power and other utilities are also threatened.
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