Editor:
The Nov. 8 Journal ran an article “Can the Forest Service shift fire focus?” The answer is no! Sen. Bennet’s objective of doing mitigation to prevent big fires is a nice idea, but he is ignoring the basic facts that the mitigation tools to accomplish this have been destroyed over the past 40 years by the pseudo-environmental politicians. An entire wood products industry and markets for local products will have to be rebuilt, along with an expansion of the livestock uses in the forests. Without that happening they are blowing in the wind against the next fire.
The federal laws and regulations will prevent anything meaningful from being done other than justifying more expenditures of taxes.
Dexter Gill, Lewis