If you’re choking on the smoke of Northwest wildfires like my family and I have been, the story only gets worse when you take a close look at the details.
The “Grasshopper Fire,” for example … has torched at least 14,000 acres of trees owned by all of us in the Mt. Hood National Forest.
The fire has forced at least dozens of people to flee from their homes.
But the important thing you should know … the area was identified years ago as a danger and tagged for fuels reduction.
And then, tree-huggers like Oregon Wild sued the Forest Service, and that delayed the work to clear those hazardous fuels and reduce the likelihood of fire.
The American Forest Resource Council points out that Oregon Wild scored more than $50,000 for attorneys' fees. Bottom line, taxpayers who own the trees and want them protected paid the cash to keep the forest at risk.
If you put it to citizens, how many would vote in favor of putting those shyster lawyers out on the fire lines with a shovel and a pulaski?
I know I would.
Instead, we’re funding their paychecks, while the trees we own go up in smoke.
