Ben Tindall, Save Family Farming Executive Director, issued the following statement regarding the wildfire disasters devastating forests, ranchland and communities across multiple parts of Eastern Washington
“Not only have homes, businesses and communities been devastated, but these out-of-control firestorms have laid waste to hundreds of thousands of acres of forest and rangeland vital to protecting ecosystems and growing sustainable food. The changing climate doesn’t help, but no matter what sparked the fires, there’s a much more immediate and glaring culprit behind how big these fires become: mismanagement of state and federal lands.
“Sadly, this state’s farmers and ranchers who have stewarded these lands for generations have seen this disaster coming, as state agencies including the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the state Department of Natural Resources have badly mismanaged these critical resource lands in recent decades, leaving a wake of destruction in their path.
“Hindering cattle grazing on vast swaths of public land not only harms the sustainable food production Washington’s ranchers have practiced for many decades, it leaves these areas prone to explosive wildfire growth. Properly managed cattle grazing is one of the best ways to manage forest and rangeland to prevent catastrophic fires. Why do state and federal leaders continue to pursue a dangerous ‘no-touch’ approach, knowing the huge unnecessary risk it creates?
“The state’s management approach has created a tinderbox, and when it burns, it destroys the forests, kills the wildlife, and pollutes the very streams, soil and air that the state falsely claims it’s trying to protect–not to mention the lives, homes and communities also going up in flames.
“Farmers and ranchers across the state will tell you: before agencies adopted this wrongheaded approach, wildfires weren’t like this. State agencies including WDFW, DNR, Ecology and the U.S. Forest Service need to answer to those whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed. Why did they put people, animals and the environment in such danger?
“These state and federal agencies need to immediately change their land management approach to prioritize responsible grazing and sustainable forest and rangeland management. Too many lives and communities have been put at risk by dangerous management decisions for state leaders to continue on the current path.
“We cannot control every ignition. But we can control whether our forests and rangelands are responsibly managed before the spark occurs. State leaders need to put experienced land stewards back in the driver’s seat of public land management decisions. This is the only way to stop the devastation that ideology-driven mismanagement by disconnected bureaucrats hundreds of miles away in Olympia continues to cause.”
Press Contact: Dillon Honcoop, dhoncoop@savefamilyfarming.org