Different forests need different approaches to wildfire management

Editor:
Colorado’s leaders are sounding the alarm about this year’s wildfire risk, but it’s important to remember that our state has a wide and wonderful variety of forests that need different approaches.
Across all these forests, the state’s most effective tool is helping communities survive wildfires, and not give the public a false-sense that we can stop this natural phenomenon.

Research consistently shows that making our homes more fire resistant, including clearing vegetation around them, matters more than what happens miles away in the forest.
The state isn’t helping if it’s focused on chopping down trees in the middle of nowhere. The state needs to put funding where it’ll do the most good: home hardening, better emergency planning, and reducing fine-fuels (grasses, weeds, and brush) near communities not logging trees in the backcountry.
Angie Jenson
Poncha Springs