Zinke from Interior blames environmentalists for California wildfires

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US Secretary of State for the Interior Ryan Zinke said on Tuesday that the deadliest forest fires in California's history were due in part to environmental defenders' lawsuits. who have sought to put an end to forest management practices, such as forest thinning.

"Radical environmental groups who would rather burn the whole forest than cut a single tree or thin the forest," have filed lawsuits to end forest management, Zinke told reporters at a news conference. a teleconference on forest fires in California. "Yes, I put it on the feet," environmentalists, he said.

The remains of 79 victims have been found since the camp fire on November 8 and have largely destroyed the city of Paradise, a community of nearly 27,000 inhabitants.

Zinke did not name any specific groups, claiming that he did not want to point fingers. He added that other factors, such as warmer temperatures, a historic drought and many dead and dying trees were also to blame.

Randi Spivak, land director of the Center of Biological Diversity, an environmental group that sued the government for forestry practices, said there have been only 38 prosecutions against the 576 decisions made by the federal government in the field of forest management in California between 2009 and 2017.

"When Zinke says that this is due to extreme environmentalists, it has no basis in fact," Spivak said. She said climate change and increased development of forest areas prone to forest fires had caused destruction.

Zinke first blamed environmentalists in an interview for Breitbart News after visiting communities affected by California wildfires.

Another environmentalist said that blaming green groups was easier than reducing emissions from rising temperatures and drought. "The only radicals here are the Trump administration officials who are exploiting a climate tragedy to try to profit their friends from the timber industry," said Abigail Dillen, president of Earthjustice.

THIN FOREST AFTER AN INSECT, DAMAGE TO A DISEASE

Germany was a model of forest management, said Zinke. President Donald Trump, who is visiting California, said that Finnish President Sauli Niinisto recently told him that the country rarely has wildfires because "they spend a lot of time raking, cleaning and doing things" to clear floor. Niinisto said that the raking did not intervene in his conversation with Trump.

US Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, said that forest management practices needed to be speeded up, and he hoped that US agencies could get more authority to do so under the umbrella of. a bill on agriculture that was under discussion. "There are things we can do, we need the authority to do it," he said.

Ministry of Agriculture Forest Service to Extend Its So-Called "Good Neighbor Authority" with US to Tribes, Counties and Other Amerindian Partnerships to Protect Homes and Lives Through Cooperation Agreements or contracts, said Perdue.

The Planning Bureau and the Forest Service would also like to expand the categorical exclusions for forest thinning in areas damaged by insects or diseases to prevent fires, he said. added.

But, according to Perdue, the authorities could take years to catch up on forest management, such as reducing the consumption of dead trees and dry brush and improving relief roads.