John Block Reports from Washington

Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the National Corn Growers Association and Crop Life America. They are friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.

And now for today’s commentary—

There aren’t any forest fires here in the east near Washington, D.C. No raging fires near our farm in Illinois. But the front pages of the Washington Post and the Washington Times both tell us the west is burning. Thousands are fleeing wild fires – forests and range land burned to a crisp. Earlier in the year, 1.2 million acres of range and farmland went up in smoke in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Cattle herds were burned up. The cattle that survived don’t have the hay or grass for feed.

Further to the west, hot weather and drought are drying out the Forest Service land (under the U.S. Department of Agriculture). USDA is responsible for 190M acres and the Bureau of Land Management has 70M acres. I interviewed Bill Imbergamo, Executive Director of the Federal Forest Reserve Coalition. He updated me on the severity of the situation. In Wyoming, the Medicine Bow National Forest fire more than doubled overnight. The Dixie National Forest in Utah has been burning old bug-killed spruce trees that the Forest Service did not harvest. Northern California, Southern California, and Colorado have thousands of acres of baked landscapes.

Now we all understand that there is risk of fire when it gets too dry and hot, but do we have to accept this level of destruction? Mr. Imbergamo says “no.” I agree. We need to manage our forest land better. Dead trees should be taken out. Thinning the amount of trees and brush will limit the amount that can burn. In some cases, “controlled burning” is the answer.  Often times, when the Forest Service tries to do the right thing, they can expect a torrent of lawsuits. Animal rights groups don’t want anyone to do anything. It might disturb the spotted owl. There could be some other endangered species nesting in the woods. In the Lassen National Forest in California, they said they had to protect the black back woodpecker.

Our priority should be our people, their homes and lives. Even woodpeckers don’t want their forest to burn. You might think that with the millions of acres being burned and misery inflicted on our citizens that we could find the will and resources to do something.

If you would like to review my radio shows going back more than 20 years, just go online

to www.johnblockreports.com. Have a great weekend.

Until next week, I am John Block from Washington.