Chaparral Wisdom
To celebrate the magic and beauty of Nature & the chaparral
Stop the destruction of 20 million acres of habitat and protect our communities from fire
After 15 years of fighting to protect the chaparral and Nature, the moment has come.
The California Board of Forestry will be holding a hearing on December 11, to consider Cal Fire’s just released Vegetation Treatment Program’s Environmental Impact Report (PEIR) that targets 20 million acres of native California habitat for destruction.
Based on past behavior, the Board will likely certify it… but there remains a ray of hope IF we can put enough pressure on them and Governor Newsom to follow the science, not what the entrenched fire bureaucracy desires.
1. Please read and sign our petition (text copied below).
2. Send emails as suggested in the petition.
3. Please share this petition with everyone you know.
Petition
STOP destruction of 20 million acres of habitat
and protect our communities from fire
The California state government has just refused to do what is necessary to protect us from the wind-driven wildfires that kill the most people and destroy the most homes.
Their solution? To double down on what they’ve always done – clear 250,000 acres of native habitat per year through grinding, burning, and herbicides in their proposed Vegetation Treatment Program (VTP). Even though the state admits that this approach will fail to protect lives and property during the most devastating wildfires, it nonetheless remains California’s priority solution to the wildfire problem.
Misconceptions About Wildfire in LA Times: Exterior sprinklers, too much fire, and cultural appropriation
The Los Angeles Times has been a champion in helping the public understand the truth when it comes to wildfire. But today, they made a mistake. They repeated numerous misconceptions that have held us back from crafting effective fire risk reduction policies.
The letter we wrote to them explaining why their article was inaccurate is below. If you are so moved, please write your own. It can make a difference. Limit it to 150 words or less and use this link to send it.
Our short letter to the editor can be found at the end of this post.
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Getting angry, then inspired
We wanted to share something that is energizing us and everyone we’ve been interacting with lately.
There is so much to get upset, depressed about these days. It easily becomes overwhelming. As with many of you who care about the planet, we’ve been going in and out of being terribly upset to near withdrawal countless times over the past couple years.
But something wonderful happened to our hearts and minds this past Friday while participating in the Climate Strike march in Santa Barbara.
We went to the center of town where everyone was supposed to assemble. To our disappointment, there were only about 200 people there. And the composition was disappointing as well… mostly composed of the traditional environmental demographic – older white people. We stood around for about 20 minutes when suddenly cheers rang out. A line of young people appeared out of nowhere and began filling the park – kids with flying fish floats and flags at the end of long, flexible poles waving in the sky. Signs, drums, singing. They just kept coming, hundreds of them. Kids of color, kids with disabilities, kids with wonderful smiles.
After a few speeches, the kids directed us south to march through town, toward the Santa Barbara pier, singing, chanting, waving signs.