Letters to the editor Jan. 23

It could happen here

I hate to see stupidity rewarded. But that is exactly what will happen as a result of the California wildfires. Our country and every citizen will end up contributing to the inept policies in California which led directly to this disaster.    

The mistakes and the lack of preparation in California are monumental. It isn’t as if these fires haven’t happened before, in fact, many times. But are there any new reservoirs to save water from the mountains? No. In fact, other reservoirs have been destroyed or maintained at low levels for some innocuous smelt. There has been virtually no forest management with new roads cut into brush areas which should be the first line of defense against potential wildfires. They have punished their insurers with unreasonable rules and limitations on price increases causing many of them to leave that state altogether. The list could go on and on. And it’s going to cost billions of our tax dollars and increased homeowner’s premiums even for us in Montana to put it back together. 

But what is so disturbing is that we are doing the very same thing here in Montana. Thanks to idiotic and shortsighted policies by extreme environmentalists enforced by the chains of the Endangered Species Act and other similar, outdated laws in serious need of modification, the federal government is preparing wildfire fodder at an ever-increasing rate. The necessity for timber management is at an extreme level. More roads, more logging, more fire barriers, and the like are eminently needed as soon as possible. 

Gov. Greg Gianforte must lead that charge. He should declare an emergency for our state, contact our congressional delegation (particularly Sen. Tim Sheehy) demanding modification to the Endangered Species Act, even if temporary, and demand that Montana take over the management of our forest lands. He should also meet with all of our county commissioners as well as the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. These basic steps should begin immediately as the restoration process of our forests should begin this summer. It is just common sense.  Montanans can do it better.   

It has happened in California. It will happen here if we don’t learn the lessons from this event. And when they do, a lack of leadership now by our governor, senators, representatives and county commissioners will all be complicit in the tragedy when it inevitably happens. Be forewarned.

— Mark Agather, Kalispell

Preventable deaths

To abandon or even discredit polio and other vaccinations broadly would be akin to trying to fight wildland fires raging out of control without having trained wildland fire crews on hand to battle outbursts at the onset. Take heed. To do otherwise is foolish. Ask Los Angeles or look back just 75 years or so at the calamities of what are now preventable deaths from polio and the like, not to mention Covid just five years ago.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. ratified by the Senate is a very scary thought.

— Larry D, Williams, Columbia Falls