Should Californians RAKE CALIFORNIA GREAT AGAIN? As of 4 October 2020, more than 4 million acres of California forestland have burned so far this year, more than doubling the previous record. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, 2020 was California’s worst wildfire season in modern history. What makes the blazes so frequent and so destructive? Scientists point to four key factors: (1) climate change, (2) downed power lines and ill-considered individual conduct, (3) fire suppression and (4) Santa Ana winds.
Rake California Great Again, but where are the Federal rakers? Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2020. www.walled-in-berlin.com
President Trump Disagrees with Our Scientists
President Donald Trump disagrees. He is convinced that the majority of California’s wildfires are attributable to a lack of proper raking of the forest floor. “You’ve got to take care of the floors. You know the floors of the forest, very important,” Trump noted. He claimed that the Finnish president told him that Finland “spends a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things. And they don’t have any problem. And when they do, it’s a very small problem.” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-says-raking-would-help-prevent-forest-fires_n_5bf0d578e4b0f32bd58a1aba
Why isn’t the Federal government raking their Forests located in California?
Since 58% of California’s 33 million acres of forestlands are owned and managed by the Federal government and the State of California owns only 3%, I wonder why Mr. Trump hasn’t sent out Federal workers to rake the federally-owned forests. After all, the Feds own about 20 times as much forestland in California as the State does. If you believe that the crux of the problem lies in the lack of raking, then where are your Federal rakers, Mr. Trump?
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
