Letter to the Editor: A candidate with a plan to address fire danger
Having recently received my ballot for this year’s election, I’m interested not so much in our nation’s current “culture wars” as I am in seeing policies implemented that affect our safety and well-being here in Plumas County.
That’s why I was happy to listen to a Tele-Town Hall meeting with Congressional candidate Dr. Kermit Jones last week. It’s gratifying to listen to a candidate who’s both knowledgeable about the fire danger we face here and who also has a plan for it.
We live a third of a mile from the Plumas National Forest. It has been frustrating to witness this forest deteriorate into an overgrown time bomb, made worse by a years’ long drought and subsequent onslaught of bark beetle destruction. Thinning projects, for a variety of reasons, have not happened, and devastating, hard-to-fight fires like last year’s Dixie are the result.
Those of us subject to wildfire face astronomical home insurance premiums, IF we can even get coverage. If elected, Dr. Jones seeks to establish a national fire insurance program similar to our national flood insurance program through FEMA. He also plans to, once and for all, make sure that the Forest Service has the resources to reduce fuel density to better protect those of us who live surrounded by the Plumas National Forest and who face high risk and high insurance costs.
I’d encourage every voter to go to Kermit Jones’ website (https://www.kermitjonesforcongress.com/what-i-believe#climatechange) and learn the details of his plan. It isn’t just “pie-in-the-sky promises” we often hear from candidates. He’s analyzed the problem and has clearly thought through a proposed solution. There are a number of reasons I plan to vote for Kermit Jones, but this is one of the most important.
Bill Martin,
Quincy