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Countless wild animals are at risk of losing their homes and their lives to a vast, misguided “vegetation management” project targeting the lush coastal forests of Marin County, California.
 

In a time of climate emergency, one of our last natural defenses, a thriving, fog-drenched forest that traps carbon and cradles life, is being destroyed. Even California, a global beacon of environmentalism, is drinking the Kool-Aid.

Deforestation is the problem, yet it's being proposed as the solution.

An area twice the size of Manhattan is being targeted for destructive so-called “vegetation management.” Teeming with unique and irreplaceable birds, mammals, insects, and plants, these forests may soon be assaulted with so-called “thinning” and “management,” which means chainsaws, chemical herbicides, and industrial mowers. Gasoline-powered machines will tear through the shrubs, plants, and trees, destroying the homes that wild animals depend on to survive.

Forests are not the enemy. Trees are our lifeline.

Harmful deforestation projects disguised as fire prevention are spreading like wildfire, even though cutting vegetation over 30 meters from homes does nothing to protect them. Instead, this assault on nature worsens fire risk by making forests hotter, drier, windier, and less fire-resilient.

This isn't forest care. It's a war on nature.

The chemical herbicides used in this (and similar) project seep into waterways. Machines destroy dense understories where animals hide and live. The ear-splitting noise, pollution, and mechanized destruction traumatize and displace all the creatures who live peacefully here. This is a monstrous way to treat the delicate web of life that supports forest animals, and humans, too.

In the western states, real wildfire prevention begins from the home, outward. Home hardening makes houses and structures ignition-resistant. Embers won't ignite houses that have been treated.

Creating defensible space within 30 to 100 ft of structures is a proven, effective method to save lives and property. Cutting down forests over a football field away from houses is nothing more than a brazen sham by agencies to secure government funding.

“Thinning,” “vegetation management,” and “fuel reduction” are deforestation terms misleadingly rebranded as fire suppression policies. Chainsaws, masticators, and herbicides don't heal or save forests. They damage and destroy them. Worse, they will further heat the planet by degrading the precious few remaining wild forests… while driving wild animals from their homes, and to their doom.

This dystopian deforestation project for coastal Marin County is one of many — but it hasn't been approved yet.

Say no to this reckless deforestation that increases wildfire danger and increases global warming. Say no to terrorizing wild animals and destroying their homes. Say no to making forests more, not less, flammable. And say yes to smart, proven fire protection measures and science-based forest policy, which should replace similar “vegetation management” and “thinning” deforestation projects being proposed for almost all western U.S. forests.

Letter to Decision Maker(s) for reference:

Subject: “Vegetation management” in the Marin County coastal plan increases wildfire danger

I am writing to you with an urgent plea to amend your draft coastal wildfire resilience plan (“Draft Marin County Forest Health and Fire Resilience PWP”).

Your project contains some home hardening measures, defensible space treatments, grants for these, and emergency evacuation preparedness planning, which are all commendable. These are the proven, effective treatments to protect houses and structures, from the house-out, not from the forest-in.

I strongly oppose and object to all the pointless, ineffective “vegetation management” beyond the 100 ft. home defensible space zone. 

Wild forests do not need to be, and should not be “thinned” or “managed.” Chainsaws, toxic chemical herbicides, industrial masticating machines, and controlled burns make forests and wildlands more, not less, prone to wildfire risk. 

In addition, thousands of wild animals will die when their homes are destroyed in the process of vegetation management with machines and chemical poisons.

Precious coastal Marin wildlands and forests are the most fog-drenched areas of the county. Cutting down thousands of trees and grinding up tens of thousands of smaller wild plants will make our neighborhood forests hotter, drier, windier, and even *more* flammable.

I strongly urge you to reallocate the “vegetation management,” “thinning,” and “fuel reduction” expenditures in this draft plan to protect Marin County coastal communities. Spend public tax dollars making houses ignition-resistant with home hardening and defensible space treatments close to houses, mostly within 30 feet and not over 100 feet away.  

These are the only proven, effective methods for protecting houses in the uncontrollable, wind-driven wildfires that have destroyed entire communities in recent years. Cutting into wild forests and other undeveloped wildlands will only make forests more fire-prone and increase life-threatening danger to the public.

In addition, countless thousands of wild animals — including foxes, owls, woodrats, mice, bats, opossums, raccoons, hawks, woodpeckers, rabbits, and many more- will be driven from their homes for no good reason. Their homes will be destroyed so they can never return, which is both cruel and pointless.

I do support the other community-protecting components of the draft plan, including emergency preparedness and allocating funds to help residents treat their houses. I would support this project, rather than oppose it, if you removed all “vegetation management” beyond 100 feet from homes, and spent money wisely on the plan’s other, effective components.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

Signed

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.