Interior's Zinke Demands 'Aggressive' War on Fires, Stop Letting 'Nature Take Its Course'
Washington Examiner (September 14, 2017)

The Interior Department is heating up its war on costly and deadly wildfires in the West, junking policies of leaving forests alone and letting piles of deadwood lay to fuel more fires.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said letting nature take its course is costing too much in money and lives, and added that few other countries follow that policy.

Just letting fuel build up, he said, is "inexcusable and shameful because we can actively manage our holdings to remove the dead and dying timber and restore the health of the forest. Other countries do it. German does it."

In an interview with Secrets in advance of issuing a new directive demanding a policy change, he said in the past, "their thinking was let nature take its course. It's the naturalist in extreme." Zinke added, "Nature is on geologic time."

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