This does seem like an odd thing for the New York Times to spazz about, but they’re all in on a mid-term summer that isn’t going the way they’d really like, so I guess we’re grabbing at straws.
Breaking News: Trump officials are moving to open nearly 45 million acres of wilderness in national forests to new roads and logging, removing protections that had been in place since 2001. https://t.co/WlHCRaNWJx
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 18, 2026
It’s also strange after they had such a recurring cow about the Canadian wildfires. This was three years ago.
High temperatures in the spring and a heat wave that baked British Columbia and Alberta in mid-May exacerbated several early wildfires. By early June, Canadian wildfires had already burned as many acres as they usually do over an entire season. https://t.co/Azu3pBt4nk pic.twitter.com/LKSjpxbHcs
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 19, 2023
And, from this past July:
…In July, nearly 200 wildfires burning in northwestern Ontario sent smoke across a large swath of Canada and the United States, fouling the air for millions and forcing hundreds of evacuations near the fire zones.
Rain and lower temperatures since then in many parts of the country helped firefighters bring hundreds of blazes under control, but days of darkened skies and unhealthy air raised tensions with the United States. A group of Republican lawmakers last month criticized Ottawa’s handling of the fires, and President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canada to pay for harm caused by the smoke.
Mr. Carney did not directly respond to the complaints by Republican lawmakers, but he suggested the United States should do more to combat climate change, which scientists say is a significant factor in creating bigger, fiercer and longer-lasting wildfires.
There was nothing about the forest management practices in Canada that made these fires far worse than they had to be, even though there are historically fewer fires. This has also been the case here in the United States. Witness the Pacific Palisades conflagration for the most recent catastrophic example of ignoring safe fire mitigation practices. No burns, no brush clearing, no pre-dry season safety work done at all.
Many of these wilderness areas that the New York Times is now moaning about were once open to logging, and had the roads cut through them that allowed access to the timber that enabled firefighters to do such work. As well as spotting potential trouble spots of pine beetle infestations, etc., which make for wonderful tinder.
It’s not only about ‘economic development,’ although that always provides a wonderful bogeyman.
The Trump administration on Tuesday advanced a plan to open nearly 45 million acres of wilderness in national forests to road construction and logging, removing protections that had been in place for a quarter century.
The proposal by the U.S. Forest Service would repeal the 2001 “roadless rule,” enacted during the Clinton administration to preserve the wild nature of forest land. It comes as President Trump pressures the agency to increase logging and to thin forests to prevent wildfires.
The repeal would hand a major victory to Republican-led states and industry groups that have argued for years that the prohibitions have hindered economic development. More than a dozen lawsuits have unsuccessfully sought to strike down the rule.
Since the Biden administration in 2001 shut down many of what Trump had reopened, fires have grown fiercer, and the mitigation to prevent them has become more difficult to accomplish.
…The Trump administration and many Republicans argue that the ability to build roads would enable firefighters to more easily reach forest fires.
“For 25 years, the heavy thumb of Washington, D.C., has hindered Montana’s ability to properly manage wildfire risk and road development on nearly 60 percent of Forest Service land across the Treasure State,” Gov. Greg Gianforte, Republican of Montana, said in a statement.
Even some hardcore environmentalists are behind this move.
I am a radical environmentalist and here is why I support this:
My family used to have a cabin bordering national forest in California. The loggers built and maintained an extensive dirt road network that you could ride a quad on for 60 miles and never see anyone else. The… https://t.co/EmWLQDfZQv
— Dr. Ben Braddock (@GraduatedBen) August 18, 2026
…The logging was selective and done in a way that kept the forest healthy.
When this was restricted, the road and trail network fell into disrepair and you couldn’t get a pickup into the back country. The pine beetle came for the trees, which left a lot of standing fuel for the wildfires, which couldn’t be fought because there was no longer a backcountry dirt road network.
The fires were so intense because of the fuel load that they scarred the land. There was no grow back or burst of flowers the spring after. Just a dead bare mountain that could no longer support the wild life that once flourished there. All thanks to bad federal policy that is now being addressed.
Humans are a part of Nature not apart from Nature. Common sense dictates that we reject the mindset of both the greedy developer and the unhinged restrictionist. We need common sense radical environmentalism.
And others noted the difficulty the power companies now have accessing what used to be easy for them to get to – the land underneath their power lines. Environmental groups have closed the roads they used to travel to check for line breaks and to clear brush.
PG&E maintained a similar network of dirt roads connecting lakes/reservoirs, dams, power utilities. Sierra club politically closed many of them down, and had similar effect on land management.
— Bruce Hendrix (@brucedhendrix) August 18, 2026
How’s that been working out for California in those Santa Ana winds when a power line comes down on uncleared brush below it?
Not well at all.
So many lessons that have been learned time and again.
10 years ago when I did wildland firefighting in Northern California, we couldn’t even do controlled burns unless the fire was started “naturally.”
The catastrophic wildfires California has been having is 100% a result of bad policy decisions.
— 0000000000 (@retardistic) August 18, 2026
And ignored.
This doesn’t mean an interstate through every wilderness area, although that’s how it’s going to be pitched to frighten the public.
But it will mean healthier and safer forests.
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