(Letter to the Editor - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

A few comments on a letter I previously wrote, in the Sunday, Jan. 26, newspaper titled “Trump was right.”

Due to space limitations, I neglected mentioning that water to most of southern California farmlands had been shut off to benefit the smelt, an obscure fish, which is allegedly an endangered species. Environmentalists in California put the welfare of the smelt over the livelihood of southern California farmers, who lack sufficient water to grow crops. Only a small percentage of southern California farmers receive adequate water to make their farms productive. The remainder of these farms are dried up and susceptible to wildfires, due to California’s poor land management. A proper flow of water to those farmlands would alleviate this and make them productive.

Removing dead trees, brush and other combustibles would reduce the likelihood of wildfires burning out of control.

Building and filling reservoirs with rainwater from wet seasons for fighting wildfires during dry seasons is a commonsense idea.

Another common sense idea is constructing fire roads to get firefighting equipment to the wildfire, even during the Santa Ana winds. Depending solely on aircraft to fight wildfires during the Santa Ana winds is a bad idea.

Whether climate change is real or a hoax is a separate issue. Regardless, common sense land management would aid in limiting the scope of wildfire damage. Sadly, today’s environmental extremists lack any vestige of common sense.

There will always be wildfires due to acts of nature, like lightning strikes, for which we cannot prevent, but can only be prepared. Also, there will always be acts of arson and arson is not caused by climate change, no matter what environmental extremists try to tell us.

Steve Wolverton

Parkersburg