There are a lot of small private holdings within public lands. They should receive some property tax relief, in exchange for understanding that the forest around them is going to be managed naturally.
That doesn’t mean that their property won’t be defended as much as possible, just that stopping the entire fire itself won’t be the goal.
Why relief, and not a higher tax for the additional work required to stop their house from catching fire?
Re:Wildfire restored a Yosemite watershed
by zdragnar on Monday August 09, 2021 @11:44PM
(#28124961)
Why should only the wealthy not only get to have remote cabins, but also the full might of the government to prevent natural forest fires from damaging their property?
Raising taxes to fix things is always the most regressive solution- the wealthy, and only the wealthy, will be able to afford it.
Instead, treat it like a rural flood plain, acknowledge that the land is simply worth less because it is prone to natural damage, and leave it at that. Fire coming? Issue an evacuation order and let nature take its course.
That’s a good way to get voted out if the people in the area all want to have their little cabin some day, is why.
Re:Wildfire restored a Yosemite watershed
by notatoad on Tuesday August 10, 2021 @12:10AM
(#28125072)
And that's why nothing will ever change. Everybody can't have their own little cabin some day, and nobody ever wants to be the one who has to tell people that.
Well, if all the cabins burn down one year due to it becoming a wildfire nuclear apocalypse, and therefore nobody wants to build cabins - I guess we might get a short window until everyone forgets about it? Usually <= 5 years from what I’ve seen. Though <= 2 years might be more realistic now a days.
And California seems to be heading in that direction, though not there yet.
All it takes is one person building a cabin in the middle of a forest, and all of a sudden it's a fire that threatens property and can't be allowed to burn. We can let remote areas of the national parks burn, but it's going to take a lot of political and social change before it becomes acceptable to let people's vacation properties burn, Or to prevent development of large regions of forest so it can be allowed to burn.