What is the first duty of government? Most people would say ensuring public safety. Well, you wouldn't know it if you attended last week's study session of the Auburn City Council on fire prevention activities in the American River Canyon.
Within the first five minutes of the three-hour study session, I learned that there has been over the years little or no fire prevention activity in the American River Canyon which forms the eastern border of Auburn. As the fuel load in the canyon builds up year in and year out, the probability of a catastrophic wildfire only increases. Such a wildfire threatens the lives of city and county residents and their firefighters. Yet no federal or state agency considers reduction of the excessive and dangerous fuel load in the canyon a high enough priority to take action.
The most embarrassing and damning moment of the study session came when the representative of the federal Bureau of Reclamation (BOR), which owns almost every inch of the canyon adjoining Auburn, testified before the council. She told the council that BOR does not have a fire prevention plan but recently discovered that they are required have such a plan. She could not estimate when a plan would be developed, how much money would earmarked for the project, nor when the plan would be implemented. And worse still, she expressed no sense of urgency for the development of a fire prevention plan.
Why the bureaucratic complacency? After hearing the testimony, it was clear to me that the BOR, whose primary mission is to build dams and not prevent catastrophic wildfires through managing the lands they own, is an absentee landlord headquartered 3,000 miles away that will do little or nothing to reduce the fuel load in the canyon unless pressured to do so.
While the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (CDF) didn't present a fire prevention plan either, they are not the landowner. However, BOR could refine their contract with CDF to ensure that we tap into state fire fighter expertise to reduce the fuel loads that threaten our community.
But what about the responsibilities of property owners on the canyon? The law (Section 4291, Public Resource Code), requires owners of buildings adjoining forest covered or brush covered lands to clear all flammable vegetation 30-100 feet from the buildings. From testimony at the study session, it is unclear whether this important public safety law is being enforced.
There was one glimmer of hope during the study session. The US Forest Service described their activities in which they reduce fuel loads for 1.5 miles around each community where they own lands. While the US Forest Service does not own land around Auburn, if we could get the BOR to adopt these vegetation management practices we could markedly lower the threat of catastrophic wildfire.
How do we get there? We need to give our fire fighters and prevention experts the tools and access they need to get the job done. The first and hardest step is an attitude change to hold these government officials accountable. If we act like a small town and let big federal and state agencies push us around, nothing will get done. However, if we act like citizens and demand that government agencies act as our public servants rather than the other way around, we can ensure that the public safety of our residents is the first priority.
Christopher Matthews, former spokesman for House Speaker Tip O'Neil and now a prominent television commentator wrote in his book Hardball that one tactic used by successful legislators is to practice "porcupine politics." "The key is to be a porcupine - have a reputation for being difficult," wrote Matthews. That means not accepting that our government officials do not have a comprehensive plan to reduce the fuel load in the canyon. When they say that they don't have enough money to do the job, we have to make sure that our local, state and congressional representatives push hard to ensure that the first call on budgetary resources is for protecting public safety. Proactive land management now may prevent our residents from having to turn to the Federal Emergency Management Agency later.
Our town has an opportunity and obligation to take a leadership role in protecting the public safety of its residents. Success will not come easily nor quickly. But in order to achieve success, we are going to have to practice "porcupine politics" and be relentless in demanding that public safety is the top priority of our public officials.
Copyright 2001 The Auburn Sentinel