MDCalifornia Politics Following last year’s devastating wildfires that ripped through the state of California, it is more important than ever for politicians to respond to the state’s increasing vulnerability to these natural disasters. California citizens, especially those who were affected by the fires, are looking for anything to show them that something is being done to recompense and to reduce the risk of fires like this from happening again. Because of this, it will be extremely important for anybody running for state office to focus parts of their campaigns on their ideas to remedy the ongoing fire crisis going on in California. This could mean discussing their plans to reduce climate change on the state level, goals for clearing the brush from forests, and possibly most importantly, how they will work with the federal government to fix this issue together. The importance of the federal government in this equation cannot be understated.
Federal agencies “own and manage 19 million acres (57%)” of the states 33 million acres of forest (UCANR). Although President Trump sent out a tweet back in November accusing California of not maintaining their forests adequately, it is actually his, and other facets of the federal government’s responsibility to keep all National Parks and National Forests up to standards. This means that they must see to the maintenance of 57% of California’s forest land, as well as all federally owned property across the country. So, in reality, Trump was criticizing himself and his colleagues for their inaction to these crises. The way the jurisdictions are set up, no matter how much improvement California manages to achieve, whether or not the fire problem will be lessened depends greatly on the federal government's action or inaction. In past years the topic of wildfires has been brought up very briefly in different election cycles, if at all. At the presidential level there were no notable times where any of the presidential candidates discussed wildfires in depth during their campaigns. This needs to change if there is going to be any forward progress to be made in the field of reducing the risk of wildfires. Reducing this risk goes hand in hand with reducing our nations carbon footprint and slowing climate change. This climate change is not necessarily causing more fires, but more so increasing their intensity greatly. Modern fires burn hotter and spread faster than ever before, making it increasingly difficult to contain them in a timely manner. So, in future presidential election cycles, it will essentially be a requirement to talk about their plans for climate change and global warming. For those candidates who want to reach Californians in the most effective way possible, they will also discuss how their plans to reduce global warming could help California residents feel safer from the ever growing threat of wildfires hitting their homes. When it comes down to California politics, future elections will be greatly affected by the recent fires. Although the state government does not control as much of California forest maintenance as the federal government, they still have vast control over the state’s road infrastructure as well as about 40% of the state’s forest maintenance. In addition, the state must contract with power companies and ensure that they adhere to the state’s safety standards for power lines, electrical boxes, and all other potentially hazardous equipment. Of the things that the California still has control over, each of them has a corresponding agency or company to deal with. For state infrastructure there is Caltrans; for forest maintenance there is Cal Fire; and for the power companies, they will deal with PG&E in Northern California and Southern California Edison. The difficult task that the government will have is getting all of these groups, including the legislators, on the same page as far as budgets, standards and liability if, and when, damages are incurred. Back in July of 2018, while candidates for California governor were campaigning, Gavin Newsom stated his thoughts on the issue of wildfires. He believes that California has been “reacting” to wildfires instead of being “proactive” and taking steps towards prevention, not just damage control. With the huge amount of death and destruction that was brought to California through wildfires in 2018, this is an issue that is not going away anytime soon. Every state politician will deal with this in one way or another for many years to come. Wildfires can be expected to be a hot topic for California politics well into the future. There is still a large amount of work to be done at the state level before considerable change will be seen. All of this work is what will be discussed in future elections, and may help or hinder some candidates from making it into office. At the federal level, the first step for them is to realize that National Forests, National Parks, and federally owned land is completely their responsibility when is comes to maintenance. During the next presidential election, wildfires should be a large part of the climate change and global warming conversation. Presidential candidates could really identify better with Californians if they showed that they are concerned and working on remedies for the tragedies that locals have endured.
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AuthorUndergraduate student generated content. Blog posting and updating done by Kristina Flores Victor, Assistant Professor of Political Science at CSUS Archives
March 2020
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