Join us in putting out the fire!
Dear Oregon,
Every summer, Oregon seems to go through the same ritual.
The fires come. The smoke rolls in. Communities evacuate. Families scramble to protect their livelihoods. Firefighters risk their lives. Roads close. Businesses suffer. Taxpayers get the bill.
Then the rains come.
And Salem moves on.
Next summer, we’ll do it all over again.
This year should be a wake-up call.
Oregon is experiencing its most expensive wildfire season on record. By August 20, large-fire costs had already reached more than $236 million. Roughly 2.5 million acres have burned.
And it isn’t just our forests.
Some of Oregon’s biggest fires this year have ripped across our rangelands, grasslands, sagebrush and agricultural country. The Hay Creek Complex burned more than 200,000; the Coleman Creek Fire burned more than 308,000; and the Big Grass Fire alone burned 579,000 acres.
Forests. Grasslands. Rangelands. Farms and communities.
Oregon is burning.
We are never going to prevent every wildfire.
Lightning strikes. Summers get hot. Winds blow. Grass dries out. Some years are worse than others.
But here’s the question Salem doesn’t seem interested in asking: What kind of landscape will those fires encounter when they start?
Will they encounter forests choked with hazardous fuels? Will they encounter public lands where active management has taken a back seat to politics and bureaucracy?
Or will they encounter landscapes that have been responsibly managed through thinning, prescribed burns, grazing, fuel reduction, access and other proven tools?
We cannot control the lightning. We can control our priorities.
And that’s where Oregon government keeps failing us.
For years, I’ve argued that Oregon’s wildfire problem isn’t simply a fire problem. It’s a government priorities problem.
Salem never seems to run out of money for the latest program, bureaucracy, subsidy or political cause. There’s always another agency initiative that needs funding. Another government office that needs staffing. Another reason taxpayers need to dig a little deeper and shell out for a burning state.
Yet when it comes to one of government’s most basic responsibilities – protecting communities and responsibly managing the lands entrusted to it – we somehow end up reacting to catastrophe instead of preventing as much of it as reasonably possible.
Then taxpayers get handed the bill.
But taxpayers aren’t the only ones paying.
Families breathe the smoke. Small businesses lose customers. Farmers and ranchers lose grazing land and livestock. Families lose homes. And firefighters put themselves in harm’s way.
Oregon politicians spend enormous amounts of time lecturing us about carbon emissions, while every summer enormous wildfires pump smoke and carbon into the atmosphere. Preventing catastrophic fires deserves at least as much attention as regulating how Oregonians heat their homes, drive to work, or run their businesses.
This isn’t really about whether Oregon has enough resources.
Oregon has a priorities problem.
And that is exactly why Oregon Freedom Coalition exists.
We’re building a permanent grassroots organization capable of holding government accountable and mobilizing ordinary Oregonians when Salem loses sight of who it works for.
We’ve already seen what happens when Oregonians organize. Nearly a year ago, volunteers collected more than 250,000 signatures and referred a tax package to the ballot. In May, 83% of voters rejected it.
We proved organized Oregonians can win. But one victory isn’t enough.
If we want to change Oregon, we need an organization that doesn’t disappear after Election Day or after the Legislature adjourns. We need people in every corner of this state who are informed, organized, and ready to act.
That’s why I’m asking you to become a member of Oregon Freedom Coalition.
The fires will eventually go out. Our responsibility doesn’t.
We can accept another summer of smoke, emergency declarations, and staggering bills; or we can demand a government that puts its fundamental responsibilities ahead of ideology and broken bureaucracy.
If you’re tired of watching Oregon burn – literally and figuratively – join us.
Become a member. Bring a friend.
Help us fight for the Oregon we know is still possible.
That’s the Diehl.
All the best,
Ed Diehl
President
Oregon Freedom Coalition