Thinning, brush clearing, removing dead, down, diseased and dying trees makes sense and provides the necessary revenue to restore forest health. It makes sense to recover economic value as a preventive measure to reduce wildfire risks.

It would help if, to run for office, politicians had to first sweat making a payroll, struggle to deal with complex and costly maze of government regulations, and deal with the uncertainty of business cycles and global competition, writes Don Burnell.