Colorado Still On Fire As Needless Unemployment Continues

(Image courtesy of the National Interagency Fire Center.) 

Colorado has a new monster fire to contend with--the West Fork Complex Fire--which has burned over 75,000 acres. The state is still recovering from the Black Forest Fire, which destroyed over 500 homes. And there's several other wildfires burning in Colorado, such as the East Peak Fire which has destroyed about 13,000 acres. A big part of the problem is that the fires have "a receptive host in the region's vast acres of spruce beetle-killed trees and drought-parched brush."

During the Great Depression, workers in the WPA and CCC created thousands of miles of firebreaks, protected trees against insects, removed dead trees & other ground fuels, and fought fires directly.

So, given the problems of unemployment and wildfires that we face today, Congress will surely connect the dots and create a new WPA and a new CCC, right? 

Wrong.

Senate Republicans have blocked legislation to create a new CCC-type program for unemployed veterans, Congress has ignored the late Senator Frank Lautenberg's bill to create a new WPA, and Congress has cut the budget of the U.S. Forest Service--thereby diminishing its ability to fight wildfires. 

Isn't it wonderful to have a Congress that ignores works for the people, and ignores works diligently to protect our forests??