To the editor: The choice by Los Angeles County to bulldoze, chain-saw and burn mature chaparral within the Santa Monica Mountains within the title of fireside prevention is counterproductive and dangerous (“Man, machine and mutton: Inside the plan to prevent the next SoCal fire disaster,” Oct. 14).
Counterproductive as a result of outdated development chaparral and sage scrub is less flammable than the flashy, invasive, non-native weeds that can inevitably substitute these native shrubs and herbaceous crops as soon as this intervention occurs — exacerbating hearth threat. And dangerous as a result of the crops themselves, which have intrinsic worth and that take up carbon, might be destroyed, and wildlife might be killed or compelled to maneuver to ever-shrinking, threatened habitat.
Why is the state utilizing treasured public {dollars} to extend our threat, exacerbate local weather change and dominate and destroy nature?
Tessa Charnofsky, West Hills
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To the editor: Thanks for reporting on the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy granting greater than $3 million of our tax {dollars} to grind up what little is left of our native habitat within the Santa Monica Mountains. This ill-conceived undertaking, supported by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, has been fast-tracked with out giving the scientific group and the general public the possibility to weigh in. As Dan Cooper signifies, we can’t imagine that paving over (or chopping down) all the system will present a viable answer.
Eradicating invasive grasses with grazing goats: positive. Creating large gas breaks: a waste of money and time.
Snowdy Dodson, Van Nuys
