Geraldo: Enviros Planted Time Bomb in Calif. Forests

The single biggest factor rendering California vulnerable to the conflagration currently burning up the state was the obstinance of the environmental lobby, which refused to let forestry experts deal with the time bomb-like threat posed by thousands of tons of dead wood littering the forests.

While that claim sounds as if it could have been issued by the likes of conservative talkers Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, it came instead from none other than Fox News Channel's leading liberal field reporter, Geraldo Rivera.

"I hate to choose ideological sides," Rivera told "Hannity & Colmes" Thursday night. "But I tell you, the big debate is going to be whether or not it became too political, the question of how many trees should there be in the national forest."

Rivera quoted an expert from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention who told him, "Listen, this argument about whether or not you can cut down trees has become too much about political correctness."

The unnamed expert explained that despite the beetle bark infestation that killed millions of trees starting in the year 2000, environmentalists wouldn't let forest managers take action to remove what became kindling for the great fire.

"The environmentalists fear that if we let the loggers go in there to harvest these dead trees they'd use that as an opening to cut more and more of the national forest," the conservationist told Rivera.

That kind of environmental extremism actually ended up destroying the forest instead of saving it, she contended.

Rivera said the enviro nuts were obviously wrong, telling "Hannity & Colmes": "There's just too many trees. I mean, look behind this house and forget about the homeowners who didn't cut the trees in their own backyard. Once you have dead trees like that you're talking about a time bomb."

Rivera said the California conflagration shows that it's time to leave the debate over how to best manage America's national forests to the scientists instead of the politicians.

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