Officials Need Public’s Guidance on Land Management, Fire Control

* Regarding The Times Editorial, “Let Nature Take Its Course” (Dec. 1), we certainly agree that the recovery of our scorched parks will require patience, respect and restraint on the part of the public. But that isn’t the whole story.

Much damage after the fire--and long before--is also the result of abuse and mismanagement on the part of officials like those whom you cite. Did The Times dispatch a reporter to corroborate the reports of these “authorities”? We can’t speak for the Laguna Coast Park, but even a glance beyond the fence bordering nearby Crystal Cove State Park and the El Morro mobile-home park reveals serious problems within sight of the park headquarters. Various service and utility vehicles have already driven excessively off road, trails have been graded to double width, remaining trees and brush cut, and, adding insult to injury, trash from the workers is scattered everywhere. All this activity is far more destructive than the impact of a few hikers or cyclists.

Meanwhile, the hills are greening rapidly with artichoke thistles, a non-native plant that threatens to choke out everything else. So how about we quit blaming the public for everything?

Did your officials and authorities also happen to mention that a concerned and knowledgeable group of dozens of volunteers, including bike rider, hiker, and equestrian members of the Orange County Trails Council, recently organized a meeting to discuss recovery strategies and offer whatever services would be helpful and appropriate? Park personnel agreed to attend and then simply failed to show up. Now that’s arrogance.

We’re tired of the attitude wherein the designated stewards of our precious parks view the public as adversaries to be kept in the dark, and, if possible, out of the parks. OK, there are those mindless types who would trample the wounded earth, and we appreciate your having admonished them. But there are also scores of us who dearly love and cherish these hills and feel more than a bit uneasy about the hands to which they have been entrusted.

MONTE AND CYNTHIA WARD

Laguna Beach

* For improved public policy decisions, California law has long mandated that government agencies conduct their decision-making in public and, prior to making decisions, encourage public input.

Three years ago, I attended a Laguna Beach County Water District meeting, and was shown a videotape of the Berkeley wildfire.

The Water District noted that they had 43 million gallons of water storage, but felt that they needed a new reservoir that would cost millions to store an additional 3 million gallons.

I stated, in my public input, that although additional water storage would be beneficial, that the lessons from the Berkeley fire should be to ensure that electrical power not be lost, and ensure adequate aerial firefighting capabilities.

The Water District board is an insular group, protective of their turf, and not receptive to public input.

They have apparently done nothing about backup electrical generators, and unfortunately had pump failures due to power outages during the Laguna fire.

I was shocked to read that Orange County has zero aerial firefighting capabilities (“Idle Choppers Badly Needed in Laguna Fire” Dec. 4). If this is true, it is an outrage.

The article concluded that if the county spent $800,000 to refurbish two helicopters provided free to them by the military, water could have been taken from the Laguna lakes in the canyon, and controlled the fire in its initial stage.

Some believe that the government agencies possess expertise, so we should support whatever they want to do.

In fact, they apparently don’t talk to each other, are lacking in common sense and cannot prioritize the spending of limited taxpayers’ dollars.

Laguna Beach desperately needs a water board that is open to the ideas of others and interested in working with others for the betterment of our community.

We need a government that has respect for residents and will also listen to them.

GENE FELDER

Laguna Beach