Recently, we asked people to give us their opinions about how well state and federal officials are doing at addressing the threat of catastrophic wildfire.
Well, the results of our non-scientific poll are in and they show a mixed bag of feelings.
Almost 2/3 of respondents lack confidence that Washington state is managing wildfires responsibly.
When asked about their confidence that Washington state is responsibility managing the risk of catastrophic wildfires, 37% said they were “less than confident” and 26% stated “not confident at all.”
Feds viewed as less serious than state government on fighting, preventing, and finding long-term answers.
We also asked respondents to tell us whether they thought the state and the federal government were taking three aspects of wildfire policy — fighting fires, preventing fires, and seeking long-range solutions — seriously enough.
The responses we received indicated a broad lack of faith in the feds for all three areas. State efforts on firefighting and investigating new answers were seen as more serious, in comparison, though fire prevention registered strong negatives.
Remember, this isn’t a scientific poll, but it does reflect opinions of real people who are interested in having a conversation about our forests and working forestry.
Stay tuned. We’ll have another quick poll for you soon.
