Fire restrictions begin in Tahoe National Forest
By Barbara Barte Osborn, Sacramento Bee
NEVADA CITY — Fire restrictions will go into effect Sunday in the Tahoe National Forest due to dry conditions.
“I’d also like to remind folks that all fireworks are illegal in the national forests,” Forest Supervisor Tom Quinn said in a news release.
Because illegal and abandoned campfires are the main cause of human-caused fires in the forest, campfires will be permitted only in developed campgrounds and other designated sites, in the metal rings and grills provided.
In the backcountry, portable stoves — but not charcoal barbecues — will be permitted with a valid campfire permit. Permits are free and are available at all U.S. Forest Service offices.
Why is it that the NUMBER ONE cause of preventable forest fires is not mentioned? According to the U.S. Forest Service, SMOKING is not allowed during high fire season other than in paved parking areas and inside of cars, yet this is not mentioned. How much money is being spent by the tobacco companies this year to pay off the Forest Service and environmental agencies to ignore this? How many more toxic cigarette butts will end up in our lakes, streams, and our drinking water from the fireworks event, alone? Each one of those butts contains arsenic (rat poison), formaldehyde, cadmium (battery acid) polonium 210 (radioactive), acetone (nail polish remover), ammonium hydroxide (toilet bowl cleaner), nicotine (highly toxic POISON), and Drano! Aside from breathing secondhand tobacco smoke on every beach (2nd hand smoke kills 63,000 Americans each year), over 1,000 people die in cigarette caused fires each year in the U.S. alone. What ever happened to Smoky Bear? Has the U.S. Forest Service turned into yet another whore for the tobacco industry?
http://www.cigarettelitter.org/index.asp?PageName=Facts