Oct. 18, 2025 7 AM PT
To the editor: The decision by Los Angeles County to bulldoze, chain-saw and burn mature chaparral in the Santa Monica Mountains in the name of fire prevention is counterproductive and harmful (“Man, machine and mutton: Inside the plan to prevent the next SoCal fire disaster,” Oct. 14).
Counterproductive because old growth chaparral and sage scrub is less flammable than the flashy, invasive, non-native weeds that will inevitably replace these native shrubs and herbaceous plants once this intervention happens — exacerbating fire risk. And harmful because the plants themselves, which have intrinsic value and that absorb carbon, will be destroyed, and wildlife will be killed or forced to move to ever-shrinking, threatened habitat.
Why is the state using precious public dollars to increase our risk, exacerbate climate change and dominate and destroy nature?
Tessa Charnofsky, West Hills
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To the editor: Thank you for reporting on the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy granting more than $3 million of our tax dollars to grind up what little is left of our native habitat in the Santa Monica Mountains. This ill-conceived project, supported by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, has been fast-tracked without giving the scientific community and the public the chance to weigh in. As Dan Cooper indicates, we cannot believe that paving over (or chopping down) the entire system will provide a viable solution.
Removing invasive grasses with grazing goats: fine. Creating massive fuel breaks: a waste of time and money.
Snowdy Dodson, Van Nuys