Nonpartisan solutions for wildfire prevention and forest restoration

by Ryan Zinke, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior (2017-2019) and Montana’s Congressman (2015-2017)

As I write this article, wildfires have once again covered much of Montana in a thick layer of unhealthy smoke. There are 25 active fires burning 250,000 acres from Hardin to Troy. Even if you don’t see the flames, the smoke and poor visibility is hard to ignore. Yet, ignoring the issue and letting politics get in the way of action is exactly the problem in Washington, DC.

Last year, fires across the west burned a record 10+ million acres and nearly 18,000 structures. The cost to taxpayers wa...