The ongoing Timber Fire serves as a critical reminder of the challenges faced by our firefighting personnel. Currently, hotshot crews are required to hike miles into steep Big Sur terrain due to a severe lack of fire roads. This situation is the direct result of policies that have deprioritized practical access in favor of extreme environmental ideology.
As a frequent hiker in the southern Big Sur and Los Padres National Forest, particularly around the Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, I understand firsthand that this single public through-road is a vital lifeline. Many residents in this region have only one route into or out of their homes. When fires or washouts obstruct this path, both families and firefighters are left trapped.
We require more practical, well-maintained fire and access routes like Nacimiento-Fergusson Road to ensure that both communities and natural areas can survive catastrophic fires. Protecting the wilderness and protecting the people who live in and defend it are not mutually exclusive goals. However, current wilderness regulations, NEPA processes, coastal policies, and chronic under-maintenance have left our backcountry road network sparse and degraded.
My opponent, Dawn Addis, holds a perfect score from California’s most aggressive environmental groups and has consistently championed a progressive agenda that prioritizes bureaucratic process over the practical tools needed to keep firefighters and communities safe. Ideological debates fail to account for the reality of a firefighter stranded miles from the nearest road or a family with no evacuation route. Genuine environmental protection must include the safety of the people involved, as well as the infrastructure that makes that safety possible.
Shannon Kessler
Republican candidate
Assembly District 30
This article appears in Aug 20-27, 2026.
I’ll take this post as an endorsement of Dawn Addis. Using the same tactic as Doug Burgum, you mischaracterize responsible stewardship as extremism, and it is blatantly obvious that the GOP wants access roads for ‘corporate innovation’ meaning exploitation of public resources from oil to rare earth minerals. Of course, leave the cost of mitigating erosion and pollution to the taxpayers.
In response to the headline: Hell, no we don’t! Roads bring loggers and miners who would rape our land.