Rep. John Ley argues decades of poor forest management have left 400 million acres of fuel primed to burn. Photo courtesy ChatGPT image courtesy Rep. John Ley🎧 Wildfires, Forgotten Lessons, and the Price of Neglect Your browser does not support the audio element. “We’ve got 400 million acres in need of thinning right now — today,” Medler says. Right now the Forest Service is thinning about half a million acres a year… We’re not going to fix this with chainsaws. Rep. John Ley represents the 18th Legislative District and he sits on the House Environment and Energy Committee.