About the publisher: Thank you for the excellent article on the threat to the Verdugo Mountains from the Canyon Hills luxury housing project.

We are facing a man-made climate crisis. It would be madness to destroy large natural carbon sinks.

We are also witnessing the planet’s sixth mass extinction, another man-made event that threatens biodiversity. Reduced biodiversity contributes to unstable and unhealthy ecosystems.

The main task of the government is to protect the people, or at least it should be. The City of Los Angeles has the option to partially meet this obligation by requiring a new environmental impact statement.

As part of the report, we were required to investigate the public acquisition of private land in the Verdugo Mountains for a nature reserve. LA is short on parks, and cooling down LA’s heat island and cleaning up the polluted air could keep the country wild.

Robert Leyland Monefeldt, Los Angeles

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About the publisher: This project is indeed a cause for concern.

The LA City Council approved the Canyon Hills Environmental Impact Assessment in 2005. Eighteen years is a lifetime in terms of land use planning, and the fire risk Canyon Hills poses to existing neighborhoods is beyond irresponsible.

When we talk about housing, it is the exact opposite of what we mean. Building resilient communities for the future requires building, not leaving.

A few months after the death of P-22, are we seriously discussing whether mountain lions have a right to exist in this region? Are we serious about this fire hazard?

This project cannot proceed without additional verification.

Walden Corcoran, Valley Glen

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About the publisher: The problem with building on this hill is not the flammable plants. This is mitigated somewhat by what we’ve seen in our suburbs for decades: garbage

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build the native plants and wide asphalt roads with curbs and grass clippings from a nursery supplier.

A better solution is to ban timber frame construction. Few other advanced countries build houses with dry wood in walls and rafters.

Lumber is cheap and builders are stuck in their ways. Result: The United States ranks 59th in the world for fire safety, calculated as fire deaths per 100,000 people.

Our homes last for decades. Other developed countries build with masonry, steel and concrete that last for centuries.

Mike Roddy, Alameda