Washington (CNN) Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is blaming "radical environmental groups" for a lack of forest management that he says are spreading the deadly California wildfires.

In a Tuesday conference call with reporters, Zinke criticized "lawsuit after lawsuit by, yes, the radical environmental groups that would rather burn down the entire forest than cut a single tree or thin the forest."

Asked which groups, Zinke declined to name names. He acknowledged been an historic drought in California and rising temperatures, but primarily focused on all parties working together to manage forests.

His colleague in federal land management, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, spoke instead of misguided efforts of "well-meaning environmentalists."

"If not doing anything to the forests kept them pristine, I'd be all for that. That's the problem," Perdue said on the call with reporters. "That's been the theory from well-meaning environmentalists over the years, is that a forest that you did nothing to was pristine. We know that's not to be the case."

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