My understanding is that this isn't due to a lack of controlled burns but actually due to an unseasonally warm winter not killing bugs that attack and kill trees, leaving an excessive amount of dead wood to burn this year. No amount of controlled burning of the years before would prevent a lot of dead trees this year making for kindling.
It's everything. Natives used to practice controlled burns to sustain habitability. Observe parallels to three sisters agriculture. Then as their populations were eradicated these methods were lost.
Indeed. Though modern fire suppression is a huge factor. AFAIK fire suppression became industrialized following world war II (bomber type planes able to deploy large amounts of water, better radios and respirators). Even today, the mandate for fire suppression (in at least WA state) is all fires are to be put out within 24 hours. There are a few "let it burn" examples I'm aware of in CA
Surprised this point wasn't higher up. I'm starting to see this everywhere, dry grass, yellow leaves, dead trees. Growing up in Ireland I never saw anything but green but it's become visibly more lifeless year on year since around 2017.
I know that's an issue along the continental divide, where the Pine Bark beetle is wrecking the forests (and the absence of sustained temperatures below -20F that kill off the beetle). Is that an issue in California?
