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To be fair so much of the overall land prone to fire is under control of the feds - literally 47% according to the article. Having grown up in northern CA there’s just vast swathes of land to cover, and I doubt they’re spending nearly enough on controlled burns for the current climate. It’s 100% true that the land just wants to burn, pine needles 1-2” thick across an area half the size of New York State.

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Why aren’t those needles degrading naturally? Perhaps nitrogen fertilization will help?

Probably another one of the uses that active fungi management could help with. I know most about Paul Stamets, but the TED list [1] is fascinating.

[1] https://www.ted.com/topics/fungi

Pine needles are pretty slow to break down. They're actually a great weed guard around garden beds.

I’m sick and tired of this ego protection through projection. These attitudes go nowhere. The CA fires are “wildfires” right? They start in those beautiful golden Californian grassy hills. Imagine if the state leadership took care of that land they own through back-burning to avoid forest destruction. What can the state control today; better land management. Let’s start there and see how far it gets us. Global warming isn’t an overnight fix but land management might.

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