The devastating fires raging near Los Angeles have again drawn national attention to America’s wildfire crisis. Such destructive blazes have become increasingly common, and their human toll is staggering: lives lost, families displaced, and entire neighborhoods reduced to ashes. Like other recent severe wildfires, the blaze in Los Angeles raises questions about what can be done to prevent such devastation in the future.
Fortunately, we know what works. Proactive forest restoration efforts, such as mechanical thinning and prescribed burning, can significantly reduce the dangerous fuel loads that have turned forests and surrounding landscapes into tinderboxes. A growing body of evidence substantiates how these activities lower the risks of extreme wildfires and enhance forest resilience. Yet the pace and scale of restoration work remains woefully inadequate, hampered by a thicket of regulatory and bureaucratic barriers.
The problem is particularly acute in California, where state policies have hindered forest restoration efforts. In 2020, after experiencing its worst wildfire season in modern history, California pledged to perform fuel treatment (reducing vegetation and other flammable materials) on 500,000 acres annually by 2025. The state’s environmental policies and management decisions, however, have prevented it from meeting this goal. The California Environmental Quality Act, for example, imposes stringent review requirements that can delay critical restoration projects. That process often involves years of analysis, public comment, and litigation before projects can even begin.
