‘SELF-SERVING GARBAGE.’ Wildfire experts escalate fight over saving California forests:

But Chad Hanson, an influential environmentalist with a Ph.D. from UC Davis, looked at the Caldor Fire and drew a different conclusion: Forest thinning didn’t work. In fact, it probably made things worse, by removing shade and exposing more of the woods to the ravages of climate change. A thinner forest meant less of a natural “windbreak” that could have slowed the fire’s progress.

“This is not stopping fires, because they’re mostly driven by weather and climate,” Hanson said. “You can’t fight the wind with a chainsaw.”

Hanson, who runs an organization called the John Muir Project, is a published author who’s often featured in news stories on fire and forestry issues. He’s also spent decades pursuing lawsuits against the U.S. Forest Service over plans to cut down trees to reduce fire dangers. His efforts have sometimes prompted delays in thinning projects and even forced the government to leave more of the woods untouched.

“We go to court to stand up for science,” Hanson said.

But over the past few years, as California has endured record-breaking wildfires, a legion of fire scientists is delivering a blunt message to Hanson and other environmentalists who oppose forest thinning: Get out of the way.

In an extraordinary series of articles published in scientific journals, fire scientists are attacking Hanson’s and his allies’ claims that the woods need to be left alone. These scientists say the activists are misleading the public and bogging down vital work needed to protect wildlife, communities and make California’s forests more resilient to wildfire.

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