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In California, federal and state agencies, as well as other groups that work with them, including private citizens and businesses, are setting fires that burn the dry grasses, small trees and other vegetation that could otherwise fuel an intense wildfire. Research has shown that these burns reduce wildfire risk, potentially saving lives and property.
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Although the state is increasing its use of beneficial fire, as the method is called, officials and experts alike say it is far from enough to meet the threat posed by catastrophic wildfires.
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Land managers in the state, including the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and federal agencies have set a target of intentionally burning 400,000 acres annually by next year, an amount of land that when combined would be larger than the city of Los Angeles.
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The goal is to chip away at the 10 million to 30 million acres that officials estimate would benefit from some form of fuel-reduction treatment.
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In 2022, the most recent year for which there is data publicly available, about 96,000 acres were burned by these land managers.
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According to one study from researchers at Columbia University and Stanford University, low-intensity fires, a category that includes mild natural fires and prescribed burns, reduce wildfire risk by about 60%.
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Experts also say that prescribed burns have reduced the severity of previous wildfires, including in Yosemite National Park, where researchers found that they helped protect giant sequoias during the Washburn fire in 2022.
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The state��s budget maintains $2.6 billion in funding for tackling wildfires and improving forest health. An additional $200 million per year is designated for healthy forest and fire-prevention programs, which include prescribed fire projects.
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The money is most likely not enough, especially because it is spread across a number of initiatives, said Mark Schwartz, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Davis, who has studied controlled burns and other wildfire management methods.
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In addition to the need for more funds, Schwartz said, controlled burn programs face a number of other hurdles. Already limited in number, firefighters who would staff a prescribed fire are often called away to battle an active blaze.
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There are also only so many days in a year that conditions are right for a fire, and access is a challenge in some locations. And local communities may oppose a controlled burn, he said.
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