Publication: USA Today

UCLA Expert: Glen Macdonald: Distinguished Professor, Department of Geography; Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Director, John Muir Memorial Chair; Member, Institute of the Environment and Sustainability

Synopsis: Portions of the storied Pacific Crest Trail keep getting closed due to wildfires. 

UCLA News: MacDonald said the forests in the 1970s saw fewer and smaller wildfires, in part because federal officials aggressively extinguished them. But that policy ultimately led to unhealthier forests primed to burn, he said, and now those ready-to-burn forests are even more dangerous due to ongoing drought and a longer wildfire season. 

Read more at USA Today.