From Richard Epstein’s article titled California’s forest fire tragedy in the Hoover Institution‘s Defining Ideas Journal:
Every bit as important is the major change in the philosophy of land use management. Much of the forest land in California is now owned by the state and federal government. These lands have proved far more vulnerable to forest fires than properties owned by private groups. Private lands are managed with the goals of conservation and production. The management of public lands has been buffeted by legislative schemes driven by strong ideological commitments. Writing last year, Republican Congressman Tom McClintock noted that his air inspections revealed a distressing pattern: “The [privately] managed forests are green, healthy and thriving. The neglected federal forests are densely overcrowded and often scarred by fire because we can’t even salvage the fire-killed timber while it still has value.”