… A Cal Fire plan to clear thousands of acres of native habitat each year in order to reduce wildfire risk is now facing a setback. On May 30, the California Appellate Court ruled in favor of environmental groups who argued that the plan could lead to an even more flammable landscape. … This particular lawsuit began in 2020, when the Endangered Habitats League and Chaparral Institute unsuccessfully sued Cal Fire and the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection over its vegetation treatment program, which had been approved the year before. Previous fuel reduction methods had been limited to prescribed burning, trimming, and using equipment to cut and uproot plants on an average of around 33,000 acres per year. … As California’s heat and drought conditions worsened, and as firefighters struggled to keep up with the increasing risk posed by the the crispy landscape, the government’s arsenal of tools for vegetation removal was expanded — and so was its target acreage.