Thursday Top of the Scroll: Biden administration pledges billions to fight wildfire crisis in California and across the West
Acknowledging that the U.S. Forest Service has fallen short when it comes to preventing wildfires, the Biden administration this week said it would spend nearly $3 billion to reduce risk across the most fire-prone areas of the United States, largely in the American West. The impact could be significant in California, where the federal government is the largest landowner, responsible for nearly half of all land area in the state, including 20 million acres of federal forests vexed by an enduring wildfire crisis.