Wildfires have become a major problem on the West Coast, with California in particular battling new record-breaking fires almost every year.

Several factors are at play in making wildfires burn worse than ever before, and Earth's rising temperature is at the forefront of the conversation. 

Dry conditions from longer and more intense droughts allow the fires to spread faster without rainfall to slow them down. 

Human intervention from the lumber industry is also having a serious effect on the fires. TikTok user Jessie Dickson (@sacramentofoodforest) posted a video calling out the U.S. Forest Service for not taking better care of native trees.

@sacramentofoodforest Protecting mature and old growth forests is crucial if we want to stop megafires. California is covered in unhealthy second growth forests being unmanaged and monoculture tree plantations that are logged every 50 years for profit. These are the true reason we see mega fires in California now. That and Smokey the bear. Monoculture forests are green deserts where only profit matters and biodiversity dies. Today I want to talk about Green Washing aka providing false information about the environment to make your company or industry look good. And how the way the Forest service manages national forests makes wildfires worse. Planting a bunch of lumber trees where Old Growth forest used to be doesn't help the environment. Clear cut loggers are using this app to Greenwash how they treat the forest like a crop and turn it into a monoculture lumber forest. Stop falling for the lies! Protect old growth forests from clear cut loggers in California and Canada before it's to late. And put pressure on the US government to make the Forest service manage our native forests better. Before they are turned to ashes. #fire #oldgrowth #forest #logging #wildfire #oldgrowthforest #secondgrowth #bigtrees #redwoods #pine #trees #yosemite #nature #crisis #forestry #nativeamerican #traditional #smokeythebear #climatechange #mismanagement #endangeredspecies #habitat #natureathome #native #tree #conservation #nativeplants #nativeplanttok #nativehabitatproject #sustainability #environment #greed ♬ Energy - JordanBeats

In his video, Dickson shows a stretch of forest that has been burned to ashes in a wildfire. He points out that it was a monoculture forest, which is made up of a single tree species and planted as a farm for timber production. 

These monoculture forests are much more susceptible to burning than native, old-growth forests because of the high density of trees and lower levels of biodiversity. 

This means they contribute to spreading wildfires and make them more destructive to wildlife and residential areas. 

"Luckily, there's some new trees growing,"  he says in the video. "But the funny thing is, they're not gonna let the trees that grew naturally grow. They're gonna plant even more trees here, and they're gonna cut all this wood, leave all the habitat gone, and plant [trees] that's gonna burn again."

"Stop turning intact native forests into factory farms for lumber."

Many commenters agreed with Dickson's passion for the issue and discussed possible solutions. 

Do you think the government should ban gas-powered lawn tools? No way 🙅 Definitely 💯 Only certain tools 🤔 I don't know 🤷 Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.

"It's a shame," one user said. "California's completely unmanaged forests are an eyesore and hazard!" 

"Why can't they leave all the old growth alone?" another commenter added. 

"Ban the logging industry from national and state parks, this is ridiculous," a third commented.

Dickson replied to several comments that some logging and controlled burns are needed in order to prevent overgrown forests, but the biggest issues are clear-cut logging and the excessive planting of trees that only make fires worse.

"Protecting mature and old-growth forests is crucial if we want to stop megafires," Dickson said in the video's caption. "California is covered in unhealthy second-growth forests being unmanaged and monoculture tree plantations that are logged every 50 years for profit.

"Monoculture forests are green deserts where only profit matters and biodiversity dies."

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