'Rethinking The Past' In The Aftermath Of California's Deadly Wildfires
Last month's deadly Camp Fire has become a turning point in the debate over how western forests should be managed.
From the air, the scale of the devastation in and around Paradise, Calif., is, simply put, alarming.
Whole neighborhoods and commercial districts are completely decimated, turned to rubble amidst the tall, orange-singed pine trees with blackened trunks. Deeper into the mountains, illegal pot plantations were suddenly exposed — and charred. Then there's the odd home on a ridge top or Rite Aid store that's been randomly spared.
"See how hot that burned, there's nothing left down there," says Dan Tomascheski, talking through a headset over the roar of the helicopter.
He's vice president of resources for Sierra Pacific Industries, one of northern California's biggest timber companies. 10,000 acres of the company's private land was
