The single-engine Cessna was buzzing 1,000 feet above a Northern California burn scar as UC Berkeley scientist Scott Stephens shifted excitedly in his seat and peered out the window for a better view. AdvertisementThat was the path, Stephens explained, that the North Complex fire took on Sept. 8 into Berry Creek, a rural Butte County hamlet some nine miles north of Oroville dam. The burn scar of the North Complex fire’s deadly Sept. 8 run into Berry Creek and Feather Falls. (EcoFlight)As California takes stock of its worst wildfire season on record, experts say that increasingly large and devastating fires have already altered the state’s iconic forests for centuries to come. “Even with the major increase in wildfires that climate change models are predicting for us, there is a way that we can see forests persist in California into the future,” Bauer said.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 21, 2020 14:03 UTC