I don’t think spotted owls were an issue around Paradise or Malibu. The problem is lack of water, too warm and too little snow in the mountains,and love of trees and shrubs for landscaping. I doubt that the logging industry was going to have much work in those areas.
Logging is mostly useless too, The largest and deadliest fires in US history followed the logging in the midwest. The large trees are immune to fire unless the low intensity fires are suppressed (CalFire’s biggest mistake). But with a large amount of unburned brush, even the largest trees can burn.
I think you all have a fundamental lack of understanding when it comes to logging. Undergrowth is removed and if possible chipped for use in co-gen plants which provides energy to run the sawmill and many times supplement the energy use of neighboring towns.
Unless the section of forest diseased, only some trees are harvested, leaving most of the big trees behind. This clears the undergrowth which allows the bigger trees more access to nutrients.
While I may give you the fact that Malibu did not suffer from the spotted owl, to think Paradise and neighboring areas did not is simply untrue. Many sawmills near Paradise have been shut down during my lifetime.
And to think that logging is not fundemental in forest stewardship...well again just a fundamental lack of understanding. Wood is a valuable resource, and it will come out of an overgrown forest, either on a bed of a logging truck or through fire.
Forgot to add that we all know that the drought here in CA a few years back really helped the bettles tear up alot of our trees. These dead trees were obviously a fire hazard so work began to remove them.
Of course, due to CA laws and the destruction of our logging industry, there were not enough sawmills left to handle them all. Many sawmills, who were hanging by an thread and were downsized to survive, were now having to turn away logs. Many were sent to be chipped or cut into firewood. Perfectly useable board foot down the drain due to years of CA regulations purposely designed to kill the logging/lumber industry.
I have always though the best place to ask about these forest fires is forestry guys. Go find some, talk with them, and you may just find that forest stewardship relies fairly heavy on the logging/lumber industry.