Who owns the forests in California?

Sometimes the lack of research about and political spin on topics in the news is amazing. An article at Fox News by Morgan Phillips on September 15, 2020 titled Harris, Newsom blame climate change for California fires following Trump visit said:

 “At the urging on Newsom back in late August, Trump approved a disaster declaration for California and ordered federal funding to be directed to the state. The president, meanwhile, has repeatedly blamed the state for poor forest management. He’s called on Newsom to ‘clean’ or rake the forest floors of debris while suggesting the state implement controlled burns. The president reiterated on Monday that California needs to do better forest management – a remark that Newsom acknowledged. ‘We have not done justice to our forest management,’ Newsom said. ‘We acknowledge our role and response.’ Newsom, however, did note that a large portion of the land in California is federally owned and that he believes climate change has drastically contributed to the intensity of the fires.”

How large a portion? As shown above, another article by Dale Kasler at the Sacramento Bee on September 14, 2020 titled Fact check: Trump downplays climate change, says California must thin forests. What he got wrong pointed out that 57% of the forest land was federally owned by the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management, 40% was private, and only 3% was state owned. The feds own 19 times as much land as the state does! Jim Lyons at Politico on September 15, 2020 mentioned that too in yet another article titled Trump blames California for fires. He should check to see whose land they’re on.