More than that, there has been a worldwide epidemic of bark beetles, and they aren't sure why, but the greens won't let the forest managers do what they need to do to keep the forests healthy.
For instance, in the Cibola NF, they have close to 1/3 dead trees.
As of yesterday, the 1000 hour dead fuel moisture index was 2%. Kiln dried lumber is 12% moisture. This means that once those sticks get cooking, the fires spread FAST!
And this is made worse cause there is sooooo much deadwood.
And so much money has to go to lawyers, and so much has to be done on EISs (sometimes for things that ought not need them), and so much wasted paperwork that could go into good stuff like managing habitat, and taking care of trails, and other things people fault them for.
The Sierra Club lawyers are very skilled.
They file lawsuits and require EIS's until the dead trees lose their economic value.
The only local jobs will then be as a fire fighter when the forest explodes...at taxpayer expense.
There are many interface areas that are not prepared. Driving Interstate highways shows that many communities and small cities are major risk.
Not if, but when.