Most here will already know this, but this practice was traditionally always rejected by the US Forest Service down in Southern California where I come from originally. I was always told by the resident biologists and fire ecologists that it was nothing more than a waste of time and money. Now with climate change they are rethinking many things. Many of my own forest planting projects which were established in chaparral plant cover have succeeded where I was told they would fail. In fact the trees have spread in some cases. Industrial Agriculture: Rejecting Nature's Tool-Kit