Kodama Systems, a company that received financing from Bill Gates, is not set to mow down millions of acres of U.S. forests, contrary to an article widely shared on social media. Rather, it is developing a project that handles throwaway biomass from forest thinning for the U.S. Forest Service. …The article, entitled “Bill Gates Pushes Plan to Chop Down 70 Million Acres of Trees to ‘Fight Global Warming,’” was published on a website called Slay on Aug. 31.  …The article refers to financing granted to Kodama Systems in 2022 by a climate and technology fund founded by billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft founder Bill Gates called Breakthrough Energy Ventures and one other venture capital company.  …Scott Owen, national press officer for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS)said these strategies, which include thinning, are aimed at “overstocked,” or very dense, forests to lower the threat of fire to wildlife and communities and make it safer to conduct prescribed fires.