After more than a century of fire suppression in California’s forests, mounting evidence shows that frequent fire — through practices like prescribed fire or Indigenous cultural burning — can improve forest health, increase biodiversity and reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire. But controlled fires can have downsides. In addition to being labor intensive and producing smoke that may harm neighboring communities, burning trees and vegetation releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. A new long-term study shows that, while prescribed burning may release carbon dioxide in the short term, the repeated use of controlled fire may boost a forest’s productivity, or carbon sequestration capacity, in the long term. …The findings provide useful insights for California policymakers and land managers seeking to reduce wildfire hazard while helping the state achieve its goal of net zero carbon pollution by 2045.