Inside CA's Wildfire War Room | Task Force Director Patrick Wright

Patrick Wright, Director of California's Wildfire and Resilience Task Force, explains the monumental one-million-acre-per-year mission to make the state's forests and communities more resilient to megafires. Discover the dual strategies for Northern and Southern California, the critical role of prescribed "good fire," and how the task force is breaking down decades-old silos between federal, state, and local agencies to tackle the problem at scale.

In this episode, you'll learn about:

• The Million-Acre Goal: The massive scale of California's forest health initiative.
• Two Californias, Two Strategies: Why NorCal needs thinning and prescribed fire, while SoCal needs ignition prevention.
• Breaking Down Silos: How the Task Force acts as the "glue" to align dozens of agencies that once worked independently.
• The Power of "Good Fire": Why prescribed burns, cultural burns, and managed natural fires are essential tools.
• Data-Driven Decisions: How new interagency tracking systems and regional data kits are empowering local communities.
• The Big Three Barriers: The ongoing challenges of securing sustained funding, building a workforce, and creating markets for biomass.
• Smoke as a Motivator: How urban smoke exposure has become a major driver for political and public support.
• The Long Game: Why it took a century to create this problem and will take decades of sustained effort to fix it.