How Herbicides Are Turning California’s Burned Forests Into Lifeless Zones

California’s Forests: From Lush Meadows to Chemical Wastelands

In remote Northeast California, about 10 miles outside the lumber mill town of Chester, I steer my old Toyota Tacoma down a bumpy dirt road toward the Lassen National Forest. Seven years ago, my border collie, Lilly, bounded through a meadow of knee-high grass, returning covered in mud and burrs. The scene was idyllic: a flower-dotted meadow buzzing with life, sheltered by towering Douglas firs, incense cedars, and some of the tallest sugar pines on Earth. Protected species like gray wolves, Pacific fishers, and northern goshawks thrived here. The Sierra Nevada red fox, one of California’s rarest mammals, was known to roam nearby.

This was where I reset, foraged for wild mushrooms, and let stress evaporate. Today, the landscape is unrecognizable. A barren, sun-bleached expanse stretches across the former meadow and up denuded mountains. No birds. No animals. No insects. No big trees. Just piles of volcanic rock—a nod to the still-active Lassen Peak nearby. The silence is deafening.

Fires Didn’t Create This Desolation—Humans Did

The Dixie Fire burned nearly 1 million acres in July 2021, followed by the Park Fire three years later, which scorched another 430,000 acres. But the fires aren’t to blame for this devastation. People did this.

Just minutes away, nature has rebounded. Vibrant green mountain whitethorn bushes, rabbitbrush, and purple-tinged bull thistles dot the landscape, with bees buzzing between flowers. Towering trees are gone, but new saplings—cedars, pines, firs—abound, already a foot or two high. No such revival is visible on the private timberland before me. No bees. No flowers. Just a virtual dead zone of manually planted, tightly packed conifer saplings, all less than a foot tall.

Glyphosate: The Silent Killer of California’s Forests

Unbeknownst to most, logging companies and the US Forest Service have been spraying massive amounts of glyphosate—a potent weed killer sold under the brand name Roundup—in clear-cut and fire-ravaged forests across California and the nation. This once-idyllic landscape, spanning tens of thousands of acres, is among California’s most heavily sprayed forest areas. The Pacific Crest Trail, immortalized in the Hollywood film Wild, runs straight through it. Yet, thanks to the chemicals, it remains a moonscape nearly five years after the Dixie Fire.

I keep Lilly in the truck. Burn zones treated with glyphosate lack signs of life even years later.

Why Are Forests Being Sprayed With Roundup?

• Preventing regrowth: Logging companies and the US Forest Service use glyphosate to kill competing vegetation, ensuring conifer saplings thrive without competition.
• Economic incentives: Fast-growing, uniform conifer plantations are more profitable for timber companies than diverse, natural forests.
• Fire management: Some argue glyphosate reduces flammable underbrush, though critics say it destroys ecosystems and increases fire risks long-term.

The Controversy Surrounding Glyphosate

Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is the most widely used herbicide in the world. However, it has faced intense scrutiny over its environmental and health impacts:

• Carcinogenic claims: The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified glyphosate as a “probable human carcinogen” in 2015.
• Ecosystem damage: Glyphosate kills not just weeds but also beneficial plants, insects, and microorganisms critical to forest health.
• Public backlash: Many countries and municipalities have banned or restricted glyphosate use due to health and environmental concerns.

What’s Next for California’s Forests?

Environmental advocates are calling for a moratorium on glyphosate use in public forests, urging a shift toward sustainable forestry practices that prioritize biodiversity and natural regeneration. Meanwhile, logging companies defend glyphosate as a necessary tool for managing forests and preventing catastrophic wildfires.

The question remains: At what cost do we prioritize economic efficiency over ecological health? The barren landscapes of California’s forests may hold the answer.