A Prayer For Southern California

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by katiesue

Wern't large portions of California originally desert to start with? So we've artifically created the problem in building where conditions like this occur.

Not so much desert, but chaparral, a type of landscape predicated on a grow-and-burn cycle. Not a big issue when people were inhabiting the largely marshy flatlands of the valleys and basins, but a huge issue as the sprawl has backed up against the brushy mountains.