It's the same here in Western Montana. Where I live the land is 97% National Forest. USFS does their "prescribed burns" every year to remove excess fuels. The concept of removing excess fuels is sound, but is best done by logging companies, not gummit employees and their corrupt contractors. In spring and summer there almost always seems to be smoke in the air. USFS is the worst polluter in the area.
The old timers around here tell me of the seventies and eighties when the forests were being logged. The air was clear and whenever a fire started, the loggers in the area and other locals put it out right away. Back then the old logging roads were open.
The USFS has obliterated many logging roads for cosmetic reasons and allowed many other roads to become completely overgrown and unusable so that when there is a fire, they can't get in there to put it out.
When the USFS has major fires, they spend ten times an much time and 100 times as much money to put it out as the loggers and locals did in decades past. They use a lot of private firfighting contractors and the graft and corruption is unbelievable. They get them all out there and order them to "stand down" and let the fire spread to justify the costs. after the fire is put out, they spend another week out there doing nothing just to charge time.