Jim311 is right on. He knows what he is talking about and not guessing. If you want to know more about forest cleaning than read Outside Magazine (June 2003).
The new laws are going to stop huge 100,000+ acre fires from burning out of control by removing the "fuel". Before we were here forests would burn and that would remove the small brush and dead matter(fuel), but leave the trees unharmed. Fire was a natural process that we stop, so the forests become clogged and dangerous. So we have to go in and clean not clear the forests.