Catastrophic fires are a reckoning for Californians and their ‘new normal.’ Has the state reached a tipping point?

In 1860, a young botanist raised in New York and schooled in Connecticut found himself on the payroll of the newly formed California Division of Mines and Geology. His job: Roam the vast, new state, taking samples and observations of plants and animals.

Over four years journeying across California,…