"There are about 10 million acres of private timberland in Oregon, and governments own another 18 million, now mostly unmanaged. Where do you really think the fire danger comes from? "
According to peer reviewed research, the fire danger comes from privately owned plantations, the ones with the lowest level of regulations: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.1492/full 

Which isn't a very big surprise, big, old trees retain moisture, have more space between them, and don't have lower branches. Any plantation that is under 60-70 years old is densely stocked, drought stressed in the summer, and has low branches that are like matchsticks. Any of us who spend a lot of time (living and working) in Oregon's forest-lands are well aware of that.