This year's wildfire season has had an early start with more than 1 million acres burned across the United States.

While fires are a natural part of many ecosystems, some lawmakers and experts are concerned that global warming may be playing its part.

Fire experts say climate change is affecting the frequency and intensity.

They are nature's playgrounds, but by nearly all accounts, the state of the nation's wild forests is dire.

"More than half the nation's forests are unhealthy and are now subject to frequent outbreaks of insect and disease and extreme fire behavior," said Kirk Rowdabaugh, Arizona State forester.

Last year, a record-setting 9 million acres burned in wildfires across the U.S., costing $1.6 billion to fight.

This year is already off to a fast start.

"We want to advocate today for a paradigm shift to move from suppression to prevention," said Elizabeth Archuleta with the Coconino County Board of Supervisors.

Fire experts from Arizona and Oregon told lawmakers it's less costly to prevent fires than to clean up after them, but they say global warming may be adding to the problem.

"Prolonged drought and climate change have exacerbated these forest health conditions and wildfire concerns," Rowdabaugh said.

That is apparently because cold weather and an abundance of groundwater helps control the bark beetle population naturally, killing them off before they infect trees and create a fire hazard. Experts say warming trends have left conditions ripe for the beetles.

"Because of the early snowmelt instead of having one or two generations of beetles during the active summer season we're seeing now, we're having four or maybe five generations of beetles emerge," Rowdabaugh said.

Fire experts also asked Congress for more money to fund local wildfire preparedness plans.