Displaying 41 - 50 of 108
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Shifts in seasonality and increases in hydroclimate whiplash are increasing California wildfire risk
Abundant evidence suggests climate change has already increased wildfire risk in California, mainly due to increases in both mean and episodic extreme landscape-scale vegetation aridity. Warming temperatures and increasing evaporative demand have directly driven most of this observed trend, and will continue to be prominent with further warming.
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Area burned by wildfires has substantially increased in recent decades in western US forests. Over this time period (mid-1980’s –present), western US forests have experienced individual years with exceptionally high area burned, leading some to conclude that recent years are ‘unprecedented’.
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This presentation will explore evolving approaches to fire in the Klamath Mountains, focusing on shifting perspectives and practices. Through discussion, the speaker will examine current challenges, emerging strategies, and collaborative efforts aimed at rethinking fire management in the region.
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Enactment of the Clean Air Act (CAA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), three of the primary federal environmental laws, all coincided with the height of fire suppression and exclusion in the United States.
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Fire exclusion was first implemented across large areas of California and other areas of western North America in the late 19th or early 20th centuries but few studies have investigated how forests in the early decades after this decision were impacted. Jeffrey pine-mixed conifer forests of northern Baja California, Mexico, offer an area where this can be examined since fire suppression did not begin until the early…
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Red flag warnings (RFWs) are issued to alert management and emergency response agencies of weather conditions that are conducive to extreme wildfire behavior. Issuance of RFWs also can encourage the public to exercise extreme caution with activities that could ignite a wildfire.
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Oak woodlands and riparian forests are among the rarest California ecosystems. They support considerable biodiversity and provide many additional benefits which can be enhanced through frequent fire. Indigenous peoples recognize these outcomes, and their stewardship practices illustrate opportunities to achieve ecosystem resilience as illustrated through applied fire studies in these systems.
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From 2000 through 2021, nearly half a million people in Oregon, Washington, and California lived within the perimeter of a wildfire. And from 2011 through 2021, the number of people experiencing high social vulnerability to hazardous events who were exposed to wildfire in those states more than tripled compared to the previous decade. As we will detail, the cause of that inequity varied among the three states.
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Understanding of the conditions that contribute to wildfire ignitions and impacts increases capacity to mitigate wildfire risks. The Fire Program Analysis Fire-Occurrence Database (FPA FOD) contains information on the location, jurisdiction, discovery time, cause, and final size of more than 2 million wildfires from 1992 through 2020.
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The workshop will be held in the Victor Valley College Performing Arts Center, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday October 8th and Wednesday October 9th. Free lunches will be provided by Victor Valley College on both these days. Thursday October 10th will be a choice of half-day field trips, running from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. This event is open to the public and free of charge.