Rapid growth of the US wildland-urban interface raises wildfire risk: Research Article

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Rapid growth of the US wildland-urban interface raises wildfire risk: Research Article

Abstract
The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the area where houses and wildland vegetation meet or intermingle, and where wildfire problems are most pronounced. Here we report that the WUI in the United States grew rapidly from 1990 to 2010 in terms of both number of new houses (from 30.8 to 43.4 million; 41% growth) and land area (from 581,000 to 770,000 km2; 33% growth), making it the fastest-growing land use type in the conterminous United States. The vast majority of new WUI areas were the result of new housing (97%), not related to an increase in wildland vegetation. Within the perimeter of recent wildfires (1990–2015), there were 286,000 houses in 2010, compared with 177,000 in 1990. Furthermore, WUI growth often results in more wildfire ignitions, putting more lives and houses at risk. Wildfire problems will not abate if recent housing growth trends continue.

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Human Presence Diminishes the Importance of Climate in Determining U.S. Fire Activity: Research Brief

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Human Presence Diminishes the Importance of Climate in Determining U.S. Fire Activity: Research Brief

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers with the Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey showed that, across the U.S. on landscapes dominated by humans, climate has played a relatively small role in determining wildfire activity.

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Effects of Two Kinds of Fuel Treatments and Their Season after Ten Years in Northern CA Chaparral:Research Brief

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Effects of Two Kinds of Fuel Treatments and Their Season after Ten Years in Northern CA Chaparral:Research Brief

This brief describes potential effects of two fuel treatment types for Northern California chaparral. Different scenarios involving prescribed fire, mastication and season (fall, winter, or spring) were explored to determine effects on chaparral and findings include recommendations on when and how to use treatments where necessary. 

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Evolution and Biogeography of Epicormic Resprouting: Research Brief

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Evolution and Biogeography of Epicormic Resprouting: Research Brief

This brief describes the advantages and evolution of postfire epicormic resprouting, where trees resprout from the trunk or stem of trees. This form of resprouting is more rare than resprouting from the base of plants and occurs in Australia and South Africa, as well as in California, the Mediterranean Basin and the Canary Islands in the northern hemisphere.

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Wildfire recovery: a ‘hot moment’ for adaptation? Research Brief

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Wildfire recovery: a ‘hot moment’ for adaptation? Research Brief

This research brief discusses national trends in rebuilding and new development after wildfire, as well as policy choices and adaptation measures local governments and communities pursued after fire, through case studies.

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How can managers consider bumble bees during post-fire management? Research Brief

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How can managers consider bumble bees during post-fire management? Research Brief

Bumble bees are important pollinators of native plant species. This brief provides information that can support managers in making nuanced decisions to benefit bumble bees during post-fire management.

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Influence of fuels management and fire weather on the Rim Fire: Research Brief

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Influence of fuels management and fire weather on the Rim Fire: Research Brief

Authors analyzed the 2013 Rim Fire to see how fire severity varied with factors. Potential factors included the proportion of the landscape previously treated or burned, fire weather, vegetation, and water balance. 

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Without intervention, habitat for the California spotted owl is predicted to be lost to wildfire in 75 years: Research Brief

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Without intervention, habitat for the California spotted owl is predicted to be lost to wildfire in 75 years: Research Brief

Future moderate and high-severity fires may pose a substantial threat to the long-term persistence of the California spotted owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis).

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Are historical fire regimes compatible with future climate? Implications for forest restoration: Research Brief

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Are historical fire regimes compatible with future climate? Implications for forest restoration: Research Brief

Future climate-induced shifts in fire regimes and plant distributions could uncouple vegetation from the fire regimes for which they are adapted. The brief discusses changes to fire-adapted plant communities under modeled climate change scenarios and their implications on the Kaibab Plateau landscape.

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Maximum Fire Elevation in the Sierra Nevada Has Increased Over the Past Century: Research Brief

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Maximum Fire Elevation in the Sierra Nevada Has Increased Over the Past Century: Research Brief

Using a geodatabase, researchers found that the maximum elevation extent of wildfires and the probability of wildfire occurrence above 3000 m have increased over the last century in the Sierra Nevada. This trend may accelerate vegetation shifts towards upper montane forest types in current subalpine systems. 

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Photo courtesy of Sasha Berleman 

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Modeling Desert Shrubland Changes with an Invasive Grass Introduction and Climate Change: Research Brief

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Modeling Desert Shrubland Changes with an Invasive Grass Introduction and Climate Change: Research Brief

For desert shrubland species that have evolved without fire, the introduction of a grass-fire, positive feedback cycle is particularly problematic. This brief discusses work done by researchers who modeled the grass-fire cycle for non-fire-adapted desert shrublands under three sets of climate conditions.

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Fire severity impacts on winter snowpack: Research Brief

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Fire severity impacts on winter snowpack: Research Brief

Fire is a strong driver of changes in montane forest structure in California’s Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade mountain ranges, which provide much of the snowpack and associated water storage for the state of California. This paper investigates how fire can influence snowpack and water storage. 

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Restoring wildfire improves forest drought resistance: Research Brief

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Restoring wildfire improves forest drought resistance: Research Brief

This research brief looks at changes in land cover, water, and forest health within the Illilouette Creek Basin in Yosemite National Park. This basin has a unique fire management history, with most areas burned in the last 40 years. Results suggest that fire has had a positive influence on a number of the Basin's ecosystem functions. 

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Do fuel reduction treatments cause beetle mortality or resilience? Research Brief

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Do fuel reduction treatments cause beetle mortality or resilience? Research Brief

During normal levels of beetle activity, fuel treatment reductions either cause no trees to die from beetles or just a few. If tree deaths occur, they reinforce fuel hazard reduction and forest restoration goals. 

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Land Use Planning to Reduce WUI Fire Risk in France and California: Research Brief

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Land Use Planning to Reduce WUI Fire Risk in France and California: Research Brief

Both Southern France and California have large amounts of housing in the Wildland Urban Interface where local vegetation is highly dense and fire adapted. This research brief compares the land use policies used to reduce the exposure of homes to wildfire in these two locations.  

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Increasing Fire Activity for Arid California: Different Fire Trends from Different Fire Drivers: Research Brief

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Increasing Fire Activity for Arid California: Different Fire Trends from Different Fire Drivers: Research Brief

Study results from arid regions in Southern California show how fire trends differ based on unique sets of circumstances. This brief discuses how combinations of direct drivers (like powerline and roadside ignitions),  indirect drivers (like invasive grasses, air pollution, and landscape fragmentation terrestrial intactness) and unknown factors cause diversity in fire trends.

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Wildland Firefighter Exposure to Hydrocarbons: Research Brief

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Wildland Firefighter Exposure to Hydrocarbons: Research Brief

Wildland firefighters suppressing wildland fires or conducting prescribed fires work long shifts and are exposed to high levels of smoke with no respiratory protection. This research measures firefighter exposure to smoke and pollutants and offers way to reduce this exposure.

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Parsing Ecosystem Responses: Divergent Fire-Climate Patterns for California Landscapes: Research Brief

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Parsing Ecosystem Responses: Divergent Fire-Climate Patterns for California Landscapes: Research Brief

In an era of concern over climate change, it's important to understand how different kinds of fire-adapted of ecosystems in California may respond to climate change in relation to fire. This study categorized Californian ecosystems into three types and discusses how each may be affected by climate change and fire.

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