** The complex causes of wildfires
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Thursday, September 17th, 2020
The many catastrophic fires burning on the West coast have brought the hazards of climate change and poor environmental management to the fore | United States Forest Service ([link removed])

Wildfires are driven by a complex combination of forces ([link removed]) . Climate change, forest management, changing human behaviors, and wind all play a role ([link removed]) in creating the terrifying fires that are roaring across the West and impacting the entire country with smoke.

While wildfires are a natural part of land systems, climate change ([link removed]) is dramatically exacerbating the risk ([link removed]) of large, catastrophic wildfires as air temperatures increase. In warmer, drier air, such as that under increased climate change, liquid water is more easily evaporated from vegetation ([link removed]) . This results in dry ([link removed]) , ready-to-burn forests. Fires started in such an environment will expand much more rapidly, and can create their own weather systems and winds that may blow embers out ahead of the actual fire.

But even incredibly dry forests still need an ignition. That's where human behaviors come in. In the latest episode of Go West, Young Podcast ([link removed]) , ecologist and data scientist Nathan Mietkiewicz ([link removed]) discusses his new analysis that found humans were responsible for 97 percent of wildfires ([link removed]) that threatened homes over the last 24 years. As human development expands in the wildland-urban interface ([link removed]) , human-caused fires will only become more common.

The way we have managed our forests ([link removed]) doesn't help the situation. In the past, the United States has aggressively suppressed wildfires, preventing fuel loads from burning. Over the past hundred years, forests have accumulated plant material that is ready to ignite. According to scientists, the solution to this piece of the problem isn't raking—it's prescribed, or controlled, burns ([link removed]) . Controlled patterns of burning can help remove fuel loads from forests.

The scientific community is in agreement ([link removed]) on the fact that wildfires are the result of complex interactions between multiple driving factors. Preventing future wildfires will require urgent federal action ([link removed]) on multiple fronts, driven by recent and agreed-upon science.


** The New West and the Politics of the Environment
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Next week on Tuesday, September 22 from 4 - 5 p.m. PT, join Senator Harry Reid for a conversation and the premier of a new documentary ([link removed]) : "The New West and the Politics of the Environment." The film explores how Senator Reid set the foundation for a "lowercase green new deal" in the American West using power in new ways to settle water wars with respect for Native Americans, protect wilderness and endangered species, and usher in a just transition to renewable energy.
Quick hits


** The fossil fuel industry has known for decades that climate change would cause catastrophes like wildfires
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Slate ([link removed])


** Climate change, future wildfires turbocharged as Trump administration rolls back climate policies and expands drilling
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New York Times ([link removed]) | Public News Service ([link removed])


** As hurricane Sally makes landfall, the U.S. faces twin climate disasters of fire and water
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E&E News ([link removed])


** Opinion: Colorado must protect and support communities hurt by pollution
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Colorado Sun ([link removed])


** California's wildfires are putting a huge amount of carbon dioxide into the air
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Washington Post ([link removed])


** Federal charges brought against former head of company that hopes to begin search for oil in Arctic refuge
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Anchorage Daily News ([link removed])


** The U.S. oil and gas industry's methane problem is catching up with it as methane tracking improves
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Desmog ([link removed]) | Houston Chronicle ([link removed])


** Some of Glacier National Park's glaciers have lost as much as 80% of their size in the last 50 years
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C ([link removed]) NN ([link removed])
Quote of the day
The best way to combat wildfires is putting more fire in areas that we know will burn, in times of the year when fire risk is low. Because most of these forests, grasslands, in the West, they need fire, they want fire, they’re conducive to fire. Chaparral, in Southern California, that plant for instance, has turpentine in their leaves. They need [fire] to regrow. And if we remove that from the landscape, we start seeing larger, not only socially destructive fires, but also the fire behaviors that are difficult to suppress if the fire comes close to homes and communities.”

—Forest ecologist and data scientist Nathan Mietkiewicz,
G ([link removed]) o West, Young Podcast ([link removed])
Picture this


** @USFWSRefuges ([link removed])

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#WildlifeRefuges ([link removed]) have super staff. Meet Brianna Amingwa at John Heinz #WildlifeRefuge ([link removed]) in Philly, recently recognized for her dedication by the North American Association for Environmental Education. [link removed] ([link removed])

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