** As heat wave roasts West, wildfires explode
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Monday, July 12, 2021
Firefighters work in the ongoing Beckwourth Complex fires in northern California, U ([link removed]) nited States Forest Service ([link removed])

Another heat wave is roasting the West, driving exploding wildfires that are impacting the region with smoke and causing evacuations and power shortages.

This third heat wave ([link removed]) to sweep the West this year is the result of the same "heat dome" that recently scorched the Northwest, leading to nearly 200 deaths ([link removed]) in Oregon and Washington State. Researchers have stated that the Pacific Northwest heat dome would have been all but impossible ([link removed]) without climate change. Over 31 million people ([link removed]) are now under excessive heat warnings or heat advisories, and tourists across the West are being urged to prepare for high heat ([link removed]) .

The heat wave drove a temperature of 130 degrees in Death Valley ([link removed]) on Friday, which, if confirmed, would be the hottest recorded temperature there since 1913. The previous high, although disputed, is considered the highest measured temperature on Earth. The high temperatures are helping drive a latest crop of rapidly expanding Western wildfires, which were burning across more than 768,000 acres of land in 12 Western U.S. states, and over 500,000 acres in Canada ([link removed]) on Sunday.

In Colorado, extreme fire behavior ([link removed]) north of Steamboat Springs has prompted forest closures and drawn attention to the lack of firefighting staff in the West: none ([link removed]) of the Forest Service workers battling Colorado fires are actually firefighters on paper—their job titles are forestry or range technicians, which come with significantly lower pay. Nationally, the federal firefighting force faces staffing shortages and low morale.

In Oregon, the Bootleg Fire has knocked out three interstate transmission lines ([link removed]) , straining electrical supplies in northern California, where residents were asked to reduce power consumption. "The fire behavior we are seeing on the Bootleg Fire is among the most extreme you can find and firefighters are seeing conditions they have never seen before," fire incident commander Al Lawson said ([link removed]) .

The Beckwourth Fire Complex in nearby northern California more than doubled in size ([link removed]) from Friday to Saturday, sending up a massive cloud of smoke and ash that, combined with the dry heat, generated its own lightning ([link removed]) and created dangerous weather conditions for firefighters. So-called pyrocumulonimbus clouds can, in turn, make the fire spread even faster—in addition to lightning, they can create erratic, ember-spitting winds.

In Idaho, Gov. Brad Little declared a wildfire emergency Friday and mobilized the state’s National Guard ([link removed]) to help fight fires sparked after lightning storms swept across the drought-stricken region. Meanwhile, two firefighters died ([link removed]) in a plane crash while surveying a blaze in Arizona.
Quick hits


** Lake Mead, a lifeline for water in Los Angeles and the West, tips toward crisis
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Los Angeles Times ([link removed])


** How Big Oil keeps a grip on New Mexico—with the help of a major lobbyist
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Carlsbad Current-Argus & Floodlight ([link removed])


** Time to designate Avi Kwa Ame Nevada's fourth national monument
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Las Vegas Sun ([link removed]) [Opinion] | Public News Service ([link removed])


** California wildfire generates its own lightning as it more than doubles in size
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Los Angeles Times ([link removed])


** US faces more risk of certain diseases due to climate change
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The Hill ([link removed])


** New Mexico state trust lands beckon for adventure
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Santa Fe New Mexican ([link removed])


** Federal probe into Indian boarding school gravesites seeks to bring healing
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National Public Radio ([link removed])


** Aerial photos of the California drought
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Business Insider ([link removed])
Quote of the day
This is where the Antiquities Act can play a crucial role for Nevada. The Biden administration must use it to designate Avi Kwa Ame Nevada’s fourth national monument. It is the right thing to do."

—Melissa Giovanni, geologist and professor of environmental science, L ([link removed]) as Vegas Sun ([link removed])
Picture this


** @USFWSRefuges ([link removed])
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This year’s #LatinoConservationWeek ([link removed]) celebrations are from July 17-25. Learn more about events hosted on or by refuges near you at [link removed] ([link removed]) Cholla cactus at Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge in California Photo: Nancy Fernandez

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