The burning issue: managing wildfire risk. What happens when thousands, even millions, of acres burn? After a wildfire rages through an area, the ecosystem is disrupted - but is it actually healthier because of what’s now able to grow? Over millennia, people have worked with fire in keeping forests healthy - is our contemporary Smokey the Bear really the best mascot for management? With maps, data, and information below, see what sense you can make out of how we should handle wildfires to come.
Climate Change Has Doubled the Number of Wildfires
https://www.c2es.org/content/wildfires-and-climate-change/
The year rainforests burned
https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/2019-the-year-rainforests-burned/
More countries than ever hit by forest fires
https://phys.org/news/2019-11-countries-forest.html
Wildfires in South America from January to August 2020, by country or territory
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1043895/number-wildfires-south-america-country/
What makes California burn so much?
https://abc7.com/what-causes-wildfires-cal-fire-california-ca/6381945/
Active Fire Mapping-Large incident map
People and Forests
https://www.fs.usda.gov/science-technology/people-forests
Managing Fires
https://www.fs.usda.gov/science-technology/fire
Wildfire Support from 438 Miles Above
https://www.usgs.gov/news/wildfire-support-438-miles-above
For Help, Australia Looks to Aboriginal Practices
https://www.yesmagazine.org/environment/2020/01/13/australia-fires-aboriginal-land-management/
In U.S., Native Tribes Are Taking Fire Control Into Their Own Hands
https://www.wired.com/story/wildfires-native-tribes-controlled-burns/
Native approaches to fire management could revitalize communities
Introduction to Fire Ecology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xjVXybavO0
Where the Forests Fall, the Grasses Grow
Grand Challenge: Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet
ERC Grand Challenges: For project design, for inquiry, for activism
Photo by Benjamin Lizardo on Unsplash