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Articles on Wildfire management

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Ulladulla Local Aboriginal Land Council and Mane Collective

Cultural burning is better for Australian soils than prescribed burning, or no burning at all

Anthony Dosseto, University of Wollongong; Katharine Haynes, University of Wollongong; Leanne Brook, Indigenous Knowledge, and Victor Channell, Indigenous Knowledge

What does fire management do to soils? We compared prescribed burning to cultural burning and looked at how soil properties changed after fire. Cultural burning was better.
Beyond the danger to human life and economies, wildfires also present considerable danger to communities and the mental well-being of survivors. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Wildfire evacuations: How our diverse experiences can strengthen disaster response

Maureen G. Reed, University of Saskatchewan; Amber J. Fletcher, University of Regina, and Heidi Walker, University of Manitoba

To effectively address climate hazards like wildfire, we must consider the diverse experiences of people, account for longstanding institutions and create processes that empower local people.
Decisions made by those in charge of wildfire response can have a major impact on how quickly the fire is contained. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Joining forces: How collaboration can help tackle Canada’s escalating wildfire threat

Julia Baird, Brock University; Angela Guerrero, Queensland University of Technology; Daniel Nohrstedt, Uppsala University; Örjan Bodin, Stockholm University, and Robert J Summers, University of Alberta

Effective collaboration may be a key to minimizing impacts of the growing wildfire season in Canada.
Canada and the United States are dealing with unprecedented levels of smoke from wildfires, and forest management practices and climate change are only partly to blame. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry

Anticipating Canada’s crisis response decisions can save critical time in future wildfire seasons

Robin Gregory, University of British Columbia; Paul Slovic, University of Oregon, and Ralph L. Keeney, Duke University

Many response decisions to crises cannot be made in advance because each event is unique and has its own specific characteristics. But it is still possible to prepare for the future.
Fires are increasing in high mountain areas that rarely burned in the past. John McColgan, Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service

Fire danger in the high mountains is intensifying: That’s bad news for humans, treacherous for the environment

Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University

Fires here can affect meltwater timing and water quality, worsen erosion that triggers mudslides, and much more, as two scientists explain.
The fire risk goes beyond rising temperatures and dry conditions. Samuel Corum / AFP via Getty Images

Western wildfires destroyed 246% more homes and buildings over the past decade – fire scientists explain what’s changing

Philip Higuera, University of Montana; Jennifer Balch, University of Colorado Boulder; Maxwell Cook, University of Colorado Boulder, and Natasha Stavros, University of Colorado Boulder

More homes are burning in wildfires in nearly every Western state. The reason? Humans.
Forest thinning and prescribed burns leave less fuel to burn. Escaflowne via Getty Images

New federal wildfire plan is ambitious – but the Forest Service needs more money and people to fight the growing risks

Ryan E. Tompkins, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Susan Kocher, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

After another devastating wildfire year in the West, the Biden administration has a plan to ramp up forest thinning and prescribed burns. Two foresters explain why these projects are so important.
Tools for a prescribed burn conducted in the Sierra Nevada in November 2019. Susan Kocher

Moving beyond America’s war on wildfire: 4 ways to avoid future megafires

Susan Kocher, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Ryan E. Tompkins, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Two forest researchers whose own communities were threatened by fires in 2021 explain how historic policies left forests at high risk of megafires.
Before satellites, fire crews watched for smoke from fire towers across the national forests. K. D. Swan, U.S. Forest Service

Big fires demand a big response: How 1910’s Big Burn can help us think smarter about fighting wildfires and living with fire

William Deverell, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and Elizabeth A. Logan, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences

The US has learned that it cannot suppress its way to a healthy relationship with fire in the West. That strategy failed, even before climate change proved it to be no strategy at all.
Not all fires are disastrous. For many ecosystems, fire plays a key role in boosting biodiversity. (BLM Oregon and Washington)

How Indigenous burning practices can help curb the biodiversity crisis

Sara Wickham, University of Waterloo; Andrew Trant, University of Waterloo; Emma Davis, University of Waterloo, and Kira Hoffman, University of British Columbia

Large and out-of-control wildfires can seriously damage ecosystems, but Indigenous fire practices can keep ecosystems healthy and resilient, and even increase biodiversity.

Related Topics

  1. Bushfires
  2. California
  3. Climate change
  4. Colorado
  5. Fire
  6. Forest fires
  7. Forests
  8. Indigenous fire
  9. US West
  10. Wildfires

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