Wildfires are remaking western US forests. Decisions about managing forests that have burned should factor in how fires change animal behavior and interactions between predators and prey.
A section of Kenya’s Mau Forest complex that has been cleared for human settlement.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images
About 60% of Mexico’s forests are managed by local communities. A scholar who has studied the forests for 30 years explains how this system protects the forests and the people who oversee them.
Wildfire smoke rises near Prince Albert, Sask., in May 2021, where a fast-moving wildfire led local officials to declare a state of emergency.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kayle Neis
Recent wildfire seasons have been worsened by climate change. But wildfires also lead to additional climate warming when they release carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
The Riverside Fire, viewed from La Dee Flats in the Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon on Sept. 9.
USFS
Debating whether climate change or forest management has caused the devastating wildfires in California, Washington and Oregon is a false choice.
Reducing deforestation of tropical forests and supporting the communities that live there can reduce the risk of future pandemics.
AFP via Getty Images
A new study estimates that $22 billion to $30 billion dollars per year needs to be spent to maintain forests and reduce the likelihood of a pathogen jumping from wildlife to humans.
Wind whips embers from a tree burned by a wildfire in Riverside, Calif. Oct. 31, 2019.
AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu
The Earth may be entering an era in which natural and human-generated fire together are reshaping the planet.
Drones are increasingly used to gather information and inform research. As technology develops longer-lasting batteries and more sensitive cameras, the role of drones in research will continue to grow.
(Shutterstock)
The species which surround a tree in a forest make up the character of its neighbourhood. Good neighbours can make forests resilient to climate change.
A U.S. Forest Service employee using a drop torch during a planned burn in Arizona’s Coconino National Forest.
USFS/Ian Horvath
Decades of wildfire suppression have allowed flammable fuels to pile up in US forests. Scientists and managers say careful use of planned fires can reduce risks of large, out-of-control burns.
President Donald Trump and other federal and state officials tour a mobile home and RV park on Nov. 17, 2018 in the wake of the Camp Fire.
Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP, Pool
Forest management is not a cure-all for wildfires, although it can help reduce the chances of massive burns. Making this happen will require broad collaborative efforts and more money.
A coolabah forest in Western Australia – one of the world’s previously unrecognised dryland forests.
TERN Ausplots
A new survey has identified millions of hectares of forest in dryland areas, a finding that boosts the total global forest cover by 9% and has significant consequences for carbon budgets.
In Cameroon efforts are underway to halt rainforest loss and develop opportunities with locals.
Arend de Haas
Combining new technologies, including Global Forest Watch, a Forest Monitoring App and Participatory 3D Modelling, brings out traditional knowledge of the elders.
An airtanker in the Chelan Butte wildfire in August 2015.
benagain_photo/flickr
In a part of Washington state hit hard by extreme fire, a fire ecologist explains how prescribed burns and thinning can make the land more fire-resilient.
Wildfires are getting bigger and more costly. Can we return them to a less dangerous state by looking to the past?
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Restoring forest landscapes through active thinning and letting fires burn in order to minimize fire damage has proved harder and less effective than advocates believed, says historian of fire.
Western Australia’s few remaining giant jarrahs are increasingly lonely monuments to the forest’s towering past.
Amanda Slater/Wikimedia Commons
When Europeans first arrived in Australia’s Southwest, they found vast tracts of huge jarrah trees. Now, after logging and dwindling rainfall, only a handful of these giants remain.
The Central Highlands of Victoria are home to the world’s tallest flowering plants, the Mountain Ash, and one of Australia’s most endangered mammals, the Leadbeater’s Possum. Both are threatened by ongoing…
Conservation Director, Wildlife Ecologist and Microbiologist at the African Conservation Foundation. Lecturer and board member at the Institute of Biodiversity and Non-Profit Studies, University of Buea