As we enter another active wildfire season in the Southwest, a new white paper by the Ecological Restoration Institute analyzes wildfire trends across the western US since 1950. The paper summarizes the conclusions of a preponderance of literature analyzing changes to wildfire season across the western US and shows that forest fires have increased in size, severity and frequency.
The paper responds to a minority of critics who maintain that changes in fire size, frequency and severity are consistent with historical conditions. It explains how the increase in the number of wildfires and area burned in most forested regions of the West are a result of dense forests with high fuel loads, rising temperatures, increased drought, longer fire seasons, below-average winter precipitation, and earlier spring snowmelt.
This paper strikes up another timely discussion on living with wildfires, wildfire prevention and the implications of large-scale restoration efforts.
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