Western Wildfire Trends and
Climate Change
A July 2006 Sciencexpress Research Article, "Warming and
Earlier Spring Increases Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity", found a
positive correlation between larger western US wildfires since 1987 and
climate change. Mid and high elevation forests like lodgepole pine, spruce,
and fir were found to have increased fire risk due to a warming climate, and
not due to the structure of the forest. Increased fire risk in low elevation
Ponderosa pine of the South West was found to be correlated to both climate
change and stand structure.
link: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1128834v1
This new study looked at western US wildfire trends back to
1970. The chart and graph below displays wildfire trends by decade back to
1920. (The data is from the National Interagency Fire Center web page, and
appears to have been taken down since 2002.)
Please also read the
following fire related items:
1. The Utah Environmental Congress
fact sheet on fire
2. Article
from the Sylvan Sentinel, August/September 2002,
"Where There's Smoke
There's Liars"
3.
Letter by U.S. Forest
Service Aerial Firefighting Pilot John Litton
