Wildfire
Wildfires are unplanned fires that occur in wildlands such as forest, rangelands or grasslands. These extreme events are common in the Western U.S., usually occurring in summer and fall. Wildfire season is defined by the dates of the first large fire and the last large fire control. Since the 1970s, the wildfire season in western states has extended from 5 months to over 7 months in length. Since the 1980s, the annual number of large fires and area burned has significantly increased, with a sizable proportion of the increase in fire activity occurring in the forests of the Northern Rocky Mountains, followed by forests in the Pacific northwest and southwest. In addition, the average burn time of individual fires has grown from 6 days between 1973 and 1982, to 52 days between 2003 and 2012. Increases in large fire activity and area burned have been driven by rising temperatures, reduced winter snowpack, earlier snowmelt, reduced summer precipitation and increased evaporation. Under climate change we can expect the wildfire activity to increase as temperatures continue to warm, lengthening the fire season further, and as drought continues to afflict wildland ecosystems.
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Wildfire and Invasive Plants in Alaska’s Boreal Forest
Burned areas in Alaskan boreal forests are susceptible to invasion from non-native plant species.
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Climate Change and Wildfire in Northwest Rangelands
The risk of large, frequent, and severe rangeland wildfires is increasing as warming temperatures and invasive annual…
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Fire Management Adaptation Menu
Climate change presents new challenges for managing wildland fires in fire-adapted ecosystems and near the Wildland…
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Alaska and a Changing Climate
Rapid warming and changing precipitation patterns in Alaska affect communities, industry, and natural resources.
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Targeted Grazing for Wildfire Fuel Breaks
This Adaptation in Action profile highlights the use of targeted cattle grazing to create fuel breaks for wildfire…
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Climate Change and Wildfire in Alaska
In Alaska, the risk of large, frequent, and severe wildfires is increasing as rapidly warming temperatures and longer…
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Vulnerability Assessments of U.S. Agriculture and Forests (2018)
Two special issues in the journal Climatic Change feature vulnerability assessments of agriculture and forestry across…
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Climate Change Impacts in the Northwest
A summary of current and expected impacts due to climate change in the Northwest.
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Wildfire Impacts on the Southern Plains
Between 2016 and 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Southern Plains Climate Hub led a project to assess…