Wildfires have become larger, more frequent, more severe, and more destructive to human life and property in many ecosystems in California in recent decades. If you’ve lived in California for a while, it might feel like this has suddenly become … Read more
“While acute smoke is bad for human and environmental health, smoke in moderation can be part of human and environmental health and well-being.”
There’s no option to live without fire in California, and setting small, controlled fires could help keep the large, unruly ones at bay. But what would an increase in controlled burns actually look like, and how would they impact our open spaces, wildlife, air, and water?
Old redwood trees have seen fire many times in their lives. It’s because of their fire scars—not in spite of them—that the redwood forest thrives.
New research is using motion-sensor cameras to reveal how wildlife communities survive fire and how they adapt to a burned landscape in the weeks, months, and years after a fire.
Meet the East Bay Regional Park District Fire Department.
Introducing the first themed issue in Bay Nature's 20 years of publication.
The SCU Lightning Complex fires burned 6,000 acres of East Bay Regional Park District land last year. And already, green ground cover, reptiles, and raptors are returning in Morgan Territory.
Whereas systems are in place to rescue domesticated animals in the path of fire, until now wild animals have been largely left to their own devices.
Before the CZU Complex fires of 2020, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park had not seen fire for a hundred years. Signs of recovery in the park are as varied as the redwood forest ecology itself.
Independent, nonprofit environmental journalism connecting people with nature in the San Francisco Bay Area.
