Nine of the 20 largest wildfires in California in the last 110 years were started by lightning strikes, including the devastating Lightning Complex fires in August 2020 that burned more than 750,000 acres in and around the Bay Area. Between … Read more
Tag: wildfires
Fire
The Unequal Social Consequences of Wildfire Smoke in California
Around the American West, wildfires are increasing in size and frequency. In California, the list of Top-20 records are telling: 15 of the most destructive, nine of the largest, and seven of the deadliest wildfires have occurred since 2015. At … Read more
Winter Issue 2021
How Do Wildfires Affect Ocean Ecosystems?
How does wildfire ash affect the organisms in our waterways? Since plankton form the foundation of our coastal ecosystems, what happens if their equilibrium is disrupted?
Field Reports
Reflections from Inverness Ridge on a Strange 2020
It started as a low rumble and proceeded to get louder and louder. Curious, I stepped out onto the deck just as a large white and red twin-engine propeller plane thundered directly overhead, descending to the northeast. Ten seconds later … Read more
The Science Explainer
Why We Need to Treat Wildfire as a Public Health Issue in California
Fires are spreading into communities and increasingly affecting large numbers of Californians, sometimes repeatedly.
Stewardship
Can Better Forestry Jobs Prevent Fires and Restore Rural America?
On an unseasonably warm November day in a rural neighborhood in the western Sierra Nevada, men with chainsaws patrol a tree thicket that burned three years ago. One man, whose chaps have torn on his right thigh and whose shirt … Read more
Climate Change, Environmental Justice, Fire, The Science Explainer
Racial and Ethnic Minorities are More Vulnerable to Wildfires
Some people are more affected by wildfires than others
Winter Issue 2018
There Is No Option to Live Without Fire in California
The most destructive wildfire season in California history has nearly ended. Will this be the new pattern — or can we bring fire back on our own terms?
Stewardship
An Early Look at How the North Bay Fires Have Impacted Undeveloped Land in the Region
Initially, it appears the fires played an ecological role for open spaces and undeveloped lands.
