Forests

Here in Sonoma County, it was not until 2017 that we began to really dread October and November as “Fire Season”. Now when the wind blows strongly out of the North East we feel hyper alert, remembering the traumas of recent Autumns.

We wonder, “Why are the fires so much worse? Is it only the result of climate change, or is it forest management too?”

An article last September in The Washington Post, by Matthew Hurteau, associate professor of biology and director of the Earth Systems Ecology Lab at the University of New Mexico, cast some light on this topic.

Dr. Hurteau argues that “Fire Season” is a result of both factors. “The wildfires burning in the West are as large, hot and fast as they are because of climate change, as more heat and less water make vegetation more flammable.” And at the same time, in the dry forests of our coastal ranges, “there is too much fuel as a result of a century of fire suppression. Before then, these forests burned (less severely) with some regularity.”

“For years, even as the fuel built up, it remained pretty easy to put out significant fires, because the West was wetter and cooler than it is now. Beginning in the 1980s, however, as temperatures rose, the area susceptible to wildfires in the West began to spread. There were more crown fires in dry forests, and the problem grew significantly worse over the next three decades.”

Here is the link to the full article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com

As our Autumn “Fire Season” grows longer and more intense, we see an increasing interest in stopping the building of new homes and other structures in the Wildland Urban Interface.

Climate Change will continue to exacerbate the intensity of fires, and no amount of “hardening” structures will enable them to survive raging fire storms. 

Nonetheless, who wouldn’t want to live in a rural area, surrounded by natural beauty?

An article last September in the NY Times by Christopher Flavelle, offers some interesting insights into shifting public opinions about restricting building in flood or fire-prone areas.

He writes, “Eighty-four percent of respondents, including 73 percent of Republicans, supported mandatory building codes in risky areas, and 57 percent supported making it illegal to build in those areas. More than half of respondents favored paying people to move, including three-quarters of Democrats.”

“As global greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, decisions about where and how to build have become increasingly important. If local governments continue to allow homes to go up in places most exposed to climate change, such as coastlines, floodplains or fire-prone wilderness, experts say, it will make generations of current and future residents more vulnerable to worsening hurricanes, floods, wildfires and other disasters.”

The article describes the competing forces of public safety, tax revenue for rural communities, and the building industry. Link here  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/climate/flood-fire-building-restrictions.html 

Another approach to this problem is the use of greenbelts, which provide a buffer for wildfire between open space and housing. The town of Windsor provides some great lessons about this strategy, as discussed in this link from Greenbelt.org  https://www.greenbelt.org/blog/wildfire-greenbelts-saving-sonoma-county/ 

Deputy Fire Chief Matt Gustafson of the Sonoma County Fire Protection District said, “We know that greenbelts coupled with the correct fuel management practices like prescribed burns and healthy groves, serve as buffers. Along with open space, this includes agricultural areas, vineyards, pastures, golf courses, and grazing lands. We are fortunate that in Windsor a majority of our urban growth interface has these buffers.”

“Multiple firefighting professionals, fire ecologists, and non-profit organizations are working together to reduce wildfire risk in greenbelts and the wildland-urban interface through defensible space, prescribed burns, vegetation management and best forest management practices.”

Clearly, our local government agencies are learning and adapting to meet the increasing challenges of wildfire in an era of climate change.