Professional Documents
Culture Documents
org/wildfires-and-climate-change
American Forest Foundation
In 2007, a particularly extreme fire year, an area the size of New Jersey was burned.2
Using woody biomass from wildfire fuel treatments to generate renewable energy can also provide climate
change benefits. Woody biomass waste is generated from forest management activities, hazardous fuel
reduction, and agricultural operations.4
Recent research has reaffirmed that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” when it comes to
managing wildfire risks. The Sierra Nevada Conservancy, The Nature Conservancy, and the U.S. Forest
Service studied the economic benefit in taking proactive forest management activities, using the Mokelumne
River watershed in the Sierra Nevada as a representative case. They found that fuel treatments such as
forest thinning and controlled burning can save up to three times the cost of future fires, reduce high-severity
fire by up to 75%, and bring added benefits for people, water, and wildlife. They also found that by reducing
the size and severity of fires, the carbon emissions from the fires were decreased by 38-77%, suggesting that
these activities could protect the carbon stocks sequestered in our forests.
A Changing Climate Can make matters worse
Climate change worsens fires by altering precipitation and decreasing forest health, making forests more
susceptible to severe fires, and fires releasing more carbon into the atmosphere and destroying areas of forest
that may be unable to regenerate under changing climate conditions. Forest management activities that
support forest health and limit the size and severity of wildfires should play an important role in climate
change discussions in the future.5
Resources:
1. Westerling, A. L., H. G. Hidalgo, D. R. Cayan, and T. W. Swetnam. 2006. Warming and earlier
spring increase western U.S. forest wildfire activity. Science 313:940–3.
2. Urbanski, S. P., W. M. Hao, and B. Nordgren. 2011. The wildland fire emission inventory: western
United States emission estimates and an evaluation of uncertainty. Atmospheric Chemistry and
Physics 11:12973–13000.
3. Hicke, J. a, A. J. H. Meddens, C. D. Allen, and C. a Kolden. 2013. Carbon stocks of trees killed by
bark beetles and wildfire in the western United States. Environmental Research Letters 8:035032.
4. Springsteen, B., T. Christofk, S. Eubanks, T. Mason, C. Clavin, and B. Storey. (2011). Emission
reductions from woody biomass waste for energy as an alternative to open burning. Journal of the
Air & Waste Management Association, 61:1, 63-68.
5. Sommers, W.T., R.A. Loehman, C.C. Hardy. (2014). Wildland fire emissions, carbon, and climate:
Science overview and knowledge needs. Forest Ecology and Management, 317, 1-8.
https://fires.globalforestwatch.org/
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/global-maps/MOD14A1_M_FIRE
https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#z:3;c:-37.2,-3.3;l:24hrs