Drivers of California’s changing wildfires: a state-of-the-knowledge synthesis

Over the past four decades, annual area burned has increased significantly in California and across the western USA. This trend reflects a confluence of intersecting factors that affect wildfire regimes. It is correlated with increasing temperatures and atmospheric vapour pressure deficit. Anthropog...

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Published in:International journal of wildland fire Vol. 32; no. 7; pp. 1039 - 1058
Main Authors: MacDonald, Glen, Wall, Tamara, Enquist, Carolyn A. F., LeRoy, Sarah R., Bradford, John B., Breshears, David D., Brown, Timothy, Cayan, Daniel, Dong, Chunyu, Falk, Donald A., Fleishman, Erica, Gershunov, Alexander, Hunter, Molly, Loehman, Rachel A., van Mantgem, Phillip J., Middleton, Beth Rose, Safford, Hugh D., Schwartz, Mark W., Trouet, Valerie
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Roslyn CSIRO 01.01.2023
Subjects:
20th century
California
Capital losses
Climate change
Costs
Ecosystems
fire suppression
Forest & brush fires
Fuels
Human influences
humans
Knowledge management
Land use planning
Logging
Native peoples
Rainy season
Regression analysis
Trends
Vapor pressure
vapor pressure deficit
vegetation
wet season
Wildfires
winter
United States > US
California
ISSN:1049-8001, 1448-5516
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Over the past four decades, annual area burned has increased significantly in California and across the western USA. This trend reflects a confluence of intersecting factors that affect wildfire regimes. It is correlated with increasing temperatures and atmospheric vapour pressure deficit. Anthropogenic climate change is the driver behind much of this change, in addition to influencing other climate-related factors, such as compression of the winter wet season. These climatic trends and associated increases in fire activity are projected to continue into the future. Additionally, factors related to the suppression of the Indigenous use of fire, aggressive fire suppression and, in some cases, changes in logging practices or fuel management intensity, collectively have produced large build-ups of vegetative fuels in some ecosystems. Human activities provide the most common ignition source for California’s wildfires. Despite its human toll, fire provides a range of ecological benefits to many California ecosystems. Given the diversity of vegetation types and fire regimes found in the state, addressing California’s wildfire challenges will require multi-faceted and locally targeted responses in terms of fuel management, human-caused ignitions, building regulations and restrictions, integrative urban and ecosystem planning, and collaboration with Tribes to support the reinvigoration of traditional burning regimes.
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ISSN:1049-8001
1448-5516
DOI:10.1071/WF22155