Telling the truth about the way we live now
Evonne lives in a fire lookout in Oregon, and since I meet with these graduate students on Zoom, we’ve all…
Lookout tower
MoreOur new age of fire
Fire in the West is expected, and not so long ago, it seemed something the West experienced more than anywhere…
MoreWhen wildfire keeps coming back
Since January 2021, more than 6,272 fires have burned 917,000 acres in California
Smoke plume from wildfire in Boulder County, CO
MoreWhen immortals die
Giant sequoias come as close to immortality as living organisms can. Many live over a thousand years despite nature’s challenges. So…
MoreWhat do we owe wildland firefighters?
Vacancies, of course, limit how much federal firefighters can do. If Western communities want to be protected, they need to ensure that their firefighters receive better pay and benefits.
MoreWe blame the trees, but whose fault is it?
“But it’s questionable that any amount of “thinning” could protect Ashland from a wind-driven firestorm coming out of the watershed.”
Photograph by Romain Le Teuff, courtesy of Unsplash
MoreWe can act now to fight wildfires
“In 2020, the highest we got to anywhere, was a D2 — Severe Drought. Now we are looking at D3 — D4 — Extreme and Exceptional Drought across much of the West and almost all of the Southwest.”
Cameron Peak Fire, Near Red Feather Lakes, Arapahoe and Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado – 2020 Image courtesy of Harrison Raine
MoreIt’s Time to Come to the Aid of Wildland Firefighters
“..many of the men and women who fight those fires on our behalf are suffering from burnout”
Image of Harrison Raine setting a backfire to stop wildfire from spreading
MoreLiving with Evacuation, Smoke and Helicopters
“Wouldn’t it be a miracle if the whole damn world banded together and realized climate change was the number one priority?”
Photograph by Giorgio Trovato, courtesy of Unsplash
MoreFanning the Flames of Hate in Oregon
“The present we are now enduring is the climate-change future that we have been warned about for decades.”
Photograph by Alex Radelich, Courtesy of Unsplash
MoreHouses Must be Built to Withstand Wildfire
That the scene has become familiar makes it no less wrenching: A distraught couple searches through the ash, char, and…
U.S. Forest Service Photo 2007. Grass Valley Fire in Southern California’s San Bernadino Mountains
MoreThese Fires will Happen Again and Again
“This pattern of build-and-burn will continue..”
Photograph by Dawn Armfield, Courtesy of Unsplash
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