New report ‘braids’ Indigenous and Western knowledge for forest adaptation strategies against climate change

Severe droughts and wildfires, invasive species, and large insect outbreaks are straining national forests and surrounding lands. A new report outlines a new approach to forest stewardship that “braids together” Indigenous knowledge and Western science to conserve and restore more resilient forestlands in the U.S.

REBURN: A new tool to model wildfires in the Pacific Northwest and beyond

A new tool, REBURN, can simulate large forest landscapes and wildfire dynamics over decades or centuries under different wildfire management strategies.

Burning to understand

Wildfires significantly impact the health of economies in the western United States that are highly dependent on tourism, agriculture, and timber. David Blunck, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Oregon State University, has been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense to spearhead a $2.1 million study examining the burning behavior of live fuels
in order to better predict and manage wildfires.

Reducing Wildfire Risks for Better Management and Resource Allocation

As wildfires become deadlier, larger and more expensive, there is strong interest in better risk governance. Managing future wildfire risk requires an interface between human decision processes and knowledge about climate trends related to fire, as well as humans’ abilities to anticipate wildfire potential and mitigation approaches are critical. Several presentations at the 2019 Society for Risk Analysis (SRA) Annual Meeting will explore analyses of past fire seasons, projections for the future and approaches for decision making aimed at mitigating risk.