“Almost a third of housing nationwide today is situated in the wildland-urban interface, according to 2020 Forest Service research. As climate change primes the landscape for wildfires, these places are increasingly in harm’s way.”

Faith Kearns, Ph.D.@fkearns.bsky.social · 7h ago

Much more to learn, but this has been the pattern for a bit now -- fires that start in "wilder" areas spread into nieghborhoods where the houses then become the primary fuel www.hcn.org/articles/the...

When Justice is blind, bad guys take the fifth. When justice is corrupt, good guys take the fifth. Feel free to share.

As much as this is a water planet, our Earth is also a fire planet. Every continent (except Antarctica) has fire seasons. Climate change and mismanagement have made fire risk and fire danger worse. We can make it better, while still holding onto fire as a needed treatment for the land.

The claim that "pink elephants cannot fly" is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that pink elephants can fly. 🙄

Pretty cool and dramatic NASA animation showing the long-range transport of 2026 Canadian wildfire smoke.

Graphs showing cumulative area burned and carbon emissions in Ontario. Note in terms of area burned 2021 is the top spot but 2026 is top spot in terms of carbon emissions. Both are correct. The reason for this is that the 2026 fires are more severe - consumed more biomass (greater depth of burn).

Sad to hear of the passing of Robert Ricklefs - a giant of Ecology who simultaneously pushed forward big ideas at multiple biological levels yet took time for detailed natural history .. McGill does a nice job summarizing his impressive contributions 🌐🧪 dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2026/06/11/r...

Robert Ricklefs – in memoriam

Robert Ricklefs, a giant of ecology, passed away on Sunday. It is hard to overstate the extensive impact Bob had on the field. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in the US,…

dynamicecology.wordpress.com

Prescribed burns and biomass removal saves $3.73 in economic damage for every dollar spent. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Wildfire damages and the cost-effective role of forest fuel treatments

Wildfires are among the most pressing environmental challenges of the 21st century, intensified by the accumulation of forest fuels after a century of fire suppression policies. Although fuel-reductio...

science.org

Nearly 30,000 wildfires have ignited in the US so far this year, the most in nearly two decades. Here's what to expect heading into summer: https://cnn.it/4e3jGPC

(2/2) (from chapter 8, “At the Foot of Wâavêmâ Hemish Fire Management in Northern New Mexico,“ by @pyroos.bsky.social, @firescar.bsky.social, John Galvan, Paul Tosa, Chris Toya, T. J. Ferguson, Matthew J. Liebmann, and John R. Welch osupress.oregonstate.edu/book/landkee...

Landkeeping

With rising temperatures, longer summers, drought, and more wildfires occurring in the United States and Canada, there is growing interest in the impact and efficacy of Indigenous fire and cultural bu...

osupress.oregonstate.edu

This move is so incredibly dumb, and ultimately so destructive to our understanding of extreme weather and of climate change, that it could only have come from the Trump administration. Truly dangerous idiocy. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/c...

Trump Administration Readies Plans to Dismantle Renowned Science Lab

nytimes.com

but we gotta turn over public lands to private interests because they’re bEtTeR aT mAnAgEmEnT, right?

Michael Wara@michaelwara.bsky.social · 6mo ago

USFS land on the left, City of Flagstaff on the right.

Nothing to see here; just the division that funds (or not) all of us in the environmental sciences, including atmosphere, ocean, ice, Earth, climate, hydrology, whatever.

Jeremy Berg@jeremymberg.bsky.social · 6mo ago

5/9

My colleagues Calvin Farris (NPS) and Ellis Margolis (USGS) led a landmark study in paleofire reconstruction. In addition to showing that fire management can restore past fire regimes, the demonstrated methods are a first in dendrochronology. 1/6 esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

CONGRATULATIONS to Thomas W. Swetnam (@firescar.bsky.social), author of The Jemez Mountains: A Cultural and Natural History! WINNER of the 2025 Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association 📚💙 #NewMexico

Well, it's now official (per NOAA): Dec (and Nov-Dec) 2025 were the warmest such periods on record for Western U.S. (and also for most individual Western states). It has been an extraordinarily sustained period of winter warmth, and this eerily balmy winter continues into Jan.

Snowpack across much of West was at record or near-record low levels for most of Dec. Despite recent local recovery--esp. in central/southern Sierra in California--it remains extremely low most everywhere else. Record low snowpack may return by later in Jan w/this pattern.

The continued destruction of science by the US administration is beyond appalling and disgusting. This includes the withdrawal of the the US from IAI, Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research. This is a massive mistake and loss for all.

In December I received a deeply meaningful recognition for my research from AFE, especially to cap off the unhinged year that was 2025. I dedicate this award to all scientists - especially my fellow feds - who have been vilified and whose work has not been valued. @afe-fireecology.bsky.social

New in @globalchangebio.bsky.social: thoughts from me & Jilmarie Stephens on recent study confirming that vegetation accumulation-to-desiccation cycles induced by wet-to-dry climate transitions increase wildfire severity in California's non-forested biomes. onlinelibrary.wiley....

Threatening to dismantle NCAR, our premier weather and climate research institute (apparently) because Colorado refuses to pardon someone accused of tampering with voting machines is a sad example of our current kakistocracy in action… www.nytimes.com/2025...

Unbelievable. This would be a terrible blow to American science, writ large. It would decimate not only climate research, but also the kind of weather, wildfire, and disaster research that has underpinned half a century of progress in prediction, early warning, and increased resilience.

USA TODAY@usatoday.com · 8mo ago

Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

A deeply dangerous — and blatantly retaliatory action against Colorado — by the Trump administration. NCAR is one of the most renowned scientific facilities in the WORLD — where scientists perform cutting-edge research everyday. We will fight this reckless directive with every legal tool we have.

USA TODAY@usatoday.com · 8mo ago

Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.

NCAR is quite literally our global mothership. Everyone who works in climate and weather has passed through its doors and benefited from its incredible resources. Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet. Unbelievable.

As we all watch Ken Burn’s American Revolution on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) this evening, remember that federal funding for this public programming has been cut by a president who aspires to be like the king patriots separated from nearly 250 years ago.

Prohibited activities include advising Chinese graduate students. For reference, a recent Georgetown report estimated 16% of STEM graduate students in the US are Chinese nationals. This would take out entire fields at the knees, which is perhaps the point.

Roland Hatzenpichler@environmicrobio.bsky.social · 9mo ago

“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”

Final version now available #AmJBot @botsocamerica.bsky.social Sequoia & Sequoiadendron: Two paleoendemic megatrees with different adaptive responses to high-severity fires bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... Plants are not adapted to fire, but to fire regimes 🧪🌍🔥🌳🌿🪴 #ecoevo #wildfire

juli g pausas@jgpausas.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Sequoia sempervirens (redwood; world's tallest tree) is well adapted to high-intensity crown fires (eg 2020), but Sequoiadendron giganteum (giant sequoia; world's most massive tree) is adapted to surface fires only! bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... 🧪🌍🔥🌿🌳🔥🪴 @botsocamerica.bsky.social

Dr. Julie Edwards (@julieedtree.bsky.social) leads a new paper showing that high-resolution cellular-scale measurements (Quantitative Wood Anatomy) yield better temperature signals in Alaskan tree rings than even conventional MXD across all frequencies agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Resolution and Frequency‐Dependent Climate Signals in an Arctic Tree‐Ring Temperature Reconstruction of the Last Millennium

Tree-ring density measurement resolution affects low-frequency trends in temperature reconstructions High-resolution anatomical maximum latewood density has stronger correlations with instrumenta...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

When it comes to famous holes in the ground, northern Arizona has two: the #GrandCanyon and #MeteorCrater. New research suggests that these famous depressions might, in fact, be linked.

An Asteroid Impact May Have Led to Flooding near the Grand Canyon - Eos

There’s remarkable synchronicity between the timing of a paleolake in what is today Grand Canyon National Park and the formation of nearby Barringer Meteorite Crater.

eos.org

Back in the day, I was working a fire near a fancy ski resort. This was when $30 million homes were still unfathomable to me. This guy, who kept bragging that he had the President's personal phone number, came up and said he was going to write a check to pay for all the firefighter meals. 1/