Wow, end of August already! Forest and Friends is on, later today, from 5pm-7:30 at Cascadia Pizza in Bellevue WA. Come talk forestry, climate, startups, smoke, and fire - it is especially relevant as this fire season churns along. Short notice, but hope to see some new folks!

Forest and Friends August 27, 2026 · Luma

Oops.  It is already the end of August and the last Thursday of the month.  That means it is time for Forest and Friends… later today.  Yeah, this is the…

luma.com

1/4 Fast fires don’t just burn more area. They can also change what comes back afterward. In a new Science Advances paper led by @coopecology.bsky.social, we looked at how rapid wildfire spread relates to burn severity and postfire forest recovery across western and boreal North America.

Faster, bigger, more severe: Extreme wildfire spread sets the stage for forest ecosystem change in western and boreal North America

A relatively small number of rapidly spreading wildfire events burn disproportionately large areas. But beyond area burned, do fast fires produce distinct postfire ecological outcomes? Here, we measur...

doi.org

Our new paper assesses relationships between wildfire rate of spread, area burned, and severity in western + boreal North American conifer forests 2012-2023. Take home message in the title: faster--> bigger--> more severe. With @grumpyunclesean.bsky.social, @jessforplanet.bsky.social and more! 🔥🧪🌍

Faster, bigger, more severe: Extreme wildfire spread sets the stage for forest ecosystem change in western and boreal North America

A relatively small number of rapidly spreading wildfire events burn disproportionately large areas. But beyond area burned, do fast fires produce distinct postfire ecological outcomes? Here, we measur...

science.org

I haven't been doing as great a job sharing the Smoke Blog this year, so I'm going to start! Today's post has a lot of good info in it from smoke/heat safety to indoor air quality tips to when the smoke will start to clear. #wawx #wawildfire #SmokeReady 🔗 wasmoke.blogspot.com/2026/08/smok...

Please stop flying your personal drones over wildfires. They can ground or collide with our firefighting aircraft, disrupting time critical firefighting and threatening people’s homes. Your photos are not worth someone’s home. If you fly, we can’t.

Hard to see this when resources and communities in Eastern WA and OR are already stretched thin dealing with existing fires. Large swathes of Washington east of the Cascades face a “Particularly Dangerous Situation” with this Red Flag Warning - rare, dire language from the NWS.

‘Extremely critical’ fire danger Saturday in central, eastern Washington

As August begins this weekend, a very serious fire weather threat will develop east of the Cascade crest due to strong westerly winds and low humidity.

kiro7.com

The PNW took another hit of lightning. 20 new fires in WA and 26 in OR. Of those, 8 turned into large incidents, giving WA 9 large fires and OR 34. Existing PNW fires saw 133,443 acres of growth Friday. 14 IMTs are committed across the two states. 2/

We're go for Forest and Friends, Thursday in Bellevue WA. Fires and smoke making the news now, it'll be top of mind for sure as we've had a few weeks with lightning bursts, but we've got a lot of forestry and forest health to talk about. Photo of a pyrocarb to the north by @brad604.bsky.social

Forest and Friends - July 30, 2026 · Luma

Welcome to fire season in the PNW!  I’m sure you’ve seen the smoke, felt the heat and wind, and heard the thunder that comes with copious dry lightning on our…

luma.com

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).

New paper! Housing increasingly has big devices that run natively on Direct Current (solar panels, EVs, batteries, motors on heat pumps and air conditioners, etc). What if we connected them on DC, rather than today's AC distribution + lossy AC/DC conversions? 🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

What is it with the citizens initiative processes that brings the dumb? If I don't agree with the initiative (paying you to collect signatures) I'm not going to sign and I will vote against it if it makes it to the ballot. That's not "an unwillingness to support democracy," that's my civic duty.

When's the best time to drop the 20,000 word analysis of the FEMA Review Council report you've been working on for weeks? I don't know but I am going with *checks notes* 9:00pm on a Friday night. Cheers, kids! www.disaster-ology.com/blog/femarev...

FEMA Review Council Report Analysis — Disasterology

If we have not met, here are my credentials: I have been involved with disaster work for 20 years beginning with the recovery of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and the levee failure. I worked maj...

disaster-ology.com

Scientists are digging deep into possible alternatives to replacing 6PPD in rubber tires, a chemical that reacts with ozone and puts out the toxic agent 6PPD-Q that has been proven to kill coho salmon. www.eopugetsound.org/article/tire...

Tire companies race to replace deadly tire chemical | Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

A chemical found in tires is leading to the deaths of untold numbers of coho salmon in Puget Sound every year. Chemical companies are searching for an alternative but say the unique chemistry and function of 6PPD are major challenges. This article is part one of a three-part series.

eopugetsound.org

The next Forest and Friends is back on the Eastside, near the Link Line 2 BelRed stop, on May 28th from 5-7:30. Come out and join us as we share a few pints and talk about forests, wildfire, startups, GIS, and carbon. We had a great turnout last month on Capitol Hill; we're alternating locations.

Forest and Friends - May 28, 2026 · Luma

Back on schedule and returning to the Eastside, it is Forest and Friends time again!  We had a great session over on Capitol Hill, this week we’re going to be…

luma.com

Thursday is coming up fast! It looks like we're going to have great weather in the Seattle area, come on out and talk trees and/or startups!

Geoff Staneff@gstaneff.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The next Forest and Friends is back on the Eastside, near the Link Line 2 BelRed stop, on May 28th from 5-7:30. Come out and join us as we share a few pints and talk about forests, wildfire, startups, GIS, and carbon. We had a great turnout last month on Capitol Hill; we're alternating locations.

The next Forest and Friends is back on the Eastside, near the Link Line 2 BelRed stop, on May 28th from 5-7:30. Come out and join us as we share a few pints and talk about forests, wildfire, startups, GIS, and carbon. We had a great turnout last month on Capitol Hill; we're alternating locations.

Forest and Friends - May 28, 2026 · Luma

Back on schedule and returning to the Eastside, it is Forest and Friends time again!  We had a great session over on Capitol Hill, this week we’re going to be…

luma.com

10 yrs after our first paper on spotted owls & “megafires”, here is the granddaddy of them all: a Wildlife Monograph. >30 yr of detection/non-detection data across >1500 territories (796 burned) and movement data from 171 GPS-tagged owls. Conclusion: big hot fire bad doi.org/10.1002/wmon...

TWS Journals

For the past few decades, northern and California spotted owls (SPOW) have declined across much of their range in response to habitat loss and fragmentation and have faced threats associated with the...

doi.org

"Fuel treatments reduced wildfire spread and severity, avoiding an estimated $2.8 billion in damages by limiting structure loss, cutting CO2 emissions, and lowering fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure. Each dollar invested yielded $3.73 in expected benefits." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Science Magazine@science.org · 4mo ago

A large-scale analysis of wildfires in the Western United States shows that U.S. Forest Service fuel-reduction treatments not only curb fire spread and intensity, but also, for each dollar invested, generate more than three times the value in avoided damages. Learn more: https://scim.ag/4uAs5Qc

This is tomorrow in Seattle! If you care about wildfire, forests, or startups (and housing) come and join us!

Geoff Staneff@gstaneff.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Hey all, getting back into it with the next Forest and Friends this Thursday, April 30th. We're going to meet at Stoup on Capitol Hill - coming in from the wilderness of the Eastside for a change. Join us if you can!

Hey all, getting back into it with the next Forest and Friends this Thursday, April 30th. We're going to meet at Stoup on Capitol Hill - coming in from the wilderness of the Eastside for a change. Join us if you can!

Forest and Friends - April 30, 2026 · Luma

Yes, we missed March and are just catching the last day of April, but we’re back!  There has been a lot of news, especially around the recently announced USFS…

luma.com

Sometimes it's hard to understand the causes of climate change. While the basic idea -- we emit greenhouse gases, which warm the planet -- is well known, it's easy to get lost in the details. But here's a summary with some more detail -- showing the fundamental sources & sinks of warming pollution.

Start making plans now if you live in a fire area or some place where smoke settles.

Anthony Edwards@edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social · 6mo ago

I've interviewed more than a dozen hydrologists and climatologists across the West the past 10 days. A sense of panic is starting to set in. Wildfires and water shortages will start mounting this summer. Adverse impacts are expected from not only this heat wave, but the historically warm winter.

🚨JOB ALERT🚨 Heya friends -- I'm looking for a postdoc! This time we're looking at the ethics of technology deployment for climate change mitigation. Full description in the link! Quick details: CVs and cover letters to me by 1 April; $75k/year for up to 21 months; remote within the US is ok.

🌲🔥 Going a little nuts looking at this treatment because it breaks a number of assumptions. Here I've marked the thing we measure against in blue and the thing we want to control in red. They are different things. Their relationships are not fixed across time, species, or growing conditions.

If you are like me, you were wondering where February's Forest and Friends event could be found... fret no further! We're on for Thursday at 5:00-7:30 at Cascadia Pizza, I'll be there with hard hat and cruising vest on - walk right up to our group, we don't bite.

Forest and Friends - February 26, 2026 · Luma

If you are like me and asking where your invite to February’s Forest and Friends can be found, fret no further.  The end of Feb snuck up on us and we’re just…

luma.com

If you are like me, you were wondering where February's Forest and Friends event could be found... fret no further! We're on for Thursday at 5:00-7:30 at Cascadia Pizza, I'll be there with hard hat and cruising vest on - walk right up to our group, we don't bite.

Forest and Friends - February 26, 2026 · Luma

If you are like me and asking where your invite to February’s Forest and Friends can be found, fret no further.  The end of Feb snuck up on us and we’re just…

luma.com

@drandrewthaler.bsky.social, not sure if you've shared your woodworking year in review for 2025, your projects are still inspiring. I just summarized my 2025 in the shop: a year spent doing much more in the field & at work and not enough tool time at home. Still, a few notable projects completed.

2025 Woodworking Year in Review

Back with another woodworking year in review, only a couple months late. This year was rough. Early in the year I inherited another…

gstaneff.medium.com

Tomorrow is the day! I'm looking forward to meeting some new people and reconnecting with the regulars to talk about forestry and build community. Hope to see you there.

Geoff Staneff@gstaneff.bsky.social · 8mo ago

New year, same Forest and Friends monthly meet up on the eastside (Bellevue WA)! If you are in the neighborhood next Thursday come on by and join us as we kick off 2026 together. 🌲🔥 luma.com/hrt8kynx

It is dry and warm across most of the Colorado River basin so far this winter, which is not great www.kktv.com/2026/01/17/c...

Colorado snowpack near record lows raises concerns for water and wildfire risk

Colorado snowpack is significantly below normal for mid-January, raising concerns about water supply, drought and wildfire risk later this year.

kktv.com

New year, same Forest and Friends monthly meet up on the eastside (Bellevue WA)! If you are in the neighborhood next Thursday come on by and join us as we kick off 2026 together. 🌲🔥 luma.com/hrt8kynx