A new study from researchers in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and the UC Berkeley Center for Fire Research and Outreach demonstrates that vegetation management and firefighting play major roles in determining fire risk in California.
Using 65 years of historical fire data, authors Van Butsic, Carlin Starrs, William Stewart, and Connor Stephens reveal that on comparable lands, federal ownership, federal firefighting, and “reserve” designation were associated with significantly higher fire probability. This difference increased over time: wildfires in the most recent time period (2000-2015) were 2-3 times more common on federally owned lands compared to similar non-federally owned lands.