Posts Tagged: wildfires
Invasive grasses exacerbate wildfire at regional scales: we need regional efforts to manage them
New research published in PNAS (Fusco et al 2019) highlights the role of invasive grasses in creating new wildfire regimes at not just local but regional scales. Weed scientists are familiar with the concept of the grass-fire cycle (D'Antonio and Vitousek 1992): exotic grass invasions promote hotter or more frequent fires, which in turn facilitates more extensive grass invasion, causing more fires, etc. Perhaps now is the right time to better educate non-scientists about this critical concept as wildfires take up more of the public's attention.
The invasive grass-fire cycle is happening in real time: Arundo, bromes, goatgrass, and medusahead in California, buffelgrass in Arizona, Hawaii, and northwestern Mexico, Ventenata in the inland Northwest, and cheatgrass across all western states, just to name a few of the major players. The areas affected by these invaders are growing, often exponentially, along with the frequency and severity of the wildfires they help drive.
Management efforts are not keeping pace. Public recognition of the role of invasive grasses in exacerbating wildfires is not widespread, and these fuels and their significance are rarely mentioned in major news media reporting of major wildfires (this recent reporting in the New York Times by Kendra Pierre-Louis is a welcome exception). Take some the recent bushfires in Australia as an example and try to recall any mention of specific fuels in the abundant media coverage.
As the authors of the PNAS paper state, “as concern about US wildfires grows, accounting for fire-promoting invasive grasses will be imperative for effectively managing ecosystems.” The authors point out that the fire management and invasive species management communities could benefit from closer collaboration. An equally important goal is to convey the magnitude and urgency of grass invasions to the public and policy makers so that they can be fully accounted for in our regional and national conversation about mitigating and adapting to the new wildfire regimes.
Medusahead Distribution - Ventura at the southern end and probably moving further south
Medusahead - Taeniatherum caput-medusae (L.) Nevski (ITIS)
medusahead-1459330
Taquero Drives Out To Wildfire Evacuation Camp, Feeds Hundreds Left Homeless By Blaze
The Camp Fire, California's deadliest wildfire, rages on. So far, 52,000 people have been evacuated, 11,000 homes burned, 71 confirmed dead, and over a thousand still missing.
Jose Uriarte's taco and burrito shop, Gordo Burrito in Chico, CA, is just outside the wildfire's range. Every day, Jose, who immigrated from Guamuchil, Sinaloa, gives free food to the firefighters, EMTs, police and social workers working tirelessly to serve their fire-ravaged community.
Last Sunday, he closed up the storefront, gathered up a crew, and drove his taco truck out to the Elk's Lodge wildfire evacuation camp. The scene that greeted him was apocalyptic.
In a phone interview, Jose could not find words to describe the scope of the devastation. "It's so...big," he said, before going on to describe how the dense smoke blocked out the sun and made everything "cold and surreal."
Jose couldn't hold back the tears when he talked to KPCC about his experience at the camp, saying that some people cried when he arrived.
"Everybody was really appreciating that we were there for them. They take pictures; they all tell a little story. But everybody was really appreciating that they can have a hot meal."
His voice breaking, Jose recalled that one woman said to him:
"I would like to talk to the [President] and tell him he cannot make American great without you, without people like you."
Jose was deeply affected by her words.
"This is something that really touched me," he said, "because I came to the US with nothing, and now I have a lot, by working hard, and I'm really proud of that."
Jose is going back again this weekend with more free meals. Jose and his crew are proof that "when Mexico sends its people," they send their very best.
Gracias Jose.
Source: Published originally on LatinLive.com, Taquero Drives Out To Wildfire Evacuation Camp, Feeds Hundreds Left Homeless By Blaze, by O. Delgado, November 2018.
/h4>Bohart Museum Open House to Emphasize 'Fire and Insects'
The UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology will emphasize "fire and insects" when it hosts an open...
USDA forest research entomologist Steve Seybold (foreground) and UC Davis doctoral student Corwin Parker peel bark to reveal larvae of bark beetles and wood borers. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A sand wasp, Bembix americana, foraging on seaside daisy at Bodega Bay. This is an example of an extreme insect to be featured at the Bohart Museum open house on Aug. 19. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
California Wild Fires Raging...but Life Cycles Go On...
As those horrendous wild fires continue to rage throughout California, as Cal Fire helicopters roar...
A Gulf Fritillary egg on the tendrils of the passionflower vine (Passiflora). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Gulf Fritillary caterpillar continues to munch the Passiflora leaves. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A newly eclosed Gulf Fritillary clings to its pupal case. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
In the eerie light of the smoke-choked sky and reddish sun, a newly eclosed Gulf Fritillary spreads its wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)