Wildland Fire News

A selection of news releases and stories related to wildland fire management. For details about ongoing wildfires, visit the National Interagency Fire Center.

Greater sage-grouse in a field at dawn. Photo by Steve Fairbairn, USFWS.

A Project to Improve Sage-grouse Habitat in Idaho is also Reducing Wildfire Risk

Greater sage-grouse in a field at dawn. Photo by Steve Fairbairn, USFWS.

BY ERIN MCDUFF

The distinctive greater sage-grouse, with its spiked tail and memorable courtship display with male birds inflating their yellow neck sacs, is a ground-dwelling bird that lives in the sagebrush ecosystem in the western United States and portions of Canada. Its population is in decline due to habitat loss, and the greater sage-grouse is recognized as a sensitive species. It is also an indicator for the overall health of the complex, fragile sagebrush ecosystem.

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NPS national fire planner Melissa Forder.

Web Reads: Trailblazers: Women in Fire (www.nature.org)

Female fire professionals are blazing new career trails while harnessing the power of fire to restore forests. Women comprise a mere 10 percent of the national wildland fire workforce. The annual Women-in-Fire Training Exchange (WTREX), most recently held this spring in Virginia, is helping to expand career and leadership opportunities.
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A prescribed fire in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park helps protect homes. Photo by NPS.

In the News: Biodiversity and Ecosystem Benefits of Prescribed Fires (whchronicle.com)

On this episode of PBS's White House Chronicle, Llewellyn King discusses the biodiversity and ecosystem benefits of prescribed fires with Morgan Varner, Director of Research at Tall Timbers, a Florida-based fire ecology group, and Kevin Hiers, Acting Deputy Wildland Fire Program Coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey and Director of Fire Science Applications at Tall Timbers.
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A 2019 fire at Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge.

Post-Fire Recovery Efforts Help Restore Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge

Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge visitors center as the 2019 fire approaches. Photo by USFWS.

BY KARI COBB

Known for their lush, tropical, humid climate, the Hawaiian Islands typically do not conjure images of wildfires, but wildfires do occur on the islands. Maui, the second largest Hawaiian island, is home to rainforests and mountains, but it also has arid desert climates, with some areas experiencing little to no rainfall and dry, sunny, hot weather for much of the year.

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Homes burned in the 2020 Almeda Fire, Oregon. Photo by Ahturner through Adobe Stock.

In the News: Is Your House at Risk of a Wildfire? This Online Tool Could Tell You (www.npr.org)

Even with thousands of homes destroyed by wildfires every year, most people who move receive little or no information about the risk they're taking on. Now, a nonprofit research group is releasing a first-of-its-kind tool for homeowners. It shows more than 30 million homes in the lower 48 states (20 percent of houses) have a measurable risk of being hit with a wildfire, and 1.5 million properties have a greater than 26 percent chance of burning over the next 30 years.
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Smoke rising from the Tamarack Fire. Photo by the Forest Service.

Increasing Wildfires Are Causing Greater Air Pollution

Smoke rising from the Tamarack Fire. Photo by the U.S. Forest Service.

BY PETER TEENSMA

Over the past 20 years, the number of acres burned annually in the U.S. due to wildfires has doubled. As wildfires increase, a copious amount of smoke is released into the air.

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