Ryan E. Tompkins – The Conversation

Forest thinning and prescribed burns leave less fuel to burn. Escaflowne via Getty Images

January 26, 2022

New federal wildfire plan is ambitious – but the Forest Service needs more money and people to fight the growing risks

Ryan E. Tompkins, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Susan Kocher, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

After another devastating wildfire year in the West, the Biden administration has a plan to ramp up forest thinning and prescribed burns. Two foresters explain why these projects are so important.

Residents had to be rescued as Hurricane Ida flooded coastal Louisiana in August 2021. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

January 10, 2022

2021’s biggest climate and weather disasters cost the U.S. $145 billion – here’s what climate science says about them in 5 essential reads

Stacy Morford, The Conversation

A hurricane that wreaked havoc from Louisiana to New York City, the Texas freeze and devastating western wildfires topped NOAA’s list of billion-dollar disasters in 2021.

Tools for a prescribed burn conducted in the Sierra Nevada in November 2019. Susan Kocher

October 13, 2021

Moving beyond America’s war on wildfire: 4 ways to avoid future megafires

Susan Kocher, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Ryan E. Tompkins, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources

Two forest researchers whose own communities were threatened by fires in 2021 explain how historic policies left forests at high risk of megafires.

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