CLIMATE
CHANGE
Whether or not "global warming" is real, scientists still point to rising trends in climate as the source of an increased number of forest fires.
Experts have postulated that increasing numbers of humans entering forests, coupled with altered forest ecology and climate change are resulting in bigger and more destructive fires. Wildfires have always been a part of the natural patterns of the seasons, but their size, intensity, and surface area have changed over the past several years. Climate change adds to the mix by heating and drying large areas of land - especially middle latitude areas, and eventually high latitude areas too, as the carbon-rich soil there is the perfect breeding ground for fires. Additionally, the fires themselves aren't the only problem - huge wildfires can cause air quality to drop and haze to form over given regions, which results in major health problems and economic concerns for people living there.
Experts state that more catastrophic wildfires are just waiting to happen, especially in the American West Coast. Climate change is resulting in rising temperatures, drying conditions, and more lightning (which can strike trees and start fires in areas of low pressure). Combined with tree-killing insect infestations and human encroachment, forests are seriously in danger of high amounts of devastation. Fire is a natural part of any ecosystem, but not at the rate it is going today. 2007 was the second busiest fire season since 1960, with a combined 4.3 million acres burning in the Great Basin and the Northern Rockies.
We must try to reduce the output of pollution that feeds fires, return the forest to natural cyclical conditions, and try to catalyze new growth to encourage the forest to retain the persistence they once had.
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