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Are Oregon’s 2020 Wildfires the Result of Climate Change?
Our good colleagues out west – Mason, Bruce & Girard – have recently taken a look at the current wildfire situation out west from a forester’s viewpoint – we thought it would be of interest and wanted to pass along.
Permission to Reprint Granted to FORECON Inc
The controversy over wildfire causes in the media is dominated by extreme positions.
A hotter, drier climate—widely expected to occur over the next century—will increase the frequency, extent, and duration of wildfire. But the contribution of changing climate to fire activity, particularly to the annual variance, is significantly weaker than human activity both as it influences resource-limitation via suppression and ignition-limitation through settlement and land use patterns.