Comments on: Connecting the Dots: How Climate Change is Fueling Western Wildfires

By: Colorado Wildfires Hit Close to Home for NWF Staff, Families : Wildlife Promise

Colorado Wildfires Hit Close to Home for NWF Staff, Families : Wildlife Promise — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 14:49:17 +0000

[...] NWF’s Dr. Amanda Staudt blogged recently, climate is a big part of the story. The same day the Boulder fire started, 30 miles down the road Denver tied an all-time record by [...]

By: After the Election: Climate Change Will Head to Top of the Agenda : Wildlife Promise

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:09:13 +0000

[...] of the climate impact puzzle. This year the country has also experienced record drought, widespread wildfires, and the worst West Nile virus outbreak ever. Munich Re put the cost of the first six months of [...]

By: Get Ready to Cast Your Vote for Wildlife : Wildlife Promise

Get Ready to Cast Your Vote for Wildlife : Wildlife Promise — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 15:45:13 +0000

[...] past July, I saw record fires devastate communities near my home in Colorado and severe droughts leave local black bears [...]

By: Turn Spotlight on Climate in Debates : Wildlife Promise

Turn Spotlight on Climate in Debates : Wildlife Promise — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 18:08:45 +0000

[...] jobs and revitalizing our economy. At the same time, the impacts of climate change are causing widespread damages in the U.S. and [...]

By: From Forests to Grasslands: A Picture of the Future in the Southwest : Wildlife Promise

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 18:23:32 +0000

[...] remnants of the 2011 Las Conchas Fire. Flickr photo by dangerousmeta.The connection between climate change and wildfire is just as evident as the one between weakened forests and beetle infestation. Earlier this [...]

By: Burning Concern: Drought-Driven Wildfires Generating Pollution : Wildlife Promise

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 19:02:58 +0000

[...] It’s a serious concern for the entire region, where wildfires, including Colorado’s most destructive on record, have burned all summer. And it’s a problem likely to get worse as record hot, dry weather, driven by climate change, intensifies the fire danger in the West. [...]

By: Record-Setting Three Million Strong for Wildlife : Wildlife Promise

Record-Setting Three Million Strong for Wildlife : Wildlife Promise — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 15:51:34 +0000

[...] summer, wildlife have suffered the effects of the terrible wildfires, droughts, and heat caused by climate change. The Western fires sent moose fleeing their blazing habitat in Colorado, the drought turned [...]

By: What Is Causing the Climate to Unravel? : Wildlife Promise

What Is Causing the Climate to Unravel? : Wildlife Promise — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 11:41:18 +0000

[...] than two million acres have burned in U.S. wildfires already this year. Global warming has created longer wildfire seasons in the West due to heat and drought (warmer winters has also allowed pests to floursih, killing large numbers [...]

By: Talking Climate Change before the Fireworks : Wildlife Promise

Talking Climate Change before the Fireworks : Wildlife Promise — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 18:46:15 +0000

[...] into our own homes, chances are that the conversation is going to turn to extreme weather. From the wildfires raging across Colorado to the widespread flooding in Florida caused by Tropical Storm Debbie to the stunning storms that [...]

By: Brian Dunn

Brian Dunn — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 01:09:00 +0000

”Yes, drought and beetles (which kill trees and add to the fuel on the forest floor) contribute to the intensity of present-day wildfires.”
While I grant you your points about the National Fire Plan, and about a misguided fire-suppression approach in the past, the article’s main point is the degree to which climate change has exacerbated the problem, and how it isn’t often discussed in news reports. It sounds like you feel the same way about the media avoiding critiquing the failure of the previous fire-suppression strategy. Your point is well-taken, but the problems resulting from the policy have been made much much worse by the influence of climate change, especially the beetle problem. As a result, it sounds a little disingenuous to handwave past the beetle problem with “drought and beetles…contribute”. In the Colorado mountains, for years now you have been able to drive around Winter Park, Summit County, Rocky Mountain National Park, and other areas, and see HUGE brown swaths on the formerly green mountainsides as the beetle kill problem turns tree after tree into brown-tree-sap-covered torches just waiting for a match to set them off. Are you saying that the National Fire Plan would have killed the beetles? At best, perhaps their spread might have slowed a little, but the BIG dot to connect in this story is the report that beetle populations might increase “sixty-fold” (!!!!) strictly because of the longer warmer summers due to climate change. Cut the fuel from healthy trees in half, due to a more complete implementation of the plan, sure, it’d be great – but half the healthy trees withstanding a sixty-fold increase in tree-killing beetles still leaves lots and lots of torches waiting for a lightning strike!