Climate change webinar replay available

On April 22, Earth Day, the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center and the International Association of Wildland Fire co-hosted another in a series of free international wildland fire webinars, "Climate Change and Fire/Land Management: Coming Challenges." Presenters discussed how better understanding of the connections between fire and climate change can help land managers faced with fire and natural resource decisions prepare for an uncertain future.

Recent projections show that climate change is likely to be considerably different in the coming century than it was during the previous one. Changes in climate are projected to drive major shifts in ecosystem and fire regimes across North America. A recent assessment by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program predicts that "increased incidences of disturbance such as forest fires, insect outbreaks, severe storms and drought will command public attention and place increasing demand on management resources."

Presenters in this event were Dr. William Sommers, George Mason University — EastFIRE Lab, retired IAWF vice president and board member; Mark Kaib, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — Region 2, retired IAWF board member and retired member of the Wildfire Editorial Advisory Board; Mary Lata, U.S. Forest Service, Buffalo Gap, Ft. Pierre and Oglala National Grasslands, McKelvie and Nebraska National Forests, IAWF member; and Dr. Tom Swetnam, University of Arizona, Laboratory of Tree Ring Research, IAWF member. IAWF Board Member David Ganz of The Nature Conservancy, Global Fire Initiative, moderated the program.

The two-hour webinar can be found on "MyFireVideos" and has been broken into three parts to facilitate uploading and quality.