Tag Archives: wildfires

Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire 5/31

The UC Davis Institute of the Environment, Environmental and Climate Justice Hub, Climate Adaptation Research Center, and Manetti Shrem Museum invite you to a very special presentation of a groundbreaking documentary urging us to rethink our relationship with wildfire.

Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire screening will start at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 31, at the Manetti Shrem Museum in the Community Education Room on the UC Davis campus. A panel discussion will follow the screening.

This event is free and everyone is welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

With fire seasons growing more destructive and more deadly, we see that our approach to reducing wildfire risk is failing. The way we respond to this risk will have long-term effects on our communities and our forests.

Don’t miss a special screening of Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire, a film that invites you to reimagine your relationship with wildfire through the eyes of top scientists and indigenous fire managers who are leading the way toward living with this essential element.

The film starts at 4:30pm in Community Room at the Manetti Shrem Museum, and after the screening the filmmakers will be available for a Q&A discussion.

About Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire

In the wake of recent fires, Portland filmmakers Trip Jennings, Sara Quinn, and Ralph Bloemers took to the air and the ground to help communities make sense of wildfires in a hotter, drier, more crowded world. Elemental is the product of their journey across the United States and into fire affected communities.

Chief of the United States Forest Service Mike Dombeck (Ret.) remarks that “Elemental is an outstanding film that deserves the widest possible viewing. In a visually stunning manner, it distills what we’ve learned about wildland fire over the decades and provides a road-map for badly needed changes that will benefit thousands of people, particularly in fire prone communities.”

Produced and edited in Oregon, Narrated by David Oyelowo (Emmy & Golden Globe Nominee), supported by National Geographic and Patagonia.

Click here to register!

Caldor Fire: Sept 1 Update

Firefighters ‘lucked out’ with lighter winds, gain in fight to save South Lake Tahoe

By Staff (ABC10), Associated Press | September 1, 2021 | ABC 10

South Lake Tahoe launched an evacuation resources page for evacuees on Wednesday. The site includes information on shelters, where evacuees can go to get their mail, discounted hotels, transportation options, and more.

…

The National Weather Service warns critical weather conditions through Wednesday could include extremely low humidity, dry fuel, and gusts up to 30 mph.

Click here for current information on Caldor Fire evacuations, road closures and updates from ABC 10 News.

Photo by skeeze (pixabay.com)

Draft Report Available: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Contemporary Wildfire, Prescribed Fire, and Forest Management Activities

December 31, 2020
California Air Resources Board

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) staff has prepared an analysis that estimates the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from wildfire and prescribed burn and the amount of ecosystem carbon transformed by forest management activities (which may include tree harvest and other vegetation fuels management to reduce fire risk). A report that describes the methodologies and summarizes the estimation results is now available for informal public comment and review.

How to Send Comments or Questions

Please send comments or questions via email to Anny Huang, Manager of the Emission Inventory Analysis Section. CARB staff requests input on contemporary wildfire and forest management activities by February 28, 2021. A separate two-month public comment period will be provided for the historical fire report after it is available.

Learn more

As Trump Again Rejects Science, Biden Calls Him a ‘Climate Arsonist’

By Peter Baker, Lisa Friedman and Thomas Kaplan | September 14, 2020 | The New York Times

The Environmental Council of Sacramento was mentioned in the New York Times! Our Board President Ralph Propper was quoted regarding Trump’s denial of climate change as California burns.

Mr. Trump flew to California after weeks of public silence about the flames that have forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, wiped out communities and forests, burned millions of acres, shrouded the region in smoke and left at least 27 people dead. But even when confronted by California’s governor and other state officials, the president insisted on attributing the crisis solely to poor forest management, not climate change.

…

“Raking the leaves and forest floors is really inane. That doesn’t make sense at all,” said Ralph Propper, the president of the Environmental Council of Sacramento. “We’re seeing what was predicted, which is more extremes of weather.”

Click here to view the full article.

Photo from publicdomainfiles.com.

a red sunset

Smoke still hurting Northern California air quality, but LNU Fire isn’t main culprit

By Michael McGough | August 31, 2020 | The Sacramento Bee

Smoke has sullied the skies in Northern California for two weeks, ever since dozens of large fires and hundreds of smaller ones sparked during a powerful thunderstorm that brought down thousands of lightning strikes.

For much of that stretch, Sacramento’s air pollution has come primarily from the LNU Lightning Complex, which as of Monday had scorched more than 375,000 acres in parts of Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Yolo and Lake counties west of the capital. That fire continues to output smoke as it is 63% contained, Cal Fire said Monday morning.

But now the poor conditions are coming from the August Complex, a 220,000-acre blaze that’s been burning in the Mendocino National Forest since Aug. 17, according to a special smoke statement issued Sunday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the mid Central Valley, which has since been extended through Tuesday.

Click here to read the full article.

Photo by enakshi mukhopadhyaya from Pexels