URI natural resources faculty discuss L.A. wildfires, regional risks
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| URI faculty and alumni like Patrick MacMeekin (MESM ’22), now at Rhode Island DEM, are assessing wildfire risks in the state. |
Those fires were also driven by high wind, with added fuel
from dead trees and wood in Rhode Island woodlands, according to Rhode Island’s
Department of Environmental Management. And fall 2024 was a historic fall fire
season for the state with more than 42 wildfires burning in October and
November alone.
Locally, URI faculty members predict the trend toward
increased wildfires will continue, with climate change causing more forest
insects and diseases to shift into Rhode Island forests, resulting in dead and
dying trees and more extreme weather patterns (hotter and dryer) for longer
durations.
Laura
Meyerson in the department of Natural
Resources Science notes that invasive plant species can worsen
wildfires. The 2023 fires in Maui were fueled in part by invasive grasses
introduced for forage, she said.
“In Rhode Island, we have a heavier fuel load due to the
dead standing and fallen trees from the spongy moth (formerly the gypsy moth),”
she says. The state’s plentiful stands of the tall reed grass Phragmites
australis, found near the coast and around ponds, are a focus of her
research. “This species poses a huge fire risk because of the large amount of
dead standing biomass that persists.”
In southern New England, wildfires can be fueled by weather
conditions, as well as invasive, and flammable, species like
Phragmites (reeds). (URI Photo / Laura Meyerson)
She says that Rhode Island also faces increased risk from a
newer invasive species outbreak that is rapidly devastating the state — beech
leaf disease.
Her colleague Brett Still directs
the University’s Master
of Environmental Science and Management program (MESM) and frequently
welcomes a recent graduate, now working in the field, to speak with
undergraduates.
Still discussed the fires in California in an interview.
What is fueling the wildfires in California and is it different from other wildfires that have impacted that part of the country?
Southern California has a Mediterranean climate that is
characterized by periods of warm temperature and limited precipitation during
the summer and early fall. More consistent rains typically do not arrive until
the fall and winter months. Add high winds and dry conditions, which are
occurring now, and you end up with high fire risk, where a spark can accelerate
through the dry brush and gain intensity very quickly.
Were these fires anticipated? With wildfires recurring,
did any prevention efforts help mitigate what is happening now?
Fire season in Southern California typically runs through
the fall but has been extending later into the winter season given
precipitation patterns. According to CalFire, there were January fires in 2021
and 2022.
In terms of mitigation, areas that have previously burned
and have reduced fuel loads, such as through controlled burns, can result in
lower intensity fires if the vegetation does not have a chance to get
reestablished. However, at the moment it is difficult to know for sure the
efficacy of such efforts.
In this part of the country, New Englanders were aware of
increased fire risk after the fall drought. Locally, what are we facing for
fire threats and what can homeowners, business owners and residents do to
mitigate wildfires?
Fire season in southern New England is punctuated with
higher risk in the spring prior to leaf out of the tree canopy, and again,
after the leaves come down in the fall. If we have prolonged dry conditions,
low humidity, and high winds, during these periods of the year, the fuels can
dry out and increase the fire risk. We have had increases in the number of
brush fires in Rhode Island and southern New England over the past few years,
and recently this fall given the very dry conditions.
Our region is predicted to have increased precipitation with
the changing climate; however, we are also experiencing and are projected to
experience more erratic patterns of precipitation. It is possible the brush
fire risk can increase in our region if we continue to see these prolonged
periods with little rain and low humidity occurring during periods of the year
with elevated fire risk.
What kind of education about wildfires is happening in
URI programs like the undergraduate Natural Resources Science major or the
online Master of Environmental Science and Management program?
Recent MESM alumni Patrick MacMeekin, an expert in wildland
fire, came to our program with extensive experience working in fire-prone
landscapes out West before arriving in Rhode Island. Pat was able to gain
additional skills and network with individuals across the region, conducting
Firewise Community Risk Assessments for a few of our local communities. Now Pat
is working with Rhode Island’s Department of Environmental Management, sharing
expertise and insight into the state wildland fire program and risks for Rhode
Island communities. He also leads a field trip in my forest science and
management class for NRS students to learn about wildland fire in Rhode Island
and southern New England.
He can talk to students with firsthand experience about how
wildfires happen in Rhode Island or in other parts of the country like
California.
At URI, Pat was able to build his wildfire knowledge and
bolster his skills in analyzing and communicating about it; our program let him
adapt his classes to the topic in a student-centered program that offers
flexible curriculum. He created a wildfire evacuation communications plan for a
capstone project, analyzed and mapped state ecosystems using GIS technology,
and even developed a wildfire mitigation plan for the town of Charlestown.
URI’s Nancy Karraker,
another professor in the Natural Resources Science department, also studies the
effects of wildfire and prescribed burning on reptiles and amphibians, in Rhode
Island and New Mexico. She can discuss fire, both wildfire and prescribed fire
used for management purposes, and the impact on wildlife.
