The New Wildfire Reality: Mapping a Response
A firefighter-turned-researcher is helping pioneer data-driven solutions to tackle today’s unprecedented wildfires.
Western Cascades landscapes in Oregon historically burned more often than previously thought
Forests on the west slope of Oregon’s Cascade Range experienced fire much more often between 1500 and 1895 than had been previously thought, according to new research by scientists at Oregon State University.
Oregon State working on bridging gaps in understanding community resilience to wildfire
Wildfire researchers from Oregon State University have received $750,000 for multiple projects to bridge a knowledge gap between forestry and engineering regarding how communities are affected by major fire events.
Active forest management in the fire-adapted West
Across the West, forests and communities interact with and are affected by issues that emerge from wildfires, state policies, and rural economic conditions.
Decades of research burned in this Oregon forest. Now it could hold clues to wildfire mysteries
It was a single lightning strike, deep in the heart of the forest. When he saw the smoke, Robert Mutch knew it was trouble.
To help Oregon’s dry forests, fire needs to be just the right intensity, and happen more than once
Oregon State University research into the ability of a wildfire to improve the health of a forest uncovered a Goldilocks effect – unless a blaze falls in a narrow severity range, neither too hot nor too cold, it isn’t very good at helping forest landscapes return to their historical, more fire-tolerant conditions.
Likelihood of extreme autumn fire weather has increased 40%, Oregon State modeling shows
The likelihood of hot, dry, windy autumn weather that can set the stage for severe fires in California and western Oregon has increased 40% due to human-caused climate change, new computer models show.
Snow cover critical for revegetation following high-severity forest fires, OSU study shows
How much and how long a severely burned Pacific Northwest mountain landscape stays blanketed in winter snow is a key factor in the return of vegetation, research by Oregon State University and the University of Nevada, Reno shows.
OSU study: Thinning moderates forest fire behavior even without prescribed burns – for a while
Mechanical thinning alone can calm the intensity of future wildfires for many years, and prescribed burns lengthen thinning’s effectiveness, according to Oregon State University research involving a seasonally dry ponderosa pine forest in northeastern Oregon.
Oregon State scientists collaborate on road map for adapting dry forests to new fire regimes
Oregon State University scientists and collaborators from throughout the West say that thinning and prescribed burning are crucial parts of adaptive management for seasonally dry, fire-dependent forests such as those east of the Cascade crest.