Does Climate Change Have an Effect on Wild Forest Fires?

According to Wikipedia's page on *Effects of Global Warming*, acres per year burned by forest fires has steadily increased from 2.5 million acres burned to over 7 million acres burned in North America since 1970.

Experts seem to think the cause is the early arrival of Spring due to global warming creating more desirable conditions for wildfires. Because of the early Spring, seasonal snowmelt, which can have a dramatic effect on the severity of these fires, is happening earlier each year.

The wildfires in Southern California this past week were devastating to thousands of home and business owners. One million people were evacuated from their homes because of the unpredictable and strong wind gusts from the Santa Anas. Naturally, the topic of conversation hs turned to what effect, if any, does global warming have on this type of weather?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was quoted on Tuesday as saying " One reason why we have the fires in California is global warming." Another reason is apparently Arson, which Guy Brasseur of National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado said, "the more people you have, the more fires you might also have by people," a statement which links the Population explosion in Southern California with wild forest fires.

In a 2001 article from the Canadian Forest Service website, it is said that rising temperatures alone are not the culprit, but instead the effect on the seasonal weather changes in general. higher temperatures earlier in the year cause drier conditions when summer comes around, which in turn fuels stronger, bigger wildfires.

Brazil recently changed its national stance on the issue of climate change for this exact reason. The drought in Brazil in 2005 wreaked havoc on the Amazon, kindling huge fires that could not be contained for many weeks.

Another important factor to consider is the rising number of fires in mountainous, high-altitude areas, which in the past was considered quite rare. Fire season is currently 78 days of the year, so obviously the drying of wood and pine needles earlier in the year creates the perfect breeding ground for bigger, more intense and more frequent firestorms.

It is estimated that these mega-fires could wipe out half the natural forests in the Western United States over the next century.

If the earlier snowmelt and longer drying season are contributing to the severity of these wildfires, which certainly seems to be the situation as the number of severe wildfires has gone up drastically over recent decades, so much so that the Federal Budget for fighting these fires has been increased to 2 billion dollars, seven times more than was allocated in 1980.

The burning of these forestlands could potentially result in serious loss for this type of ecosystem. When the fires burn out, it could take literally centuries for the trees and brush to grow back to a sustainable level. Also, there are thousands of species of insects and animals whose primary habitat is the forest. Many of these species would not survive if forced to adapt to a new habitat.