Page 15 - Forest Sciences News Today

Every other Friday, the Outside/In podcast team answers one listener's question about the natural world.This week’s question comes from Rebecca, from the Bay Area of California.

Hilary Franz hates to be the bearer of bad news, but … “this year is positioning itself to be the worst wildfire season in Washington state’s history,” says our Director of Natural Resources. “Firefighters who’ve been doing this work in Washington for over thirty years have said ‘we haven’t seen conditions like this ever.’” So far, Washington’s battled about 1,700 fires — nearly as many as we faced in all of 2018, and 2021&...

A series of major wildfires across the world has hit the headlines - how do they compare to previous years?

Date Time Share Research exposes big differences among Amazonian countries in their rates of forest recovery as well as deforestation Bangor University Large-scale forest restoration in the Amazon is an important “nature-based solution” to climate change, a major focus of the UK-hosted UN Climate Change COP26 Conference in November. Forest recovery, the process of new forest growing on land that has previously been deforested then abandoned from agriculture, can rapidly capture large quant...

A spring day on the University of Washington campus.Dennis Wise Twenty scientists and engineers at the University of Washington are among the 38 new members elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences for 2021, according to a July 15 announcement. New members were chosen for “their outstanding record of scientific and technical achievement, and their willingness to work on behalf of the Academy to bring the best available science to bear on issues within the state of Washington.” Cu...

Droughts, high temperatures present perfect conditions According to the US drought monitor, nearly half the country is facing some form of a drought, which is the most severe in the western states. The western states are also experiencing high temperatures. Similarly, parts of western Canada experienced some of the highest-ever temperatures, with Lytton village in British Colu...

BBC News By Reality Check team image copyrightGetty Images image captionParts of the west coast saw record-breaking wildfires in 2020, and there are early signs this season could be severe After record temperatures, western parts of the US and Canada are bracing themselves for the annual wildfire season. There are warnings that this season could be another highly destructive one, so weve looked at why that might be. Potential for wildfires sky-high Experts told us the potential for a record-bre...

As smoky air becomes more common during Washington’s wildfire season, many wildlife enthusiasts wonder: What happens to the birds? Few studies have looked at wildfire smoke impacts on animals, let alone birds. And as Washington and the larger West Coast continue to experience more massive wildfires and smoke-filled air, understanding how birds are affected by smoke — and how air pollution may influence our ability to detect birds — are important factors for bird conservation. Researchers ...

SEATTLE — This is shaping up to be a dire summer for fish and trees. Temperatures in the Columbia and Snake rivers are already within two degrees of the slaughter zone of 2015, when half the sockeye salmon run was lost because of high water temperatures. An estimated 250,000 sockeye died that year long before reaching their spawning grounds. The sockeye run is at its peak right now just as temperatures hit record highs across Washington state and in Idaho. Spring and summer chinook and ste...

Wildfires could become more common in western Washington; How will forests handle it? Identifying how forests regenerate from fires, and what conditions spark them in the first place, can help the DNR estimate how often they might occur in the future. Author: Glenn Farley Updated: 7:19 PM PDT June 25, 2021 PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Although eastern Washington tends to see more wildfires than the west side, thats something that could be changing. The Department of ...