Christopher Anthony’s Post

Join SBC in voting Yes on Prop 4. This important bond will help prevent wildfire, provide clean drinking water, and protect California. With the election already underway (check the mailbox for your ballot!), now is the time to vote YES on Proposition 4 to prevent wildfires and protect California’s unique natural lands and water sources. For more than two years, SBC’s Government Affairs team and our partners have worked with the drafters of this ballot initiative to ensure that it delivers on the priorities and needs of the Sierra Nevada region. Prop 4 would make investments now to stave off disaster in the years ahead. It would front-load projects such as brush-clearing, forest restoration, and controlled burns that can help contain future wildfires before they explode into uncontrolled disasters. Prop 4 also contains funding to protect natural lands, build clean energy infrastructure, create parks & green space, and help small and medium farms conserve water and improve soil health. Read more: https://lnkd.in/g4Zkt2qq

Fires aren’t bad! Well, not wholly. Fire has been an intrinsic element of the California landscape for (at least) thousands of years. Stomping out every fire has altered our landscape, leaving a lot of ecosystems in greater peril. Returning beneficial fire to forest management is essential for ecosystem recovery and wildfire prevention. This new report, GOOD FIRE II put out by the good folks at American Forests, details how and why beneficial, cultural, and prescribed burns can become a part of a sensible and effective program of forest management in California. To download the Executive Summary, visit https://lnkd.in/gENUJxR and then check out our wildfire work at calwild.org

In his latest article, FM's CSO, Lou Gritzo, dives deep into the evolving nature of wildfires. While wildfires are a natural part of our ecosystem, their impact on communities has grown. With expanding development and extended wildfire seasons, we're facing events that are no longer just "wildland fires" but massive conflagrations threatening lives, homes, and businesses. Current policies and mitigation strategies aren't enough to protect the vast regions now considered high fire risk. To effectively manage this challenge, we need better tools for critical decision-makers — land use planners, building code officials, and wildland managers — who are crucial in mitigating this growing risk. Dr. Gritzo advocates for a well-designed public-private partnership, with the combustion research community playing a central role in developing innovative solutions. 👉 Read his article to learn more about protecting our communities from the increasing wildfire threat. http://ms.spr.ly/6046mKVmK

Recent trends show a clear need to reduce the social and economic consequences of wildfires around the world. Read more below on mitigating the impact of wildfires.

The current California wildfires are yet another reminder of the increasing risk from these events due to past policy, a changing climate, and continued development. There is no easy answer, but in this invited article I outline the issue, describe the core challenges, and provide a strategy for progress.

Recent trends show a clear need to reduce the social and economic consequences of wildfires around the world. Read more below on mitigating the impact of wildfires.

We should have had an adult conversation about Alberta's wildfire plans after Slave Lake. We should have had it after Fort McMurray. We should have had it after Waterton. We should have had it after the wildfire seasons of all the years after. Will 2024 be the year we finally do it? It's simultaneously heartbreaking and angering it's taking the loss of a national treasure for us to finally (maybe) have these conversations. And they need to be framed around two things: 1. What are we doing to avoid these kinds of fires? 2. What are we doing to mitigate risk? From there, we can talk about the climate crisis and what we are doing for our part. We can also talk about forest management, firefighting budgets and all other pieces to this massive puzzle. Anyone who thinks it is one issue or another is being overly simple about it. Anyone who is trying to throw shade at any one level of government or the other, based solely on ideology, is also being overly simplistic about it. This mismanagement doesn't happen in one or two election cycles. This has been ongoing for years. However, what we can do is judge the current governments on what they have done during their terms. Whether it's cutting funding for wildfire-fighting or forest management or communications or monitoring, we should be able to hold that power to account and ask pointed questions. Now, more than ever, we need nuanced and contextual conversations and action so we can stop seeing our beautiful communities and people put at risk (or burned to the ground) because of ideology and mismanagement. We need collaboration and cooperation to plan for the future. #ABleg #Alberta #Politics #ABwildfire

I'm very interested in the way that media covers wildfire in the West. The New York Times publishes articles like this (gift link) every so often, reminding me of how simpleminded these pieces are. They focus almost exclusively on trauma and dramatics and fail to balance that with: 1. The role of fire in the ecosystem and California's natural history 2. How we're learning from changing weather patterns and impacts on both prescribed burn windows and risks for high severity wildfire 3. How we're adapting and thinking about safety and mitigation differently 4. What it's costing (in dollars and impacts) to adapt to and fight wildfires, and why we use military terminology and approaches to respond to wildfire 5. Understanding the different responses that can be made to wildfire 6. The sometimes conflicting and perverse incentives that operate within CalFire and the US Forest Service 7. The people who live here, why we're here, and our diminishing financial options for staying here 8. What it actually means to consider managed retreat for wildfire risks https://lnkd.in/gSDmAQQY

How are wildfires impacting California, and how are those impacts evolving? This question is central to our societal response to wildfire. Yet, a variety of wildfire impacts are either not tracked or not reported, limiting our ability to make informed decisions in wildfire mitigation and recovery efforts. That’s the gap we aimed to fill with California’s Year in Fire project, in collaboration with the Center for Law, Energy & the Environment at Berkeley Law and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which advances a framework to better understand annual wildfire impacts. Join CWI’s Board President Ken Alex for an upcoming presentation – “Understanding Wildfire Impacts in California – Far More Than Acres Burned” – on Wednesday, April 17th at 12pm PT. The talk will take place at the UC Center Sacramento (1115 11th Street) and will also be live streamed via Zoom. RSVP by April 10th to secure your spot: https://lnkd.in/dM5hjqHf #climateandwildfire #californiafire #yearinfire #wildfiremitigation #wildfireawareness #wildfireimpacts #wildfiredata #wildfireresponse #climatechange #ucevents #sacramentoevents

🔥🌲 Lessons from the Caldor Fire: Building Resilience for the Future 🌲🔥 The devastating Caldor Fire left its mark on communities and ecosystems, but it also provided critical lessons in wildfire preparedness, response, and recovery. As highlighted in the Tahoe Daily Tribune, addressing wildfire risks requires a multi-faceted approach: - Fuel reduction and forest management to decrease fire intensity - Community collaboration and preparedness to protect lives and property - Investments in infrastructure and technology to enhance fire response The fire underscored the importance of proactive efforts to adapt to changing wildfire conditions fueled by climate change. By learning from events like the Caldor Fire, we can create more resilient landscapes and communities, ensuring a safer future for all. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gHH7m22G #CaldorFire #WildfireResilience #ForestManagement #ClimateAdaptation #CommunityPreparedness #Tahoe #FirePrevention #EcosystemRestoration