Wildfire in Montana: Past, Present and Future
Dates: | November 13, 2020 |
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Meets: | Fri. from 12 Noon to 1:30 PM |
Location: | Online Presentation |
Cost: | $0.00 |
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David McWethy, assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences in the College of Letters and Science at MSU, will discuss the factors responsible for increasing wildfire activity in the West and describe some of the future challenges presented by wildfire in Montana and the Gallatin Valley. Cathy Whitlock, Regents Professor in Earth Sciences at MSU, will provide introductory remarks.
Fire is an important process that has shaped Western ecosystems for millennia. However, over the past several decades, fire activity has been increasing across the West. Recent fires have destroyed thousands of homes, hundreds of lives have been lost and persistent smoke from these fires has created hazardous air quality across the West. Changing climatic conditions are enabling record-setting fire seasons throughout the western U.S. This creates sustained periods of hot, dry weather that are conducive to fire and warm conditions that are drying out fuels and creating explosive conditions when ignition occurs. At the same time, a growing number of homes and other structures are built in landscapes with abundant fuels, increasing the danger from fires to human health and safety.
Fire is an important process that has shaped Western ecosystems for millennia. However, over the past several decades, fire activity has been increasing across the West. Recent fires have destroyed thousands of homes, hundreds of lives have been lost and persistent smoke from these fires has created hazardous air quality across the West. Changing climatic conditions are enabling record-setting fire seasons throughout the western U.S. This creates sustained periods of hot, dry weather that are conducive to fire and warm conditions that are drying out fuels and creating explosive conditions when ignition occurs. At the same time, a growing number of homes and other structures are built in landscapes with abundant fuels, increasing the danger from fires to human health and safety.
Fee: | $0.00 |
Online Presentation
This is a real-time (live) online class that meets at the specified day(s)/time(s) listed.We will send you a reminder email with login instructions one business day before the program start date. If there are additional sessions, we will send reminders the morning of those sessions.
Dave McWethy
Dr. Dave McWethy is an assistant professor in Earth Sciences at MSU and a fire scientist.Cathy Whitlock
Cathy Whitlock is a Regents Professor Emerita in Earth Sciences at Montana State University and a Fellow of the Montana Institute on Ecosystems. She is nationally and internationally recognized for her research and leadership activities in the field of long-term climate and environmental change. Her studies of Yellowstone's ecological history began in the 1980s and continue to the present day, and she has expanded her research to examine similar places around the world. Dr. Whitlock served as lead author of the 2017 Montana Climate Assessment and is co-lead author of the 2021 Greater Yellowstone Climate Assessment. She has received numerous awards and honors for her science, and in 2018, she became the first person from a Montana university to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences.