USA: The West has many wildfires, but too few prescribed burns, study finds
By Anna M. Phillips
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But according to a new study, the federal government is not doing enough to control the threat of wildfire in the West.
Despite years of scientific research pointing to prescribed or “controlled” burns as a successful method of clearing brush and restoring ecosystems, intentional fire-setting by federal agencies has declined in much of the West over the last 20 years, the study found.
“This suggests that the best available science is not being adopted into management practices, thereby further compounding the fire deficit in the western U.S. and the potential for more wildfire disasters,” the report warns.
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[Between 1998 and 2018,] the amount of land burned each year nationwide increased by about 5%. But almost all of that uptick took place in the southeastern U.S.
In the West, including Northern and Southern California, where climate change and drought have worsened the risk of wildfire, the use of prescribed burns decreased or plateaued. In the Great Basin, a region that includes most of Nevada, half of Utah, and part of several other states, it dropped significantly.
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