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Restoring State's Forests to Reduce Fire Risks Will Take Time, Money and Broad Commitment

October 13, 2020
School of Engineering professors Roger Bales and Martha Conklin have written a new article for The Conversation discussing the changes that need to be undertaken in land-management practices in California's mountain forests: "As California contends with its worst wildfire season in history, it’s...

4 Million Acres Have Burned In California. Why That's The Wrong Number To Focus On

October 9, 2020
Wildfires in the West are producing a parade of chilling statistics. More than 4 million acres have burned in California, the most in recorded history. Colorado saw it's largest wildfire and in Northern California, the August Complex has passed the one-million-acre mark, generating an...

California, la zona cero de la crisis climática

October 9, 2020
No parece conveniente vivir en California. Los científicos del clima, los geólogos, los gestores del agua y de los bosques anticipan un futuro apocalíptico. Este 2020 se ha batido el récord de superficie quemada, una extensión de más de 6.000 kilómetros cuadrados, una provincia de Girona...

Anticipan que cambio climático golpeará más a pobres y minorías

October 9, 2020
Las comunidades de bajos ingresos de todo el mundo y las minorías son las más afectadas por la amenaza del cambio climático que se anticipa exacerbará sus desigualdades y vulnerabilidades, coincidieron investigadores al discutir sus impactos en la salud y el medio ambiente así como posibles...

Who or what ignited the Creek Fire? Early photos help narrow the possibilities

October 9, 2020
The Creek Fire has been raging for a month, and if authorities know what caused the 322,089-acre megafire in the mountains northeast of Fresno, they’re not spilling the beans. “The investigation is ongoing,” remains the official statement from Cal Fire and...

Mega fires and mega floods: California’s new extremes require a response of similar scale

October 9, 2020
  By Joshua Viers and Joshua Viers is director of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Science (CITRIS) at UC Merced, where he is a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, jviers@ucmerced.edu.      ...

New Project Focuses on Life in Soil in the Earth’s Critical Zone

October 6, 2020
Since 2007, UC Merced researchers have been extremely productive in the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory (CZO), delving into investigations of hydrology, climate change, geology, biology and more. But the National Science Foundation, which funded the CZOs, is decommissioning the sites...

Skelton: California is failing to treat wildfires with respect they deserve

October 6, 2020
California should put the same effort into preparing buildings to survive wildfires that it has retrofitting for earthquakes.  Thats the view of University of California Merced fire scientist Crystal Kolden, a former former firefighter with the U.S. Forest Service. She makes sense....

New Project Focuses on Life in Soil in the Earth’s Critical Zone

October 6, 2020
Since 2007, UC Merced researchers have been extremely productive in the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory (CZO), delving into investigations of hydrology, climate change, geology, biology and more. But the National Science Foundation, which funded the CZOs, is decommissioning the sites and...

Climate Change Hits Poor and People of Color Hardest

October 2, 2020
People of color and the poor are the hardest hit by the effects of climate change, a panel of experts said Friday. And buyouts and programs of assistance to help people impacted by climate change-related disasters generally favor the wealthy and white communities in the U.S., not the people who...

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