Forest fire history in the Sierra has been influenced more by land use changes than climate change, according to new research. The study was conducted by scientists at Arizona and Penn State Universities. Valerie Trouet is a tree ring researcher with the University of Arizona. She says the report divided four different fire regimes, from 1600 to 2015, which corresponded to different types of human occupation. The most recent one is dubbed the “Smokey the Bear” effect…

click to listen to Valerie Trouet

Trouet says the preceding regime was from around 1865 to 1905, which included the Gold Rush era, when more livestock was brought in and building surged, reducing fire fuels. She says the findings are encouraging, in that we’re not strictly at the mercy of climate change…

click to listen to Valerie Trouet

The report finds that shifts from one fire regime to another didn’t correspond to changes in temperature or moisture, or other climate patterns, until temperatures started rising in the 1980’s.