This broadcast discusses fires in France, Spain, and Eastern Oregon, highlighting the impact of non-native conifer plantations on the extreme fire behavior currently being seen on large fires near Bordeaux. We look a recent other fires, including ones which burned 50,000 acres in 2022.
We note the Bordeaux region’s historical land management, which includes planting over 1,000,000 acres of dense conifer forest over the past 300 years. These areas have extreme wildfire risks due to the density of the planted forests, and climate change is exacerbating fire risks. Europe is at a critical juncture in how they decide to deal with accelerating wildfire threats. Will they choose the California model of aggressive, militaristic fire suppression, or choose ways that acknowledge the utility of fire in managing lands? With dense population, and severed human connections to fire, the former path seems most likely.
In Oregon, large fires continue to burn, and have consumed some areas set aside to sequester carbon as a hedge against climate change. The fires in France also threaten forest carbon projects. There is already talk of replanting the burned plantations. Global financial systems which drive the pursuit of ‘market-driven solutions’ to the climate crisis are actually paying people to make the fire hazards worse.