From floods to wildfires, mapping programs in Cascadia are showing scientists which communities face higher risk.

To hear about what key players in Washington’s broad environmental coalition would like to see prioritized in budget proposals, I spoke to Adam Maxwell, Campaigns Manager for the Washington Audubon Society, a group focused on conserving natural ecosystems and building healthy communities.

The fire impacted rabbits and sage grouse across their range, further complicating the recovery of each of these very at-risk species. Burned-bare soil across the landscape lies vulnerable to rapid colonization by quick-spreading invasive plants and grasses.

LOOMIS - The United States Geological Survey recently reported that the area just east of Palmer Lake will likely experience drastic flooding this spring as the snow melts and rain falls. The flood risk and debris flow hazard is a result of burn scarring caused by the 13,000-acre Palmer Fire in mid-August of 2020.

Private forestland owners in Oregon’s Wasco County are encouraged to reduce the risk of wildfire and improve their forest health with help from the NRCS. The restoration effort, called the Central Wasco County All-Lands Project, is funded by the Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Initiative, a partnership between NRCS and the Forest Service. The overall goal is to reduce the risk of wildfires on both public and private lands.

In an interview with CPR News, Neguse said he plans to use the post to shift the federal approach on wildfire prevention. As one of his first actions, he introduced a bill for a 21st Century Conservation Corps, which would direct more than $40 billion to protect public lands and hire a new generation of forest managers. He hopes Biden makes it a part of an expected infrastructure package.

The damage caused by wildfires can be devastating, but the smoke from the annually recurring blazes also delivers economic damage to areas that have never been touched by the flames

Last fall’s wildfires were invoked Friday at a hearing for a new forest health bill in the Washington legislature. The bill is proposed at the request of Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz, who reminded members of a House committee that 2020 was the worst wildfire season in years in Washington.

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Blazes, intensified by the climate crisis, are reversing decades of gains in cutting air pollution, scientists report