Reflection for June 23

A Stewardship Issue 

“As the climate warms, moisture and precipitation levels are changing, with wet areas becoming wetter and dry areas becoming drier, “ the [Union of Concerned Scientists] reports. “Higher spring and summer temperatures and earlier spring snow-melt typically cause soils to be drier for longer, increasing the likelihood of drought and a longer wildfire season, particularly in the western Untied States. These hot, dry conditions also increase the likelihood that, once wildfires are started by lightning strikes or human error, they will be more intense and long-burning.”

To those tasked with preventing and fighting wildfires, climate change has become a major challenge.

“On average, wildfires burn twice as many acres each year as compared to 40 years ago. Last year, the fires were massive in size, coinciding with increased temperatures and early snow melt in the West,” US Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in testimony last week. “The largest issue we now face is how to adapt our management to anticipate climate change impacts and to mitigate their potential effects.” (“Colorado fire: Is global warming one of the culprits?” The Christian Science Monitor online, June 15, 2013).