Sonoran desert post-fire with charred saguaro

Sonoran Fuel Breaks Field Trip – February 2024

This field trip will delve into the critical issues of wildfire risk and invasive species management in the Sonoran Desert near Phoenix, AZ. We will hear from public, state, and private land managers who have been conducting wildfire operations, prescribed burns, thinning, and invasive plant removal to protect the Sonoran Desert. Field Trip Objectives: Who …

A group of people stands at a lookout point gazing into the fire footprint. They see many burned trees and the vegetation greening up.

Hermit’s Peak Calf Canyon Fire: One Year Later

The Hermit’s Peak Calf Canyon Fire was a devastating event for New Mexico. Many communities were affected, and while this fire was unique, it will not be for long. Climate change and the effects of a century of fire exclusion mean that fires like this one are increasingly likely. We must understand what happened in …

Grassification and Fast-Evolving Fire Connectivity and Risk in the Sonoran Desert

IN A NUTSHELL: In the second webinar in a series on invasive grass-driven changes in dry desert systems, presenters will discuss their findings on the fire dynamics of the 2020 Bighorn Fire in the Sonoran Desert near Tucson, AZ to better understand the changing nature of fire in desert systems which are increasingly experiencing conversion …

Sonoran desert view showing saguaro cactus surrounded by tall buffelgrass

Monitoring and Removal of Invasive Grasses for Restoration of Dry Desert Systems

IN A NUTSHELLA panel of researchers and managers discusses the impact of non-native invasive grasses on dry desert systems and various methods to remove, monitor, or slow their spread. The fire regime of dry desert systems, such as the Sonoran, historically consisted of infrequent, low intensity, size-limited fires. Native grasses and other vegetation, which grow …

Vegetation Type Conversion

Presenter: Christopher H. Guiterman, Research Scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder and NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Date: September 21, 2022 at 12:00pm AZ / 1:00pm MDT Ecosystems of the Western United States are experiencing vegetation type conversions (VTC) in response to …

Wildfire, Human Health, and Environmental Justice

Presenters: Savannah D’Evelyn, Postdoctoral Fellow with the University of Washington, Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences and Ed Smith, Terrestrial forest Ecologist with The Nature Conservancy’s California Program. Date: July 19, 2022 11am AZ / 12pm MDT Increasing wildfire size and severity across the western United States has created an environmental and social crisis …