Please put your questions in the chat. Thanks!

Alex, from what I could see on the map of PWS you showed, it doesn’t seem that PWS is necessarily well correlated with vegetation type (i.e. low- to mid-elevation forests in the Sierra Nevada). So what’s driving PWS? Interaction of climate with vegetation? Some ecological factor? Something else entirely?

I recall a lecture by Roger Bales who showed pictures of the Sierra forest canopy 100 years ago - it was MUCH less dense than it is now. He commented on this difference and also on the soil moisture infiltration consequences of the densification of the canopy. While I fully acknowledge the role of climate change in intensifying the fire picture in the West it seems that the allowance of encroachment of the urban canopy into the forest canopy and the lack of appropriate forest canopy management plans are as much to blame as climate change. I worry that pinning too much of this on climate change will politicize the issue to the point of paralysis. I fear that we would be experiencing an ever increasing fire challenge even without the obvious effects of climate change we are experiencing. Would love to hear your reactions to that

Thanks Alexandra and Bruce and Michael! Your talks were fantastic!

How will the seed grant experience inform the development of the future sustainability school? What’s next?

Join us for next week’s talk: https://events.stanford.edu/events/921/92192/

“You have to rake your floors” -DJT

Pertaining to JK’s question, this book may of interest: https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Sierra-Nevada-Forests-Interpretation/dp/0878424466

Love the book Richard suggested.

Thank you! Fantastic talk!