We want to bring our science to communities and people interested in applied ecological research for resource and fire management in California and around the world. Are you a journalist, science editor, blogger, etc.? Contact us or our Strategic Communications office at UC Davis.
Below are some examples of our participation in the media:
Revised Estimates of Historical California Burned Area and Emissions – Andrea Duane and Hugh Safford
CalFire TV - March 2025
Our presentation explores new estimates and tools for understanding historical versus current fire regimes in California. First, we present updated estimates of historical burned areas and fire emissions across the state, incorporating indigenous cultural burning practices, and binning our results by vegetation types and California ecoregions. We also describe our work to update the California FRID (Fire Return Interval Departure) database with new vegetation types, expanding beyond federal land, using new baseline values, and incorporating an uncertainty measure. These products fill important information gaps for fire, ecosystem, air, and carbon managers in California.
How California Ranks In Wildfire Management
History Behind News Podcast - February 2025
Did you know that California is the world leader in wildfire management? And if so, how could the Los Angeles fires happen? We knew about Santa Ana winds. We knew about the extremely dry conditions. There were no surprises. So, I ask again - how could this happen?
Vanilla Farmers Search for a Crop and Conservation Sweet Spot
UC Davis press - February 2025
Vanilla is Madagascar’s top export and crucial to local farmers' livelihoods. A study lead by Marie Fleming, a Ph.D. student in Ecology in the UC Davis Department of Environmental Science and Policy and published in Biological Conservation, used a game with Malagasy vanilla farmers to explore the challenges of conservation payment programs. The study found that despite market volatility and climate risks, farmers deeply value their vanilla crops, which are tied to both their income and cultural identity. They also recognize the importance of balancing land use between food crops, cash crops, and forests, though pressures to expand croplands make conservation efforts difficult.
Why experts say California is the best-equipped state to deal with wildfires
ABC News - January 2025
Hugh Safford was interviewed by ABC News fire researcher from the University of California, Davis, has provided insight into the challenges posed by wildfires in California
LA Wildfires: Loss, Recovery and Resilience
Climate ONE podcast - January 2025
In the Climate One podcast episode "LA Wildfires: Loss, Recovery and Resilience," ecologist Hugh Safford discusses the causes of wildfires in Los Angeles, linking them to human ignitions during extreme winds, dry vegetation, and poorly planned communities. He highlights that these events are cyclical in Southern California, particularly along the Malibu coast, occurring every five to ten years. Safford emphasizes how climate change exacerbates droughts and makes wet years even wetter, increasing California's climate variability. Additionally, he points out that the massive expansion of housing into wildlands creates added risks.
Andrea Duane, wildfire expert: "Spain is also highly vulnerable to large fires."
Climatica - January 2025
Interview with environmental scientist and PhD in Terrestrial Ecology Andrea Duane. Trained at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, she has been living in California for a year and a half, working at the University of California - Davis, where she studies the differences between current and historical fire regimes.
How Invasive Plants Are Fueling California’s Wildfire Crisis
Wired - January 2025
By May, dead grass blankets the ground. “It’s so flammable that it takes any ignition—a cigarette, a spark from someone dragging a chain on the highway, or lightning,” says Hugh Safford, a vegetation and fire ecology researcher at UC Davis.
The difficulties of rebuilding in the same spot after the LA wildfires subside
ABC news - January 2025
For homes in the foothills, if a rare wind from the north gets blown down, that's "basically a death trap" for those homes, Hugh Safford, a research fire ecologist at the University of California, Davis, told ABC News.
The Airborne Flames
The New York Times- January 2025
“Fires under these conditions — they’re not moving on the ground” as a normal fire would, said Hugh Safford, a fire ecologist at the University of California, Davis. “They’re moving in the air.” That’s why some wildfires in Southern California can’t be stopped until the desert winds, known as the Santa Anas, recede.
Las cicatrices que dejan los incendios forestales
Univision 19 - December 2024
Andrea Duane and Hugh Safford participated in the report "The scars left by forest fires" (Las cicatrices que dejan los incendios forestales in Spanish) on the Univision 19 channel.
Lessons learned from the Caldor Fire
Tahoe Daily Tribune - November 2024
Hugh Safford and Saba Saberi with University of California, Davis have conducted a study on the effectiveness of forest fuel reduction treatments when it comes to mitigating fire severity and reducing tree mortality. Safford shared insights from the study’s report which they also provided to the Tahoe Science Advisory Council, the League to Save Lake Tahoe, and The Tahoe Fund.
Fire scientists say bigger, faster-growing wildfires expected in California: Here's what to know
ABC 7 - July 2024
Scientists working on fire behavior say the Park Fire, sadly, is an indication of what the rest of this fire season could look like.
UC Davis research ecologist Hugh Safford said "I don't think there's much to stop it. We're talking weeks if not many weeks of burning ahead of us."
Fire, other ravages jeopardize California’s prized forests
AP News - October 2023
“If you can find a live tree, point to it,” Hugh Safford, an environmental science and policy researcher at the University of California, Davis, said touring damage from the Caldor Fire, one of the past decade’s many massive blazes.
Our Beautiful Planet: Fire On the Mountain
The Climate initiative - September 2022
The coastal mountains of California are home to one of the state’s most distinctive biomes. Known as ‘chaparral,’ it’s characterized by vast stretches of shrubs and small trees as well as dozens of different kinds of evergreens. Chaparral provides a unique habitat for a wealth of different flora and fauna, but it is increasingly threatened by an unprecedented surge of wildfires in California. Ecologist Hugh Safford is studying chaparral ecosystems and how they respond the growing threat of wildfires.
Researchers Call For Shift In California Wildfire Strategy
CBS News Sacramento - May 2022
One UC Davis researcher says the majority of forest fires are put out before they reach 200 acres and around 60-80% of California's forest land has excess fuel due to centuries of fire suppression.
Forest Fires & Conservation
The Conservation Careers Podcast - August 2021
In this episode we talk about forest fires in California, and how they used to be much more common in the past. We also discuss how our historical management of forests has caused many of the issues we are experiencing today.
Experts say to expect more large town fires
ABC10 - December 2021
Brandon Rittiman speaks with fire experts who predict more town fires, like the one which charred hundreds of structures in Colorado.
Some Sierra forest may be unable to recover from wildfires, study says
KCRA 3 - October 2019
A new UC Davis study shows severe wildfires are transforming California’s forests into shrubs. Researchers say the science indicates that large portions of the forest in the Sierra may be unable to recover. Watch the video above to learn more.
Can thinning California's forests stop the "new normal?"
ABC10 - August 2018
California's leaders are promoting the idea that the state's in a "new normal" of more extreme wildfire, but fire scientists say it doesn't have to stay that way, even in the face of a climate that's getting warmer.
Sierra fires worsening, report says
Los Angeles Times - October 2008
Forest fires in the Sierra Nevada have grown larger, more frequent and more damaging in the last two decades, according to a study that suggests much of the blame rests with the government’s century-long war on wildfire.
The study, published online this month in the journal Ecosystems, found that between 1984 and 2006, the proportion of burned areas where no trees survived increased, on average, to nearly 30%, from 17%.