The North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center is a partnership between the US Geological Survey, the University of Colorado Boulder and five consortium partners. The NC CASC fosters innovative and applied research in support of tribal, federal, state, and local natural resource management and decision-making. The North Central center is one of eight regional climate centers in the national CASC network created to help meet the changing needs of land and resource managers across the country. It serves Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska. 

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News

NC CASC Webinar Series: Will there still be snow in wolverine denning habitat in the 2050s? High resolution projections for two study areas in the Rocky Mountains

Presenters: 


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New Publication Addresses Climate Change and 2020 Fire Season

Consortium Partner, Phil Higuera at the University of Montana, co-authored a recent publication discussing climate change and the record-setting 2020 fire season. 


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New Paper: Small-scale water deficits after wildfires create long-lasting ecological impacts

A new paper has been published, "Small scale water deficits after wildfires create long-lasting ecological impacts." This paper was funded by the NC CASC. 


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Upcoming Workshop: Dinosaur National Monument Scenario Planning

On October 28-29th, USGS NC CASC employees Brian Miller, Brecken Robb, and Danika Mosher, along with staff from the NPS Climate Change Response Program, NPS Biological Resources Division, and Scenario Insight, LLC, are co-facilitating a remote workshop on climate change scenario planning to infor


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New Paper: Projections of Mountain Snowpack Loss for Wolverine Denning Elevations in the Rocky Mountains

A new paper co-authored by NC CASC's Imtiaz Rangwala was published today, "Projections of Mountain Snowpack Loss for Wolverine Denning Elevations in the Rocky Mountains."


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Ecodrought Synthesis Paper Mentioned in NIDIS' Drought.gov

Imtiaz Rangwala and Shelley Crausbay wrote a short article, "Ecological Drought Enters Unfamiliar Territory," for the National Integrated Drought Information System's (NIDIS) ecodrought publication. 


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Spotlight
JKB

Jennifer Balch makes the media rounds to talk wildfires, smoke & climate change

This article has been updated to include events posted after September 17, 2020.

As large fires blaze across the landscape of the American west, NCCASC University Director Jennifer Balch has been fielding numerous media requests for her expertise in wildfire science. In addition to two new publications and her upcoming presentation at a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine workshop, highlights from the last several weeks include:

Mashable: 3 big wildfire questions, answered, Sept. 24, 2020

National Academies of Sciences Engineering Medicine: Wildland Fires: Towards Improved Understanding and Forecasting of Air Quality Impacts – A Workshop, "Our changing fire regimes", Wednesday, September 23, 2020

New York Times: We’ll Have to Learn to Live With Smoke. Here’s Why., Sept. 23, 2020

New York Times: Climate Disruption Is Now Locked In. The Next Moves Will Be Crucial., Sept. 22, 2020

Reuters: Fierce, frequent, climate-fueled wildfires may decimate forests worldwide, Sept. 21, 2020

National Geographic: The science connecting wildfires to climate change: A heating-up planet has driven huge increases in wildfire area burned over the past few decades., Sept. 17, 2020

CNBC: Climate change is fueling wildfires in the West, ravaging local economies, Sept. 17, 2020

BYU Radio: How Humans Are Making Wildfire Season Worse in the West , Sept. 17, 2020

New York Times: It’s Not Just the West. These Places Are Also on Fire., Sept. 16, 2020

5280: Colorado Wildfire Smoke Has Been Unprecedented Lately. Get Used to It, Sept. 16, 2020

BBC News/Mundo: Incendios en California: por qué cada año son peores y qué dicen los expertos sobre el futuro climático de la quinta economía mundial, Sept. 15, 2020

PBS Newshour: How climate change exacerbates wildfires in the American west, Sept. 14, 2020

CNN: Fire scientist Jennifer Balch says that conventional firefighting alone cannot get ahead of wildfires, Sept. 14, 2020

KUNC: Colorado Edition: Feeling the Heat, Aug. 26, 2020 (podcast)

NC CASC team members partner with Earth Lab and CIRES partners to compile a list of resources on current fires and air quality: How Bad is the Smoke? Current Fires and Air Quality Resources: Top 10 ways to get up-to-date information on fires and air quality,  Aug. 25, 2020

CPR News: Colorado Wildfires Are Climate Change ‘In The Here And Now’ — And A Sign Of Summers To Come, Aug. 25, 2020

AP News: Science Says: Climate change, people stoke California fires, Aug. 25, 2020

Recent publications:

N. Mietkiewicz, J. K. Balch, T. Schoennagel, S. Leyk, L. A. St. Denis, and B. A. Bradley, “In the Line of Fire: Consequences of Human-Ignited Wildfires to Homes in the U.S. (1992–2015)", Fire, vol. 3, no. 3, Art. no. 3, Sep. 2020, doi: 10.3390/fire3030050

M. E. Cattau, C. Wessman, A. Mahood, and J. K. Balch, “Anthropogenic and lightning-started fires are becoming larger and more frequent over a longer season length in the U.S.A.", Global Ecology and Biogeography, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 668–681, 2020, doi: 10.1111/geb.13058

Read more about Jennifer Balch