More deadly, destructive wildfires in today's news: can we prevent this being the new normal?

This statement from the Environmental and Energy Study Institute argues that U.S. forests are increasingly transitioning from carbon sinks to carbon emitters due to climate change, droughts, and wildfires. It highlights a critical funding gap for hazardous fuel reduction and ecosystem restoration, suggesting that expanding markets for wood products and bioenergy could provide a sustainable financial model for forest management.

• Wildfires in the United States are becoming more frequent and destructive, with the average annual acreage burned doubling compared to 40 years ago and a sevenfold increase in fires exceeding 10,000 acres. Climate change is a primary driver, contributing to longer fire seasons—which have extended by over two months since the 1970s—and increased temperatures and early snow melt.
• The risk to human populations has increased as more Americans build homes in wild lands. Between 1940 and 2000, the number of housing units within half a mile of a national forest rose from 484,000 to 1.8 million, while units within national forest boundaries increased from 335,000 to 1.2 million.
• There is a significant gap between the need for forest health treatments and available funding. An estimated 65 to 82 million acres of National Forest System lands (up to 42% of the system) require treatment. While wildfire fighting costs have averaged $3.5 billion annually since 2008, funding for the Hazardous Fuels Reduction Program has remained flat at $500 million in 2012 and faced further cuts from budget sequestration and proposed FY14 budget reductions.
• Developing markets for bioenergy and wood products is proposed as a way to make forest treatments more affordable. The USFS Woody Biomass Utilization Grant Program supports this by funding projects that use woody material from wildfire prevention and beetle-killed trees to produce green energy for electricity and heating.

APA

Environmental and Energy Study Institute (2013). More deadly, destructive wildfires in today's news: can we prevent this being the new normal? https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/more-deadly-destructive-wildfires-in-todays-news-can-we-prevent-this-being-

Chicago

Environmental and Energy Study Institute. More deadly, destructive wildfires in today's news: can we prevent this being the new normal? 2013. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/more-deadly-destructive-wildfires-in-todays-news-can-we-prevent-this-being-.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Environmental and Energy Study Institute |title=More deadly, destructive wildfires in today's news: can we prevent this being the new normal? |date=3 July 2013 |url=https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/more-deadly-destructive-wildfires-in-todays-news-can-we-prevent-this-being- |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{environmentalandenergystudyinstitute2013more, author = {{Environmental and Energy Study Institute}}, title = {{More deadly, destructive wildfires in today's news: can we prevent this being the new normal?}}, publisher = {Environmental and Energy Study Institute}, year = {2013}, month = jul, url = {https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/more-deadly-destructive-wildfires-in-todays-news-can-we-prevent-this-being-}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }