Wildfires have always been an integral part of the California ecosystem. But a historic lack of forest management combined with climate change and human activity has contributed to larger and more destructive fires in recent years. The largest of these fires are called “giga fires”, which burn at least 1 million acres. Fire officials also recently classified any fire larger than 100,000 acres as a “megafire.” In order to prevent the next big fire, Cal Fire is teaming up with the California Air Resources Board and a team of scientists from the University of Nevada in Reno. The objective is to optimize forest management programs through the “Giga Fire Project”. Jonathan Greenberg is one of the project’s principal investigators at UNR. He said the name “Giga Fire” is a nod to the growing risk of major wildfires as well as the types of technologies used by the project. “We leverage a lot of advanced technologies including advanced modeling, machine learning, remote sensing – we get field data in a ‘big data’ computing environment,” Greenberg said. All of this big data is used to create detailed maps of wildfire fuels across the state of California.This information is loaded into supercomputers, which use a trained artificial intelligence program to predict how all of these fuels might evolve over the course of the year, from decade and even century to come. Erin Hanan is another lead scientist with Project Giga Fire. She said the models they will create will allow scientists and land managers to explore many of the “what ifs” that occur. present when planning prescribed burns and other forest management strategies. do we need to address in the future and how do we Shouldn’t resources be allocated in the future in order to deal with the growing problem of climate change and the growing problems of wildfires,” Hanan said. Data from Project Giga Fire will be used by Cal Fire and the California Air Resources Board to optimize forest management plans. The two organizations have partnered to provide more than $2 million in research grants. “These grants are all funded by California climate investments, so that means everything is funded by greenhouse gas reduction funds,” said Kevin Welch, senior environmental scientist at Cal Fire. Welch says this major investment can also help Cal Fire and other agencies plan to protect air and water quality. His role with Cal Fire is to assess the benefits and costs of controlled burns. Ideally, the efforts limit the potential for wildfires to run out of control while preserving important carbon reservoirs like tall trees. is,” Welch said. “We also integrate other co-benefits like watershed protection, fire safety, prevention, cultural heritage sites.” a pivotal time for climate, fires and forests here in California, and Cal Fire is doing its best to really address those three things together,” Welch said.
Wildfires have always been an integral part of the California ecosystem. But a historic lack of forest management combined with climate change and human activity has contributed to larger and more destructive fires in recent years.
The largest of these fires are called “giga fires”, which burn at least 1 million acres. Fire officials also recently classified any fire larger than 100,000 acres as a “megafire.”
In order to prevent the next big fire, Cal Fire is teaming up with the California Air Resources Board and a team of scientists from the University of Nevada in Reno. The objective is to optimize forest management programs through the “Giga Fire Project”.
Jonathan Greenberg is one of the project’s principal investigators at UNR. He said the name “Giga Fire” is a nod to the growing risk of major wildfires as well as the types of technologies used by the project.
“We leverage a lot of advanced technologies including advanced modeling, machine learning, remote sensing — we get field data in a ‘big data’ computing environment,” Greenberg said.
All of this big data is being used to create detailed maps of wildfire fuels across the state of California. This information is loaded into supercomputers, which use a skilled artificial intelligence program to predict how all of these fuels might evolve over the coming year, decade, and even century.
Erin Hanan is another lead scientist at Project Giga Fire. She said the models they will create will allow scientists and land managers to explore many “what ifs” that arise when planning prescribed burns and other forest management strategies.
“We know the scale of the treatments currently underway. At what scale do we need to treat in the future and how should resources be allocated in the future in order to deal with the growing problem of climate change and the growing problems forest fires? says Hanane.
Data from Project Giga Fire will be used by Cal Fire and the California Air Resources Board to optimize forest management plans. The two organizations have partnered to provide more than $2 million in research grants.
“These grants are all funded by California climate investments, so that means everything is funded by greenhouse gas reduction funds,” said Kevin Welch, senior environmental scientist at Cal Fire.
Welch says this major investment can also help Cal Fire and other agencies plan to protect air and water quality. His role with Cal Fire is to assess the benefits and costs of controlled burns. Ideally, the efforts limit the potential for wildfires to run out of control while preserving important carbon reservoirs like tall trees.
“We’re creating a treatment planner so we can figure out where the best and most efficient ways are for us to treat the forest,” Welch said. “We also integrate other co-benefits like watershed protection, fire safety, prevention, cultural heritage sites.”
He says balance in controlled burns is key to changing the future of wildfire season in the West.
“We’re at a pivotal time for climate, fires and forests here in California, and Cal Fire is doing its best to really address those three things together,” Welch said.
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