Increasing Large Wildfire in the Eastern United States

Abstract

Abstract Large wildfires are increasing across numerous regions of the globe. While the West has remained a primary focus of wildfire research and resources in the U.S., recent signals suggest that wildfire risk is increasing in the eastern U.S. as well. We conducted an in‐depth assessment of large (>200 ha) wildfire regime characteristics (size, number, total hectares burned, seasonality, probability of occurrence, and ignition source) over a 36‐year period across the Eastern Temperate Forests of the U.S. to quantify geographic patterns in large‐wildfire regime and identify changing spatio‐temporal large wildfire patterns. We found increases in large wildfire size, occurrence, number, and total hectares burned in the southern and eastern regions of the Eastern Temperate Forests. In contrast, large wildfires declined or were minimal in northern ecoregions. We demonstrate increasing large wildfires across some of the most populated regions of the United States.

Keywords

• fire regime
• longleaf pine
• mesophication
• pyrogeography
• prescribed fire