Wildfires Impacting Western Water Supply

The American Forest Foundation has released a report breaking down the relationship between water and the risk of wildfires.

Western Conservation Director Tom Fry said, “Everybody and everything is dependent on these water sources in the west in such a very arid climate. Unfortunately so many of our forested head waters are ecologically out of whack.”

Fry noted that these high-fire risk areas often burn significantly hotter and deconstruct watersheds.

It’s more than a federal problem as well with nearly 40 percent of the high-risk areas on private lands, often held by people who want to help but who face significant challenges where, “The primary barrier that landowners face is a lack of resources. The work that we’re talking about, forest restoration, is not inexpensive.”

Fry said that the biggest fixes will come from significant investment in forest health doing things like cleaning up potential fuel for wildfires.

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