In 2017 and 2018, wildfires in California burned millions of hectares and caused billions of dollars in structure damages. This paper puts these recent fires in a long-term historical context by assembling four decades of data on wildfires in California. We combine administrative data of structure loss due to wildfire with economic data on replacement costs and spatial data on fire locations and sizes. We find that over the period 1979–2018, wildfires in California have been getting larger and that the trend is accelerating. This same trend is seen in the wildland–urban interface. As well, total structure damage from wildfires has grown steadily during the past four decades. Our conclusion is that the recent California fires are not an anomaly, but rather part of a trend towards larger and increasingly destructive wildfires.

The California environmental DNA program p20 4-H data parties p14 Advancing home livestock biosecurity p33Managing a coastal marine invasive pest p40 Community and citizen science at UC ANR p5, 8, 9

Groundwater is a critical water supply around the world and is increasingly under threat from pumping that exceeds natural replenishment. California is taking on this challenge with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) of 2014, which seeks to reliably manage groundwater to meet current and future water needs for the economy, communities and environment. Successful implementation of SGMA depends on the ability of local agencies to work with stakeholders to develop plans and implement projects that reduce groundwater use, increase recharge and efficiently allocate pumping. With more than 250 local agencies undertaking actions to address groundwater overdraft, California serves as a unique laboratory for testing new ways to achieve groundwater management. At the same time, economic tools are increasingly being utilized to secure or deliver water to the environment. For the past several years, The Nature Conservancy has been testing ways that economic tools can help achieve groundwater sustainability. This paper presents case studies that illustrate how two forms of Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) — a groundwater market and a multi-benefit recharge incentive program — are being used in California to achieve groundwater sustainability to simultaneously meet the water needs of people and nature.