Wildfire, water, and society: Toward integrative research in the “Anthropocene”

Abstract

Across the globe wildfires are increasing in frequency and magnitude under a warming climate, impacting natural resources, infrastructure, and millions of people worldwide every year. At the 2 same time, human encroachment into fire-prone areas has increased the potential for ignition, as well as risks and damages to human communities. In an era of intensifying human activities on Earth --the "Anthropocene" --societal interactions with post-fire landscapes are becoming normal. Independent theories derived from individual disciplines no longer apply in cases where human interactions are intense. A holistic approach that accounts for interactions between natural and human systems is necessary to understand the altered dynamics of post-fire landscapes.Focusing on the intersection of fire, water, and society, this review explores an integrative research framework to couple post-fire fluvial and human processes. We overview the trends in wildfires and growing impacts on humans, how fluvial processes and systems are altered by wildfires, and the potential hazards for human settlements. This review is a basis for integrating societal concerns, such as vulnerability, economic impacts, and management responses. We then link disciplinary questions into broad interdisciplinary research through an integrative framework. The 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire (Colorado, USA) provides an illustrative case with intense human interactions, both during and after the fire, to formulate critical questions within the integrative framework. Utilizing emergent integrative conceptual frameworks and tools will assist scholars in meeting the challenges and opportunities for broad collaboration, which are necessary to understand and confront wildfires characteristic of the "Anthropocene."

Increasing exposure of energy infrastructure to compound hazards: cascading wildfires and extreme rainfall

“…risk prevention/ mitigation measures) are not included. A more thorough understanding of risk in the future needs holistic approaches that take the post-disaster dynamic interactions between natural and human processes into account (Di Baldassarre et al 2015, Kinoshita et al 2016). This is even more important when we are dealing with aging infrastructure with declining resilience to natural hazards.…”

A Workflow to Estimate Topographic and Volumetric Changes and Errors in Channel Sedimentation after Disturbance

“…The 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire occurred in Pike National Forest, northwest of Colorado Springs, Colorado in El Paso County [43]. This study utilized data collected as part of a larger investigation of the response of mountain streams following the Waldo Canyon Fire, described in Chin et al [44]; Kinoshita et al [45]; and Chin et al [5]. The test presented here focused on a channel reach in the downstream portion of the Williams watershed ( Figure 2), with a drainage area of 4.87 km 2 .…”

Interacting geomorphic and ecological response of step-pool streams after wildfire

“…Due to its diverse and significant costs-in firefighting, damages from homes, loss of businesses, as well as costs in restoring utilities and mitigating post-fire effects-the Waldo Canyon Fire was the most expensive fire in the history of the state at the time (Wineke, 2012). More details of the case of the Waldo Canyon Fire are found in Chin et al (2016) and Kinoshita et al (2016).…”