Extinction of unique US animals and plants at risk in wildfire on California’s ‘Galapagos of North America’

Extinction has always been a risk on Santa Rosa Island. Researchers have hailed the California island as having the most prolific aleontological record of extinct species such as pygmy mammoth, flightless sea duck, vampire bat and giant deer mouse.

The environment is now home to animals and plants found nowhere else on Earth, earning its nickname “Galapagos of North America.” A human-caused wildfire now threatens those unique animals and plants with extinction, according to on-site fire officials.

Over a third of the island has burned since a wildfire started on May 15, which burned 18,379 acres and was at 87% containment as of Sunday morning, according to Channel Islands National Park officials. Santa Rosa is one of the five Channel Islands.

Credit: NASA

There is relatively less fire on the Channel Islands than on the mainland because ignition sources are much less common there and the foggy maritime climate generally limits fire spread. 

“Several island taxa have relaxed fire-adapted traits such as serotiny and seed germination characteristics,” officials said on the park’s website. “Records from both Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa show that fire frequencies increased over the last 5,000 years and reached their peaks during the historic period, approximately the last 200 years.”

A major concern of officials was the status of the island’s Torrey Pines, the rarest pine tree in North America. The trees once dominated the island’s “Cloud Forest” of plants that harvested water from the heavy fog that rolled across the island and condensed on leaves and twigs. Although small pockets of the trees did burn with higher intensity, recent drone imagery showed that groves of Torrey Pines still exist and remain largely intact.

“The National Park Service has special firefighters, known as fire effects crews, that will go to this area, taking measurements such as specific fire severity calculations and observations,” officials said in a recent update. “This is not just a single snapshot but will be part of long-term monitoring of effects to better understand fire in this ecosystem.” 

Credit: Inciweb

Officials were already working to restore the island’s native ecosystem before the fire started. Grazing that started during European colonization of the area in the mid-1800s eliminated over 75% of the entire island’s native vegetation, park officials said.

While many native plants have since been reestablished throughout the island, the Cloud Forest hasn’t recovered. Grazing animals stripped the soil down to bedrock and severely increased soil erosion, causing trees to topple. Crews responding to the fire are reportedly aware of this ongoing issue and are working with biologists, archeologists and cultural specialists to minimize ground disturbance and soil compaction.

“This work will reduce soil erosion potential by spreading and slowing water flow and increasing soil cover, discouraging undesired access, and reducing visual impacts of fire suppression activities,” crews said.

The wildfire’s effect on the vulnerable environment’s recovery won’t be fully understood until researchers analyze the landscape after the fire is 100% contained.

Wildfire’s history and future in the Great Plains on display in new website

Nebraska is still reeling from recent destructive wildfires and heading into what’s expected to be an active fire summer.

A new website launched by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln seeks to put the state’s long history of fire on full display, and in turn, help farmers, ranchers and land managers restore the state’s native grasslands.

The historic Morrill Fire and other wildfires burned 821,000 acres across the state between March and April, by far the highest number of burned acres the state has seen in generations. Gov. Jim Pillen recently requested President Donald Trump to issue a major disaster declaration and subsequently unlock federal recovery funding in response to the fires.

The wildfires have been an unwelcome reminder for many that fire is a natural part of the state’s ecosystem. The Great Plains’ grasslands have long been fire-dependent, with frequent burns both benefiting native wildlife and destroying ever-encroaching invasive plants.

“Wildfire recovery unfolds over years, not months,” said Dirac Twidwell, rangeland ecologist at the university. “What we’ve built here is not just a map of fires — it’s a system that helps people understand recovery, anticipate change and respond with better information.”

The online hub was built using data from over 1,300 wildfires across the Great Plains since 1985, university officials said in a press release. The data allows people to view the specifics of historical fires, along with analyzing vegetation’s response to wildfire, and inform recovery decisions.

The data behind the platform draws from multiple national and research-backed sources, including the Rangeland Analysis Platform for vegetation data, the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity database for historical wildfire perimeters and the National Interagency Fire Center for recent fire data.

“That long-term record lets us see how grasslands actually recover — across different weather patterns, management decisions and landscapes — and that perspective is critical for making sound decisions today,” Twidwell said in the press release.

For example, the critically important Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge, which is located in one of the world’s most important intact prairies, was largely burned in the Morrill Fire. The university’s map offers hope for the Refuge in the near future, showing numerous other fires had burned there over the past decades.

Click here to explore the university’s online hub.

Australia’s aerial firefighting operators don’t feel safe. Fire agencies disagree

Pilots are being pressured to fly into potentially dangerous fire scenarios or where aircraft would provide little benefit, despite worsening aerial firefighting safety risks, according to a newly released survey conducted by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

The federal agency conducted interviews with nine firefighting aircraft operators and 11 fire agency representatives from around Australia to understand the current safety risks in the field. It notes that since 2016, the ATSB has commenced 17 investigations involving aerial firefighting aircraft with incidents steadily increasing.

“Additionally, the ATSB has received anecdotal reports from aerial firefighting pilots and operators concerned about the way activities are coordinated and unsafe tasking. These reports also indicated that many do not want to report occurrences to the ATSB as it may affect their potential to win contracts with firefighting agencies,” the report notes.

The results showed that how safe the industry feels largely depends on who you ask, and both the safety and occupational risks they face.

The majority of aerial firefighting operators said they didn’t feel that agencies valued their safety and had a negative “safety culture.” This contrasted with the answers given by fire agency representatives, who claimed safety had “always been very much at the forefront” of their operations.

“Interviewees perceived a lack of understanding of aviation safety and risk management among senior fire agency personnel across states and territories,” the surveyors said. “Interviewees’ understanding of who was accountable for aerial firefighting safety varied, indicating a lack of clarity on this issue.”

A similar disparity was found in how operators and agency representatives viewed the pressure placed on pilots to fly. While every interviewee acknowledged there was some pressure to fly, they differed on where that pressure came from.

Firefighting operators largely blamed their pressure to fly on agency personnel, describing both overt pressure and implicit pressure like being asked to “take a look” at flight conditions. The responses from agency representatives said the exact opposite, claiming the agencies placed no pressure on pilots and instead blamed either more senior agency personnel or public and political pressure.

“Interviewees believed this was because aircraft, especially LATs, are a very powerful visual representation of agencies’ and governments’ response to bushfires,” the surveyors said. “Three of these interviewees specifically mentioned public or political pressure to fly relating to LATs.”

Numerous interviewees said operators would feel safer if fire agencies enhanced their management and developed a just, learning, reporting, informed and flexible safety culture. A shared desire for standardisation and formilization of policies and procedures was also present in the responses.

“This desire was expressed in relation to aircraft coordination, communication, training, pilot performance, and the identification of risk and monitoring of changing conditions,” Bureau Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said in a press release regarding the report.

The survey is part of an ongoing ATSB safety study into Australia’s growing aerial firefighting sector. While findings and recommendations will be saved for the final report, this survey report identified 18 key safety themes.

Around 500 aircraft provided by over 150 operators are used in aerial firefighting operations across Australia.

Click here to read the full report.

Australia Fires Air-Crane
An Air-Crane helicopter drops muddy water on one of the fires in the East Gippsland region of Victoria, December 30, 2019. Photo by Ned Dawson for Victoria State Government.

Record-low water shortages expected ahead of very active US wildfire season

The United States’ Natural Resources Conservation Service on Thursday issued a dire forecast for Western states, ahead of what’s expected to be a very active wildfire season.

The Service, overseen by the Department of Agriculture, said many of the states’ rivers are expected to have extremely low streamflows for the spring and summer seasons.

“Many of the rivers are likely to experience well-below median streamflows, which may rival the lowest flows on record for the region,” the Service said in the Department’s most recent Water and Climate Update. “Water shortages are anticipated in many locations, especially for entities that rely on surface streamflow water, without the benefit of having access to stored reservoir water.”

Service officials said the low streamflows will have major impacts on wildlife, recreation, city municipalities, power generation and agriculture.

Credit: USDA

The low streamflows were blamed primarily on record-low snowpack during the winter months, which also melted weeks earlier than normal. The “unprecedented” snowpack levels were the lowest in 40 years, and researchers said the only way extreme fire chances could be reduced was through a “major switch” in circulation patterns. So far, there’s nothing in season forecasts or weather models that indicate such a switch is on its way.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: ‘Unprecedented’ snow drought sets up extreme wildfires for Western US in 2026

“Unfortunately, this year in the West and southern tier, it has been very dry and very warm,” Physical Sciences Laboratory research meteorologist Andrew Hoell recently said. “We’re talking about some historically warm conditions and at the same time below average precipitation. That sets up the land surface to be able to burn.”

Hoell was the lead author of a recent study that found the “La Niña” and “El Niño” phases of a fluctuating water temperature climate pattern called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation act as accurate predictors of wildfire severity up to a year in advance. The pattern entered its La Niña phase last fall, and was followed by the historic snow drought and early spring heat wave, which created drier and more flammable fuels.

Click here to read the full study.

Wildfire smoke triggers health issues in cattle before serious diseases are visible

Wildfire smoke has well established detrimental links to human health. It increases respiratory issues, is linked to dementia, and can even be fatal among the most vulnerable groups.

But scientists are still working to uncover how wildfire smoke affects other living beings, in both the short and long term. Researchers at Oregon State University took another step to uncover that mystery by studying one of the state’s most important agricultural commodities: cattle.

The researchers recently published their findings in the Journal of Animal Science, showing that wildfire smoke often causes invisible yet meaningful health issues in beef-on-dairy cattle, which contribute around $791.5 million annually to the state’s economy. The study analyzed 18 beef-on-dairy calves on a commercial dairy near Vale in 2022 and tracked their health before and after smoke from the Amelia Road fire affected local air quality for four days.

The calves did not develop any obvious diseases after the smoke exposure, but blood tests told a more subtle story, according to researchers Juliana Ranches and Jenifer Cruickshank.

“After smoke exposure, calves showed higher cortisol, a sign of acute stress,” the researchers said in a university press release. “They also showed changes in inflammatory markers, immunoglobulins and cytokines, indicating that smoke exposure activated immune and inflammatory responses even without severe outward illness.”

The immune and stress responses triggered by wildfire smoke are at risk of causing future health issues, such as increased susceptibility to secondary respiratory infections or reductions in growth or productivity, according to the study. The findings become more concerning due to their similarity to bovine respiratory disease symptoms, which makes potential wildfire smoke-caused symptoms even harder to diagnose.

The study’s findings show just how much wildfire smoke can act as an environmental stressor on cattle’s physiology and immune function, the researchers said. The “subclinical” effects are critical to informing ranchers’ future management and mitigation strategies for protecting their livestock.

Click here to read the full study.

US wildfire sensors didn’t consistently detect fires, audit finds

The US Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General recently conducted an audit of the agency’s wildfire sensors, finding they did not consistently detect fires or alert state and local officials of the danger.

Officials analyzed data from sensors installed by the agency’s Science and Technology Directorate and N5 Sensors, Inc. between 2023 and 2024. The sensors allegedly collected evidence of wildfire conditions and used AI and machine learning to alert wildfire stakeholders of potential anomalies via text and email.

Federal officials and the company deployed 300 sensors to California, Colorado, Hawaii, Tennessee and Canada for a beta test of the technology. The $3 million project’s final report claimed the program was a success, with S&T officials saying it had “developed and tested advanced wildfire detection sensors capable of providing early warnings in real-world conditions.”

The Inspector General’s audit found that while the sensors did detect multiple fires before a 911 caller reported an ignition, they were inconsistent in doing so. The audit found numerous instances where the sensors either didn’t detect fires, declared false fires, or alerted first responders to fires long after they started.

“The wildfire detection sensors could not overcome environmental factors, including wind direction variability,” officials said in the audit. “Some partners detailed examples where sensors located close to a wildfire did not detect the fire because the wind was not blowing smoke toward the sensor. S&T’s wildfire sensor program final report affirms this point, citing instances where fires were not detected due to wind blowing away from sensors.”

S&T’s official report claimed the sensors’ AI algorithms would improve over time, but the audit said if this was true, the sensors would still be dependent on the wind carrying smoke particles to them. The official report also could not determine the number of data hours needed for the sensors’ AI to optimize wildfire detection capabilities.

Despite finding the deficiencies, officials did not make any recommendations in the report. The DHS contract with the sensor provider ended on 31 December 2024 and as at April 2025 the department “…had no plans to further fund wildfire sensor detection technologies.”

Historic Morrill Fire triggers Nebraska disaster request

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen on Friday requested President Donald Trump to issue a major disaster declaration related to the state’s historic Morrill Fire and other wildfires that burned 821,000 acres across the state between March and April.

Acceptance of the request would unlock federal funding for Nebraska to help repair roads, bridges, and power infrastructure damaged by the Morrill, Cottonwood, Ashby, and Minor fires. State and federal emergency managers have previously estimated that damage costs reached nearly $9.7 million.

“As Nebraska faced historic wildfires, the people of our state came together to jumpstart the recovery process,” Pillen said in a press release on Friday. “I’m submitting my request for a disaster declaration to the White House and FEMA. We appreciate President Trump’s attention to this matter and his long-standing support of our state when we have requested disaster recovery funding.”

An estimated 642,029 acres of the 821,000-acre total were from the Morrill Fire alone, which started on March 12. It went on to trigger numerous evacuations and the activation of agricultural irrigation systems in Morrill County.

The fire may have burned more if it weren’t for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s “Next Generation Fire System,” which was called a “game changer” by wildfire managers due to early warning capabilities and its up-to-the-minute data sharing.

“On March 12, the NGFS detection came in around 1:40 pm MT,” said Watch Duty Manager of Operational Intelligence and Mapping Liam Winstead. “At that stage, we did not have eyes on the ground or radio traffic to monitor. Within 10 minutes, additional NGFS detections showed the heat spreading rapidly in alignment with the wind, providing the confirmation that this was a fast-moving vegetation fire. We posted the incident and alerted the county just 13 minutes after the initial detection.”

The vast majority of the Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge also burned in the Morrill Fire. The refuge is located in the Nebraska Sandhills, which researchers have labeled the world’s most important intact prairie, as one of the last large native prairies that has not been substantially modified or converted to farmland.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Critically important prairie widely burned by Nebraska wildfire

“Since these fires, we’ve been blessed beyond measure to see the outpouring of support – and load after load of hay – cross county and state lines to support ranching families and communities in the Sandhills,” Pillen said. “Nebraskans are tough as nails, and we’ll get through this moment together.”

The Morrill Fire was declared the “largest wildfire in state history” by Gov. Jim Pillen and other local officials after it burned 460,000 acres two days after it started. Numerous news outlets, including Wildfire Today, then amplified the claim, but historians are pushing back against it.

At least one much larger fire burned off a major section of Nebraska and the Great Plains in 1865, and it was deliberately set by the U.S. Army to drive Native Americans out of a valley outside present-day Omaha, according to the Nebraska State Historical Society. 

READ MORE: It was big, but the Morrill Fire isn’t the largest wildfire in Nebraska’s history

El Niño and La Niña predict US wildfire severity up to a year early, NOAA research finds

Recent research published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has found that the most influential climate driver on Earth is also an accurate predictor of wildfire severity up to a year in advance.

The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, found that the “La Niña” and “El Niño” phases of a fluctuating water temperature climate pattern called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation influence where heightened wildfire activity will occur in specific regions across the United States the following year. The researchers uncovered the pattern by analyzing weather data and burned area records in each of the nine U.S. Geographic Area Coordination Centers from 1984 to 2022.

Researchers found that when the fall months hit a La Niña phase of the climate pattern, the likelihood of drought and high evaporative demand increases across the U.S. during the following winter and spring in southern states, which also increases the amount of land burned in wildfires. Conversely, an autumn El Niño brings wetter conditions to southern states, reducing the risk of extensive burned area.

An example of the phenomenon happened over the past six months. The pattern entered its La Niña phase last fall, and was followed by a historic snow drought and early spring heat wave, creating drier and more flammable fuels.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: ‘Unprecedented’ snow drought sets up extreme wildfires for Western US in 2026

“Unfortunately, this year in the West and southern tier, it has been very dry and very warm,” lead author and Physical Sciences Laboratory research meteorologist Andrew Hoell said in a press release. “We’re talking about some historically warm conditions and at the same time below average precipitation. That sets up the land surface to be able to burn.”

The researchers said additional studies on how the phases interact with wind speed, fuel moisture, and vegetation are needed to better understand the link between the climate pattern and wildfires, and to improve fire risk models at the local level.

Click here to read the full study.

Destructive wildfire types targeted under new US ‘BRUSH Fire Act’

A US bill aimed at improving officials’ understanding of wildfires in ecosystems dominated by small plants recently cleared its first congressional hurdle.

The Building Resiliency and Understanding of Shrublands to Halt Fires Act, or BRUSH Fires Act, was introduced by California Rep. Dave Min and seeks to modernize federal wildfire prevention policy, particularly in shrub-dominated regions.

The number of homes destroyed by wildfires has doubled over the past 30 years, with the majority of burned homes near shrublands rather than forests, according to a previous study led by University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers. While crown fires in forests have the highest fire intensity and can ignite homes far from a fire front, shrubland fires can easily spread rapidly during strong winds, threatening more homes faster. Fuels in shrublands also recover faster than in forests, meaning areas can reburn within a few years and lessen the impact of infrequent prescribed burning.

Min said his Bill seeks to address that disparity and unseat forests as the main focus of wildfires. The bill specifically requires the Forest Service to conduct a study on its current wildfire mitigation effectiveness in shrublands, including hazardous fuels management, limiting ember ignitions of structures, and administrative factors that impede wildland fire operations. A report on the study must be made publicly available 90 days after it is complete.

“Right now, federal wildfire policy too often treats all fires the same, even as many communities, particularly in Southern California, are increasingly threatened by fast-moving brushfires in chaparral landscapes rather than traditional forest fires,” Min said in a press release. “The bill fills a critical need to reassess prevention strategies for shrubland ecosystems, identify best practices, and ensure that land managers and local fire officials have access to clear science-based guidance.”

This Bill, according to Min, has the support of California fire chiefs and leaders across the fire management community, including The Nature Conservancy, California Fire Chiefs Association, California Chaparral Institute, Endangered Habitats League, and Irvine Ranch Conservancy. 

Click here to read the full bill’s text.

Southern states near peak fire resource allocations as ‘Wildfire Awareness Month’ kicks off

May has historically been the start of wildfire season across the United States, but the signifier rings hollow for numerous communities in southern states facing already strained fire resources.

Friday marked the first day of Wildfire Awareness Month, when federal, state, and local agencies focus on fire prevention, preparedness, and protecting what matters, the National Interagency Fire Center said in a press release on Friday. Saturday was “Wildfire Community Preparedness Day,” when the National Fire Protection Association offered resources to prepare and become “firewise” for the months ahead.

That preparedness came early for communities in the Center’s Southern Area, which runs from Texas as far east as Virginia. Ongoing wildfires in Florida and Georgia have already put the area’s fire resources at Preparedness Level 4 out of 5, meaning national resources are heavily committed and have caused significant resource demand in inactive or low activity geographic areas, according to the Center’s scale.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said during a recent press conference that the state is experiencing its worst drought in over 20 years, meaning fire resources will continue being needed for “quite a while.”

“Our wildfires are already above a five-year average … and we’re under a temporary burn ban statewide,” Kemp said. “It’s a matter of resources … We’ve got equipment coming from Texas, Mississippi, Colorado, and Idaho.”

The fires are likely an omen of what’s to come as the nation moves towards what forecasters expect to be a very active fire season, due to ongoing fire risk in the South and historic snow drought in the West. In the near term, a stalled cold front in the southeast is forecast to bring hot, dry, and breezy conditions across central and southern Florida, raising the ongoing risk of fires in the already resource-strained state.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: ‘Unprecedented’ snow drought sets up extreme wildfires for Western US in 2026