August 9 Digest: This Week in Wildfire Recovery News

August 9, 2022

This is a digest of selected news and media that emerged over the last week related to wildfire emergencies, recovery efforts, and resilience building efforts in the American West. 

Recent and Active Fire News

Six Rivers Lightning Complex

From San Francisco Chronicle | August 7, 2022

Updates on this year's California wildfires, including twelve new lightning fires identified August 5 as a result of thunderstorms moving through forests

Before the Fire: Building Resilience

State to redraw wildfire risk map and suspend appeals process for properties in high-risk zones

From The Oregonian, by Ted Sickinger | August 4, 2022

Oregon Department of Forestry announces it will redraw wildfire risk map for properties across the state and pause enforcement measures that might require some owners to make improvements to their structures after extreme backlash

52 Weeks of Preparedness: What to do with your pets if you’re forced to evacuate

From KMVT 11, by Nicholas Snider | August 5, 2022

Where to go and what you need to take with you if an evacuation is ordered and your pets are not allowed in evacuation centers

Locals, Forest Service see hope for interface forest management

From Yahoo | August 5, 2022

The Kootenai Complex Project, part of 10 identified under the federal Initial Landscape Investments plan to address the West's worsening wildfire crisis, is planned to help thinning, prescribed burns and planting in forests

Oregon’s wildfire risk map emerges as new climate flashpoint

From AP News, by Gillian Flaccus | August 5, 2022

After large amounts of angry pushback from Oregon homeowners, that officials retract new wildfire risk map that rated wildfire risk of every tax lot in the state and labeled nearly 80,000 structures as high-risk

Study shows how restoring overstocked forests can yield multiple, diverse benefits

From UCI News, by Brian Bell | August 5, 2022

According to researchers, mechanical thinning and scientifically based forest management practices could help to eliminate built up vegetation that fuels blazes, promote carbon storage in trees, and improve the reliability of water supplies

In red California, a deadly fire ignites political rage at liberal government

From Los Angeles Times, by Hayley Smith | August 6, 2022

Though experts propose there are many factors behind recent wildfires, such as population growth and global warming, many are certain that years of government policies are to blame for the continuing growth and severity of wildfires in the West

Communities Navigating Recovery

MORE TRANSPARENCY: judge orders Fire Victim Trust release insights on spending, lobbyists

From KRCR, by Ryan Matthey | August 5, 2022

Fire Victim Trust is legally ordered to reveal more after thousands of CA wildfire victims have yet to be compensated with promised payments after the multiple fires that have been sparked by PG&E equipment

Insurance Companies Need To Give Wildfire Victims More Time To Rebuild

From Portland Local News | August 5, 2022

The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation rules that property and casualty insurers who write homeowners policies that give a time-limit of three years to rebuild must give more time for wildfire victims to rebuild if delay is due to circumstances beyond the insured’s control

Habitat for Humanity dedicates 3 new homes for families on the Ridge

From Action News Now, by Chloe Curtis | August 6, 2022

Several families in Paradise, CA who were victims of the Camp Fire will soon be moving into their new homes on the Ridge built with the help of Habitat for Humanity, volunteers, and each of the homeowners themselves

Paradise Teen Center hosts open house for newly renovated facility

From Action News Now, by Jafet Serrato | August 4, 2022

After being out of use since the Camp Fire, the Boys and Girls Club of the North Valley brings back a newly renovated Paradise Teen Center

Policy Update

US Senate Preps for Landmark Climate Legislation

From VOA, by Rob Garver | August 6, 2022

Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is on the cusp of being passed in the Senate, which would dedicate $369 billion to combat climate change through a combination of grants, tax cuts, subsidies and other measures aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

Climate

How climate change is wrecking the spectacular landscape where California meets Oregon

From The Sacramento Bee, by Jack Ohman | August 5, 2022

Lasting effects from climate-caused wildfires leaves devastating marks through thick smoke, blackened trees, and dangerous conditions all along the border of California and Oregon

Here’s how we ‘save the trees’

From Grist, by Joan Maloof | August 5, 2022

Though President Biden signed an executive order to create a national inventory of mature and old-growth forests to put them under federal protection, the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management continue to engage with timber industries that perform threatening logging projects

August 5, 2022 How a Summer of Disasters Shows the US Isn’t Prepared for Climate Migration

From Inside Climate News, by Kristoffer Tigue | August 5, 2022

Though scientists have warned that climate change would become a factor in migration patterns for places susceptible to global warming disasters, this summer that has been filled with extreme and deadly weather shows the US is not prepared for the consequences of the many forced relocations

Posted in News Digest