Forest Fires in Idaho
Disciplines
Geographic Information Sciences
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Over the last decade, Idaho has experienced over 1,100 forest fires, averaging 600,000 acres of land burned every year. With the growing concern of climate change across the globe, the safety and security of the communities and families that suffer from these forest fires is also questioned. The overall purpose of this project is to determine how much risk of a wildfire there is for these communities and to raise awareness for potential man made fires. Wildfire data from Idaho was collected and created into two maps, one showing current wildfire boundaries calculated by infrared cameras, and the other showing a wildfire risk heat map in relation to a 5-mile city buffer to encompass families/individuals living outside of legal city boundaries. The resulting data from this project will be beneficial for environmentalists in the future to compare how climate change has affected the communities and determine how much more wildfire risk comes with growing climate concerns.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
Geography & Anthropology
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Uli Ingram
Forest Fires in Idaho
Over the last decade, Idaho has experienced over 1,100 forest fires, averaging 600,000 acres of land burned every year. With the growing concern of climate change across the globe, the safety and security of the communities and families that suffer from these forest fires is also questioned. The overall purpose of this project is to determine how much risk of a wildfire there is for these communities and to raise awareness for potential man made fires. Wildfire data from Idaho was collected and created into two maps, one showing current wildfire boundaries calculated by infrared cameras, and the other showing a wildfire risk heat map in relation to a 5-mile city buffer to encompass families/individuals living outside of legal city boundaries. The resulting data from this project will be beneficial for environmentalists in the future to compare how climate change has affected the communities and determine how much more wildfire risk comes with growing climate concerns.