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Epic blazes threaten Arctic permafrost. Can firefighters save it?

Some scientists argue that it’s time to rethink the blanket policy of letting blazes burn themselves out in northern wildernesses.
  1. Jeff Tollefson
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An aerial view of the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

Managers of the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska plan to extinguish some fires rather than follow the previous policy of allowing all blazes to burn. Credit: Tandem Stills + Motion/Getty

Fire season is approaching in the massive Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge in east Alaska, where fires have long been allowed to burn unchecked unless they threaten human life and property. But as climate change increases the frequency of these fires, the land’s overseers are changing course. Working with scientists, refuge managers have designed a pilot programme to parachute elite firefighting teams into remote areas to quash infernos — to protect not people, but permafrost.

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Nature 629, 270-271 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01168-4

References

  1. Trehame, R. et al. Preprint at Research Square https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3909244/v1 (2024).

  2. Walker, X. J. et al. Nature 572, 520–523 (2019).

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  3. Phillips, C. A. et al. Sci. Adv. 8, eabl7161(2022).

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  4. Kreider, M. R. et al. Nature Commun. 15, 2412 (2024).

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