How will future climate change impact prescribed fire across the contiguous US?

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The use of prescribed fire to manage ecosystems is increasing across the United States, but climate change threatens to impact future opportunities for prescribed fire as a result of changes in meteorological conditions and fuels. I will discuss the results of a recent study which combined prescription information from 80 sites across the US with LANDFIRE fuels data and downscaled future climate projections to evaluate how climate change will impact future availability of burn days. Our results indicate that rising maximum temperatures may lead to decreases in burn days across the eastern US, while rising minimum temperatures and decreasing wind speeds may lead to increased opportunities for prescribed fire in the northern and northwestern US.