Jennifer Schmidt, Assistant Professor of Natural Resources Management and Policy, presented a fuel treatments database project in October at the Fall Fire Review, an annual event convened by the Alaska Wildland Fire Coordinating Group (AWFCG), the body that oversees fire management in the state.
Read More
“The McKinley Fire: Rebuilding and Lessons Learned” is a joint production of UAA Institute of Social Economic Research, Alaska Center for Energy and Power, and Alaska NSF EPSCoR (National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research). The video is part of EPSCoR’s Fire & Ice project, a five-year study of climate-driven changes to Alaska’s coastal margins and boreal wildfires.
Read More
Dr. Jennifer Schmidt recently gave two presentations on environmental hazards. The first was with the Alaska Fire Science Consortium’s spring workshop where she presented on “Arctic Urban Adaptations (AURA): a co-production framework for addressing multiple changing environmental hazards.” The slides for the presentation are available for download and the video recording of the presentation is above.
Read More
The Institute of Social and Economic Research’s (ISER) Assistant Professor of Natural Resources Management, Dr. Jennifer Schmidt, was recently published in Bloomberg Law News discussing the rising wildfire risk in Alaska. In the article, Dr. Schmidt explains the impact of climate and society on risk in the wildland urban interface (WUI) and suggests actions that can be taken to lower that threat. While climate change is certainly a major factor in the increased danger, development in high-risk areas without taking the proper precautionary measures is another facet of the growing threat.
Read More
This summer, Alaska’s high temperatures broke records causing more Alaskans than ever to experience the effects of widespread wildfires. Wildfires, along with unstable permafrost, and rain-in-winter are natural hazards of climate change that put residents and property at risk. Assessing the costs, risks, and actions necessary to adapt to or mitigate damage from these hazards in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Whitehorse in the Canadian Yukon, is the subject of a newly funded 4-year, $1.1 million National Science Foundation project, led by ISER’s Jennifer Schmidt.
Read More
ISER’s Jennifer Schmidt, Assistant Professor of Natural Resource Management and Policy, visited the area damaged by fire in Anchorage this summer with members of the Rabbit Creek Community Council to observe the damage and support their efforts at preventing fires in their south Anchorage community.