As my family and I got ready to spend several days camping, paddling, hiking, and cycling in Bend, Oregon, I began to worry about what kind of weather awaited us there. Wildfires were raging to the south, southwest, north, and northeast of Bend. Whether smoke from any of the many wildfires burning in Oregon—there were forty-four burning in Oregon—would impact our camping trip depended largely on wind patterns.
Climate change and extreme wildfires are intwined. As summer temperatures continue to rise, the risk of larger, explosive wildfires increases. Extreme wildfires have become a normal summer occurrence in the West. Monday, July 22, 2024, saw the hottest temperatures on record globally.1,2 Wildfires are starting earlier3,4,5 and more frequently.6,7 More drastic El Niño and La Niña patterns mean some winters see heavy snowfalls and are wetter, while others see winter droughts of snow and rain that require ski resorts to turn to making snow or shortening or canceling the ski season.5,8
Shortened or canceled ski seasons can have devastating consequences on communities whose economies, at least for part of the year, rely on skiers. This has resulted in some ski areas looking at investing in snowmaking equipment. Installing and operating snow machines isn’t cheap. The equipment also requires substantial amounts of water to create snow. That means ski resorts are forced to raise lift ticket prices to help offset the costs of the machines and water required to make the snow. Many resorts are having to find other ways of making their resort a year-round destination. Some are installing single tracks for mountain biking, zip lines, disc golf courses, and alpine slides.
Drier years can result in less snowmelt filling lakes, reservoirs, and rivers. Until last year, Lake Shasta had experienced low levels in 2020, 2021, and 2022.9 Detroit Lake in Oregon has experienced summers where the marina in the town of Detroit was resting on the lake bottom. Lower water levels in lakes during the summer months can hurt communities that rely on campers, boaters, and anglers.
Smoke-filled skies make recreating outdoors difficult, especially for people with breathing difficulties like asthma, lung cancer, or heart disease.10,11 Particulates can aggravate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in sufferers as summer progresses and wildfires increase in number and intensity.
Earlier springs mean some flowers bloom earlier and some plants sprout sooner. Shortened growing cycles and earlier blooming seasons can have profound consequences for hibernating animals still in torpor and pollinators like bees and butterflies that rely on those plants.12,13,14,15,16 Hotter temperatures earlier in the year dry out grasses, shrubs, and trees sooner, making them more susceptible to fire. Extremely wetter months and CO2 exacerbate the problem by promoting higher levels of plant growth.17 From an outdoor recreation perspective, the timing of plant growth and the emergence of wildlife from hibernation can affect wildlife photography and hunting because wildlife may not appear at the time it historically appears.
Fishing is also impacted as the hotter weather raises water temperatures and negatively impacts fish spawning. Some popular fishing species, like trout and salmon, require cold water to survive and breed.
Wildfires can result in the closure of backcountry and mountain bike trails, which can hurt economies reliant on hikers, bikers, and backcountry wilderness campers. Companies that operate equestrian tours into the backcountry can see their business and finances negatively impacted. Dry grasses and foliage in the backcountry can lead to restrictions that require adventurers to use backpacker stoves and forego campfires. The need to shut down backcountry off-highway vehicle (OHV) trails for fear that exhaust and the hot tailpipes themselves could spark wildfires can lead to ATV restrictions and outdoor recreation activities like hunting that rely on the use of ATVs.
The disruption to the growing seasons of plants can lead to animals like bears, marmots, and pikas that rely on these plants coming into conflict with outdoor recreationists as they search for available food sources. Wildfires and drought can force wildlife into campgrounds and other habited places and onto busy roads as they search for safety and food, sometimes with tragic consequences to wildlife.
So, what does climate change and more intense wildfire seasons mean for outdoor recreation? Wildfires may necessitate the need for recreationists to switch to other types of outdoor recreation, forego activities or change patterns of behavior. On my camping trip with family to Bend, we had to forego campfires, roasting marshmallows, and making smores because of a campfire ban in Tumalo State Park, and that park was not alone in banning campfires.
Arasu, S. & Borenstein, S. (2024, July 24). Monday breaks the record for the hottest day ever on Earth. Associated Press. https://www.katu.com/news/nation-world/monday-broke-the-record-for-the-hottest-ever-day-on-earth-copernicus-climate-change-heat-wave-fossil-fuels-global-warming-extreme-weather.
Kim, S. E. (2024, July 25). Earth reached Its hottest day on record twice in a row this week. Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/earth-reached-its-hottest-day-on-record-twice-in-a-row-this-week-180984770/.
Chow, D. (2024, March 8). Wildfire seasons are starting earlier and getting longer. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/wildfire-seasons-are-starting-earlier-getting-longer-rcna142231.
Land, J. A. (2024, July 19). Oregon is seeing an ‘aggressive start’ to its wildfire season. Many have been human-caused. Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB). https://www.opb.org/article/2024/07/19/aggressive-start-oregon-wildfire-season/.
Van Deelan, G. (2024, April 16). Forecasters expect slow start to U.S. wildfire season. Yale Climate Connections. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/04/forecasters-expect-slow-start-to-u-s-wildfire-season/.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2024, July 23). Climate change indicators: wildfires. https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-wildfires.
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). (2024, July 24). Wildfire climate connection. https://www.noaa.gov/noaa-wildfire/wildfire-climate-connection.
National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). (n.d.). How does El Niño influence winter precipitation over the United States? https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/how-does-el-nino-influence-winter-precipitation-over-united-states.
Sayre, M. (2022, August 4). Critically low water levels at Lake Shasta, California’s largest reservoir. KTVU. https://www.ktvu.com/news/drought-critically-low-water-levels-at-lake-shasta-californias-largest-reservoir.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). (2023, November 2). Health effects attributed to wildfire smoke. https://www.epa.gov/wildfire-smoke-course/health-effects-attributed-wildfire-smoke.
MacMillan, C. (2023, June 28). How bad is wildfire smoke for your health? https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/how-bad-is-wildfire-smoke-for-your-health.
Earth.org. (n.d.). How does climate change affect pollinators and put our food supply at risk? https://earth.org/climate-change-pollinators/.
National Park Service (NPS). (n.d.). Pollinators and climate change. https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/pollinators-climateimpact.htm.
U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). (n.d.). Pollinators. https://www.climatehubs.usda.gov/topics/pollinators.
Falvo, C. A., Koons, D. N. & Aubry, L. M. (2019, February 27). Seasonal climate effects on the survival of a hibernation mammal. Ecology and Evolution. doi: 10.1002/ece3.5000. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6468137/.
Sexton, C. (2023, January 31). Our warming climate is changing how animals hibernate. Earth.com. https://www.earth.com/video/our-warming-climate-is-changing-how-animals-hibernate/.
Cho, R. (2022, January 27). How climate change will affect plants. Columbia Climate School. https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2022/01/27/how-climate-change-will-affect-plants/.
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