<div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-align:left;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">The 2017 wildfire season shattered records and cost the U.S. Forest Service an unprecedented<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wildfires/cost-of-fighting-u-s-wildfires-topped-2-billion-in-2017-idUSKCN1BQ01F" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(0,173,216);font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline"> </a>$2 billion.  From the Oregon wildfires to late season fires in Montana, and the highly unusual timing of the California fires in December, it was a busy year in the Western United States.  While 2017 was a particularly notable wildfire season, this trend is nothing new and research suggests we can expect this unfortunate trend to continue due to climate change and other factors.  A recent study suggests that over the next two decades, as many as 11 states are predicted to see the average annual area burned increase by 500 percent.</p><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-align:left;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Using the Federal Wildland Fire Occurrence Database, Geospatial Training Services recently used ArcGIS Pro and the R programming language to better visualize the change in wildfire activity from 1980 to 2016.  <strong>Our analysis was limited to the Western United States including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming</strong>.  We were particularly interested in the surge of large wildland fires, categorized as fires that burn greater than 1,000 acres.</p><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-align:left;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial">Here, in visual form, is what we found.  All charts were produced with R Studio using the ggplot2 library and all maps with ArcGIS Pro.  In the next few months we’ll provide some interactive visualizations on this topic created with Web App Builder/Story Maps and Shiny R Apps.</p><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(128,128,128);font-family:Helvetica;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;text-align:left;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><a href="http://geospatialtraining.com/visualizing-the-surge-in-large-wildfire-activity-in-the-western-united-states/">Read the entire article.</a></p><p style="margin:10px 0px;padding:0px;line-height:24px;text-align:left;text-indent:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-style:initial;text-decoration-color:initial"><font color="#808080" face="Helvetica"><span style="font-size:16px"><a href="http://geospatialtraining.com/visualizing-the-surge-in-large-wildfire-activity-in-the-western-united-states/">http://geospatialtraining.com/visualizing-the-surge-in-large-wildfire-activity-in-the-western-united-states/</a></span></font><br></p><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Eric Pimpler<div>President/Owner</div><div>Geospatial Training Services</div><div>215 W Bandera #114-104</div><div>Boerne, TX 78006</div><div><a href="http://geospatialtraining.com" target="_blank">http://geospatialtraining.com</a></div><div>Twitter - @gistraining</div><div><a href="mailto:eric@geospatialtraining.com" target="_blank">eric@geospatialtraining.com</a></div><div>210-260-4992</div><div><img src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B_RedqMndSBta1ZoN2FSbmQyMkk&revid=0B_RedqMndSBtZGJmcUVkOE9JVjBlK3N5TS9oSVpUM0k3ditFPQ" width="200" height="79"><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div>