McConnell & DeWaard Publish in Nature Communications and PRPR on Population Dynamics in Wildfire-Affected Areas in the U.S.
Posted: 8/8/2024 (CSDE Research)
CSDE Affiliates Kathryn McConnell and Jack DeWaard co-authored articles in Nature Communications (Rare and Highly Destructive Wildfires Drive Human Migration in the U.S.) and Population Research and Policy Review (Population Change in Wildfire-Affected Areas in the United States: Evidence from U.S. Postal Service Residential Address Data). They report that wildfire impact is growing across built environments and will continue to grow due to the rising average of global temperatures. Wildfires appear to cause human migration and population change in certain U.S. areas. McConnell, DeWaard, and co-authors sought to “investigate whether and at what destruction threshold wildfires have influenced human mobility patterns by examining the migration effects of the most destructive wildfires in the contiguous U.S. between 1999 and 2020.” They also examine “the utility of data on active and vacant residential addresses to help inform local and timely monitoring and assessments of how areas impacted by wildfires and extreme weather events more broadly lose (or not) and subsequently recover (or not) their populations.” Data on addresses is provided by the U.S. Postal Service to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.