As development and re-development continues in fire-prone landscapes, the ecological tradeoffs of fuel management, vegetation clearance, and fire itself become inseparable from questions of urban planning and risk. This work examines the ecological effects of fuel modification practices around residential development, and, more recently, the climate drivers behind catastrophic wildfire events in Southern California.
Current Projects
Climate attribution and risk analysis for the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, in collaboration with the World Weather Attribution initiative.
Analysis of structure survival and vegetation effects in the Eaton and Palisades fires.
Presentations
Plants and Protection: How Horticulture Meets Fire Risk — Southern California Horticultural Society (July 2026)
Urban Firestorms: Risk and Resilience — UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Symposium (May 2026)
Zone Zero — Los Angeles Audubon Society
Updates
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Los Angeles does not need 700 feet of defensible space
Two councilmembers in the City of Los Angeles recently put forward a resolution that would request that California law be amended so that the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, a local joint powers agencies that owns land in and adjacent to the City of LA, be required to “clear brush” on their lands to 700…
Publications
Barnes, C., T. R. Keeping, G. Madakumbra, J. Abatzoglou, A. AghaKouchak, I. Pinto, V. Thompson, R. Vautard, S. Lampe, W. Thiery, R. Pietroiusti, C. Kolden, M. Vahlberg, R. Singh, N. Labrou, Y. Zhu, J. Li, T. Benmarhnia, T. Longcore, E. Raju, N. Baumgart, J. Arrighi, and F. E. L. Otto. 2025. Climate change increased the likelihood of wildfire disaster in highly exposed Los Angeles area. World Weather Attribution (preprint).
Longcore, T. 2006. Ecological effects of fuel management practices around residential development [sidebar]. Pages 527–528 in N. G. Sugihara, J. W. van Wagtendonk, K. E. Shaffer, J. Fites-Kaufman, and A. E. Thode (eds.), Fire in California’s Ecosystems. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Longcore, T. 2003. Ecological effects of fuel modification on arthropods and other wildlife in an urbanizing wildland. Pp. 111–117 in K. E. M. Galley, R. C. Klinger, and N. G. Sugihara (eds.), Proceedings of Fire Conference 2000: The First National Congress on Fire Ecology, Prevention, and Management. Miscellaneous Publication No. 13, Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, Florida.