University of California researchers are looking to make the most out of a bad situation by looking at new research opportunities that have developed as a result of the wildfires. Personnel at a UC facility that suffered significant losses in the Mendocino Complex Fire will now be shifting much of their focus to fire-related research projects.
“In the post-fire recovery there’s a great chance for a lot of scientific learning about what happens on broad landscapes when fire happens, because of the fire having passed through here,” said Interim Director at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center John Bailey. “We’re in this great place where there’s a really solid picture of what there was before and then now we’re in the mode of tracking what has really happened in the fire.”
The facility is in California’s north coast region about two hours directly north of San Francisco, where the Mendocino Complex Fire came through and burned about 3,000 acres of the research center. “We lost a couple of research structures out on the site as well as our domestic water system,” Bailey noted. “There’s definitely some research projects that have been set back, where their plots have been burnt over.”
Listen to Bailey’s interview below.