Jose Chavez - Wildfires in California
The research topic that I want to do revolves around Wildfires, but specifically here in California. I want to revolve the topic around the historic fire that occurred in southern california about eighteen years ago. In 2003, the Cedar Fire took place in San Diego County. This wildfire was one of the biggest wildfires that California has ever witnessed. I found this certain topic interesting because during the past years we have been seeing more and more wildfires occurring here in California. It almost seems like they are coming in more frequently every year that passes. Another interesting thing is that most of the wildfires were here in this state, than any other state. I believe California used to be the number one state to have wildfires, but these past years, Texas surpassed us. We are now number two in the country. I would like to focus on this particular historic wildfire, and perhaps compare it to others? Something I do want to do is research different ways to prevent wildfires, specifically some ideas here in California. Since, I am focusing on one fire and comparing it to others, I think I should maybe stick to wildfires that have happened in San Diego County after the Cedar Fire. I can compare whether or not San Diego County has had worse wildfires, or maybe they have learned how to stop them at a quicker pace.
Sources/ Annotated Bibliography
Cleetus, Rachel, and Kranti Mulik. Playing with Fire: How Climate Change and
Development Patterns Are Contributing to the Soaring Costs of Western Wildfires. Report. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2014. 37-40. Accessed February 6, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep00039.12.
This research article talks about what we as a community can to help prevent wildfires. Obviously there are tons of environmental factors that contribute to wildfires, but we can help minimize them by taking care of our lands.
Goldstein, Bruce Evan. "Skunkworks in the Embers of the Cedar Fire: Enhancing
Resilience in the Aftermath of Disaster." Human Ecology 36, no. 1 (2008): 15-28. Accessed January 25, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27654253.
Bruce Goodstein’s article would be perfect for my topic because he is writing about the Cedar Fire that I would like to focus on. After reading more, I found that Goldstein is writing about the aftermath of what happened and what was left of the fire. This is a good article because it shows the different effects of the wild fire. While of course, the causes are important factors of wildfires too, the effects are equally if not more important. Effects of wildfires show researchers and everyone else what can be changed in order for wildfires to be minimized and have less damages.
Krausmann, William J. "Wildfire Potential in San Diego County, California."
Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers 46 (1984): 93-115. Accessed February 6, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24040254.
I found this article extremely helpful for my topic because it is talking about how San Diego County is a wildfire waiting to happen basically. This was written in 1984, so maybe if people would have read about the potential dangers, these wildfires inSan Diego County would be minimal.
Minnich, Richard A. "An Integrated Model of Two Fire Regimes." Conservation
Biology 15, no. 6 (2001): 1549-553. Accessed January 24, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3061254.
This scholarly article by Richard Minnich would be a great article for my topic because it is talking about how the Santa Ana Winds can affect wildfires that have started. Since the historic fire that I am focusing on for my main research topic is the 2003 California Cedar Fire, the article’s contents go hand in hand because the Cedar Fire was basically fueled by the Santa Ana Winds. The Santa Ana Winds were what had kept the fire going until many acres were burned and destroyed. The Santa Ana Winds play a huge role in wildfires when/ if they are present.
"Monitoring Health Effects of Wildfires Using the BioSense System — San Diego
County, California, October 2007." Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 57, no. 27 (2008): 741-44. Accessed February 6, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23318859.
This next article is a great source because it again focuses on San Diego county and the different effects of wildfires.
Ultimately, I want to know if my topic is even good enough. I do not think I am heading in the right direction after hearing my peer’s topics.
The map of the cedar fire in 2003.
History of San Diego Fires.
Some of the perspective arguments that I can believe you want to make are; since the 2003 Cedar fire in San Diego, how has the county learned to combat fire. Another argument you might make is in regards to the size of the fires, are they bigger or smaller when compared to the 2003 fire. The arguments are of historical Importance in that they help explain the why behind the fires, like why are they so large, or why cant we prevent them. I believe your sources are quite good to support your argument. The article that focuses more deeply on San Diego fires in particular might really show the changes in the fires, allowing you to find those really interesting comparisons. The article you found about the Santa Ana winds might help your argument in explaining why fires seem to be larger than ever. I believe your environmental component is quite clear, showing these huge fires and how they impact people, but also how we interact with the fire.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of other sources you might look at stuff on older fires to help solidify the trend you want to identify. Here is an Article i found about wildfire prevention from the early 90's.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02693799208901900
Hi Jose, this is a very interesting topic! I was drawn to your blog post because I am from San Diego and have lived through a number of fires. While I don't remember the 2003 fire ( I was only 3) it is certainly something that affected many people in my community. I think your topic of the 2003 Cedar wildfire can be both a historical and environmental event, but I believe a more clear argument could be constructed. I think it would be helpful to clarify the path your argument is taking, whether that be comparing the Cedar fire to other San Diego fires, assessing the impact of the fire on the community, or how this fire could have been prevented. I see towards the end of the paragraph you were debating which route to take but if you are wanting this to have a clear historical argument, perhaps sticking to a solid route of the events that led to the fire, the fire itself, the impact on the community, and how this fire (and future fires in San Diego) could be prevented. On the subject of your sources, the Minnach article seems very helpful in setting up the vents leading up to the fire. Additionally, the Goodstein article is helpful for discussing the events of the fire and the aftermath. These two sources seem like strong places to begin looking into the details of the fire to strengthen your historical argument. As for an environmental argument, it seems as though you have a clear connection between this event and larger environmental issues. Wildfires is a clear environmental issue and I like how you picked out a very specific wildfire. It would be helpful to discuss the lasting impact of the fire and how it affected communities to strengthen your enviromental connection. Overall, I think you’re off to a great start! As for more sources, I found this source about the human impact and influence on fires in california: Syphard, Alexandra D., et al. “Human Influence on California Fire Regimes.” Ecological Applications, vol. 17, no. 5, 2007, pp. 1388–1402. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40062041. Accessed 9 Feb. 2021.
ReplyDeleteI think this topic is very interesting and hits home to a lot of us who live in SoCal. I know My family has been affected by these fires because of the ash and smoke that feels the air and cause people (especially those with conditions like asthma) to not even be able to go outside. I think you are going in the right direction historically by starting off with a fire from 2003. I think I would maybe go deeper into how fire is fought in California and how it has evolved. I think you can use the Cedar fire as a base line of how techniques changed. I see that your sources talk about climate change and how that has effected fires and the pattern of fires. I think it would be interesting to look into how landscapes and ecosystems in California have been affected by fires. I think this would be cool to dive into to see how they have affected wildlife, forest areas, and even citizens living in surrounding areas. I think your sources have ideas about those topics and you can pull them out and insert them into your project. I really like the picuture you provided, I think they add more of a visual context that helps the viewer follow the story of California wildfires.
ReplyDeleteWild fires are a huge issue, especially within the last year. The fires up North took out an insane amount of land and even took out an old family cabin. No more hunting up there for awhile... Anyways, not only were the fires up North detrimental, but even the fires that took place is Socal. The ashes created a scary hue in the sky that looked apocalyptic. Breathing in the ash was terrible and it for sure took some of my lung capacity. I remember on one of my flights we had to do an emergency landing because the air quality was hazardous. Aside from my own personal experiences, this topic that you are pursuing is great, your sources are great, and you are doing well at hitting the historical question as well as the environmental question. However, I would love to see pictures of these fires if possible, that way we can all see the extremity of these flames.
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