Housing growth is rampant, and much of it occurs in or near wildland vegetation, i.e., in the Wildland Urban Interface or WUI. Such housing growth is bringing homeowners closer to nature, which is great, but also posing numerous environmental problems including changes to fire regimes, introduction of invasive species, more human-wildlife conflicts, and habitat fragmentation.
Kira Pfoch is exploring the long-term changes of the Wildland-Urban Interface and fire activity within the Mediterranean-climate biome.
Half the global population is potentially exposed to direct human-environmental conflict in the Wildland-Urban Interface. Wildfire is a widespread issue across all continents and biomes.
To assess the effects of exurban development in California, Neda Kasraee is exploring the long-term changes in housing density in areas under high wildfire threat.
