Wildfires aren’t growing worse due of climate change. The true culprit will surprise you

More than 100 wildfires are blazing their way through the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, sending waves of smoke into major cities in the northeastern United States, including New York and Philadelphia.

Predictably, the Biden administration and his alarmist supporters in Congress are wasting no time in exploiting the wildfires to bring attention to climate change and for significant reforms to the U.S. energy system.

For example, on June 7, Biden tweeted, "We’ve deployed more than 600 U.S. firefighters, support personnel and equipment to support Canada as they respond to record wildfires – events that are intensifying because of the climate crisis."

Also on June 7, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., tweeted, "Extreme weather. Drought. Massive wildfires that ruin our air quality. Evidence of a climate disaster is all around us and Northeasterners can go no farther than out their own windows to discover it."

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However, despite many assertions by liberals and climate activists over the last two decades about the risks of wildfires and severe weather events induced by climate change, the existing research overwhelmingly reveals that no such relationship exists. Wildfires are not growing more common or burning more land. In reality, quite the opposite is true.

The U.S. National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), which has been documenting wildfires for decades, reported that the number of fires in 2022 was 68,988, and the amount of land burnt was 7.57 million acres.

That may seem like a lot of fires, but the NIFC records demonstrate that these numbers are well within the historical average. In 2017, for example, 71,499 fires were registered and more than 10 million acres were destroyed. One decade ago, in 2007, there were 85,705 fires that burnt 9.32 million acres.

How, therefore, can climate alarmists and Democratic politicians so regularly get away with stating that wildfires are worsening? It’s all due to cherry-picked data.

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In 2021, Biden’s first year as president, the NIFC, an organization controlled by many distinct federal departments, updated its public wildfire data, deleting data acquired previous to 1983 from its website.

Since 1983, the average yearly number of wildfires and acres burnt has climbed, although very little, giving some the impression that wildfires are becoming a greater concern than ever before. But if you look at the NIFC data gathered previous to 1983, you discover that there is nothing worrisome about the present pattern.

Prior to 2021, the NIFC supplied wildfire data dating back to 1926, and from 1926 through the early 1950s, the amount of acres burnt each year was substantially greater than what we’re witnessing now. In several years, it was three or even four times bigger.

Even if wildfires were worsening, however, it wouldn’t necessarily show that climate change is the reason. Many distinct variables might contribute to the frequency and intensity of wildfires. America’s expanding population, particularly in Western regions, is an essential factor. Even more crucial is forest management methods.

The Center for Biological Diversity, a left-leaning environmental organisation, recognizes that, "The great majority of western dry forests are at danger of massive, high-intensity fire because of the impacts of inadequate forest management over the previous century. The key reasons that led to present forest conditions are logging huge trees, fire suppression and animal grazing. Since the beginning of the 20th century, all three of these elements have been present in western forests, and they continue to play a role now."

And who, you may be thinking, is the largest manager of U.S. forests? The exact same federal administration that is now blaming the issue of wildfires on climate change. Thirty-one percent of all forest land in America is held by government agencies, around 238 million acres. And most of those woods are situated west of the Mississippi River, where temperatures tend to be more dry and vulnerable to wildfires.

There is no indication that the quantity or intensity of wildfires like those presently burning in Canada are rising due of climate change. It’s pure propaganda aimed to deceive Americans into supporting new Green New Deal-like programs and to shift responsibility from the federal government, which is responsible for maintaining enormous swathes of U.S. woods.

Policymakers should be discussing methods to enhance forest management, not wasting their time spouting fairytales about global warming. Americans deserve better.