{"id":682,"date":"2026-06-15T22:10:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=682"},"modified":"2026-06-15T22:10:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:10:43","slug":"stanford-study-finds-surprising-upside-of-prescribed-burns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanfranciscomovingguide.com\/?p=682","title":{"rendered":"Stanford study finds surprising upside of prescribed burns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As climate change\u00a0drives up the chance of extreme wildfires, smoke pollution\u00a0presents a real health risk for people in the West.<\/p>

Read more Developers pitched a Calif. data center to fix this city\u2019s woes, residents want anything else<\/a><\/p><\/div>

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But now scientists have documented how using prescribed burns \u2014 one of California\u2019s\u00a0leading strategies for mitigating wildfires \u2014 could actually reduce air pollution over time.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>

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In a study published in the journal Science on June 11,\u00a0Stanford University researchers found that intentionally burning 500,000 acres of conifer forests in California every year could reduce wildfire smoke pollution overall by about 10% over a decade.<\/p><\/div>

\u201cThis study highlights that yes, prescribed fire is good, but sometimes the benefits take a while,\u201d Marshall Burke, a professor in the Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford and the senior study author,\u00a0told SFGATE. \u201cAs a species, we\u2019re not that good at delayed gratification, but our numbers say in the end, it\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

The study relied on two decades of satellite measurements of fire severity and smoke particulate matter across California.\u00a0Reflecting similar findings in previous research, it documented that low-severity wildfires, a stand-in for prescribed burning, can cut the immediate likelihood of future severe wildfires in the same area by 92%. It found that smoke pollution from fires would initially rise with prescribed burning but begin improving overall after about four years.<\/p><\/div>

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