Ross McKitrick

Until the recent Canadian wildfires sent plumes of smoke over the densely populated cities around the Great Lakes and along the Eastern Seaboard, few people in those cities had ever experienced the weird orange haze of a forest fire or the temporary spike in fine particulates and pervasive smell of smoke. Understandably, many people reacted with alarm. We city-dwellers typically only see wildfires on television… In reality, forest fires are not only natural but essential to the life cycle of the forest ecosystem. Unfortunately, politicians, reporters and climate activists rushed in to exploit this unusual event by pushing their agenda. They made a lot of glib claims about climate change causing wildfires to become more common. …Amid the smokescreen of untrue claims, nobody seems to have bothered looking up the numbers. …Science tells us forest fires are not becoming more common and the average area burned peaked 30 years ago.

Here in Toronto, the post-wildfire week began with a cold snap and what seemed like record-breaking rainfall. Missing were media reports, along with political and environmental group statements, that this local weather event… are typical of what we can expect from the ravages of fossil-fuel-driven climate change. There is, of course, no necessary connection between a heavy-duty rain event and carbon-driven climate change. But then there is also no necessary direct connection between wildfires and fossil-fuel-driven climate change. The doubtfulness, or maybe even the non-existence, of the fire-carbon link has been consistently acknowledged globally. …A 2017 NASA Earth Observatory report concluded that there had been a decline in area burned by  fires across the globe… and data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre does not support the theory that wildfires are on the rise in Canada. But the lack of evidence of rising wildfires did not stop Minister Jonathan Wilkinson from declaring that “It’s a simple fact.”

As wildfires from coast to coast scorch large swaths of forest, sometimes changing it irreversibly, experts have zeroed in on an often overlooked casualty of the blazes: wildlife. Spring fires, such as the ones now burning across the country, are unusual and will possibly affect several species, said Karen Hodges, a biology professor at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus. …Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair said Monday that more than 47,000 square kilometres have burned so far this year, with more than 430 wildfires raging across the country. Canada is experiencing its worst wildfire season of the 21st century, he said. Hodges fears things will only get worse, with months of hotter temperatures ahead. “I do expect a lot of animals to be displaced or killed,” she said. “I do expect some populations in some regions to be gone, or small, for decades to come as a result of this year’s burns.”