GIS in Action 2026

Climate change and decades of wildfire suppression have combined to trigger a transformation of Oregon landscapes via an era of wildfire
events of extraordinary areal extent and severity. Oregonians now confront the heartbreaking reality of what has and will be lost. This
infographic highlights the increase in the extent and severity of wildfire in the last thirty years relative to the preceding century. It then uses
wildfire burn probability modeling data developed by scientists with the US Forest Service, Oregon State University, and other public and private
partners to illustrate the areal extent that may burn in the next thirty years.
The infographic also illustrates the extent of transformed Oregon landscapes clearly visible in Landsat imagery aggregated in the most recent
(2024) Annual National Land Cover Database (NLCD). Next, the infographic reviews losses of existing vegetation types in a listing of the “jewels”
of Oregon’s inherited environmental legacy impacted by wildfire.