… The [Park Fire] … has swept through the Big Chico Creek watershed, a 240-square-mile area in and around the City of Chico. While the city itself has been largely spared, the blaze has devastated a surrounding ecosystem familiar to Emily Schlickman, assistant professor of landscape architecture and environmental design at the University of California, Davis. She and her students had been studying the Big Chico Creek area before it went up in flames, looking at ways to make it more resilient to wildfires—and in turn reduce the risk of a blaze spreading through the city itself. … Schlickman studies how land use planning and landscape management can support adaptation to climate change.

Related articles:

• Sacramento Bee: Chico planned a burn that could have curbed the Park Fire. Here’s why it didn’t get done
• Bay Area News Group: Park Fire near Chico grows to fourth-largest wildfire in California history
• Washington Post: Increasing wind and heat plus risk of thunderstorms expected in fight against California wildfire
• The New York Times: Fires burning at ‘full tilt’ across the Western U.S. stretch resources