<div><font face="Courier New">All-</font></div>
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<div><font face="Courier New">Given what is happening in California...</font></div>
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<div><font face="Courier New">THOMAS W. SWETNAM </font></div>
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<div><a href="http://by106fd.bay106.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?curmbox=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&a=a7e5a3abeb5b6a0625bb45e354a7149a4d29389e8c475ac18c842e0a4e26013b&mailto=1&to=tswetnam@ltrr.arizona.edu&msg=E055B94D-A1F0-4006-B829-4C899F630C1E&start=0&len=6834&src=&type=x">
<font face="Courier New">tswetnam@ltrr.arizona.edu</font></a><font face="Courier New"> </font></div>
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<div><a href="javascript:ol('http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/~tswetnam');"><font face="Courier New">http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/~tswetnam</font></a><font face="Courier New"> </font></div><font face="Courier New">
<div><br> Co-author of the piece "Warming and Earlier Spring Increase Western U.S. Forest Wildfire Activity" in Science magazine, Swetnam is director of the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research and Dendrochronology at the University of Arizona. He said today: "Increasing numbers of large forest fires and total area burned in the western United States are significantly correlated with warming and drying trends. ... There is a clear upward trend in the area burned and numbers of large forest fires in the western
U.S., especially since the mid-1980s." <br> This Sunday, Swetnam was interviewed on "60 Minutes," where he said: "As the spring is arriving earlier because of warming conditions, the snow on these high mountain areas is melting and running off. So the logs and the branches and the tree needles all can dry out more quickly and have a longer time period to be dry. And so there's a longer time period and opportunity for fires to start. ... We're dealing with a period of climate, in terms of temperature and humidity and drought, that's different than anything people have seen in our lifetimes."
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<div>Swetnam's piece in Science is at:</div>
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<div><a href="javascript:ol('http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/18/60minutes/main3380176.shtml');"><font face="Courier New">http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/18/60minutes/main3380176.shtml</font></a><font face="Courier New">
<br>"60 Minutes" "The Age Of Mega-Fires" segment from Sunday is available on video:</font></div>
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<div><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/18/60minutes/main3380176.shtml"><font face="Courier New">http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/18/60minutes/main3380176.shtml</font></a><font face="Courier New"> </font>
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<div><font face="Courier New">and transcript: </font></div>
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<div><a href="http://heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?ID=6671&Method=Full"><font face="Courier New">http://heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?ID=6671&Method=Full</font>
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<div>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</div>