more on wild/forest fires

I got some blowback on my post about the fires in central Russia, complete with with cherry-picked stats 'proving' that everything's normal this fire season, or maybe even below.

But those stats are short term.

Here's the global trend for the occurrence of wildfires, as compiled by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

http://www.grida.no/graphicslib/detail/trends-in-occurence-of-wild-fires_175a#

Of course, many factors contribute to wildfires, including human mismanagement of natural areas.  But things like declining snowpack, shifting rainfall, rising temperatures, and other general environmental stressors to forests and grasslands also play a huge, huge role.

But, as always: Draw your own conclusions.