Abstract

Better understanding of wildfire activity is critical because wildfire activity fluctuates with weather and climate trends. This study analyzes the impact of climate variability and land ownership on wildfire frequency in Missouri. The relationship between burnt area and climate variables (temperature and rainfall) from 2002 to 2017 for the state of Missouri were examined using a simple regression analysis. The results show that warmer annual temperatures have a low positive correlation with wildfire occurrence, and negative correlation exists with annual rainfall.  Landowner characteristics were observed to have a profound influence on wildfire frequency, and the study concludes with some suggested strategies for reducing wildfire frequency in Missouri.

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