New USDA Report Identifies Wildfire Risk to Rural Communities

Mar 27, 2025

A newly-released report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) is drawing attention to a growing concern across the country: wildfires. Specific focus in the study was placed on documenting the number and share of people over the age of 60 living in high wildfire risk areas. Additionally, it highlighted how the aging population combined with wildfire risk has increased the number of older people exposed to wildfire risk since 2010. For farmers across the country, especially in rural areas, the report’s findings reveal important data which were presented before wildfires impacted Oklahoma and Texas in mid-March, and just months after the massive destruction in California.

In a report summary prepared by the USDA Economic Research Service in February, authors Richelle L. Winkler and Miranda H. Mockrin zero in on 7 key findings. Excerpts from that report are provided here.

Writing in “Aging and Wildfire Risk to Communities,” Winkler, a USDA ERS research social scientist and Mockrin, a research scientist with the USDA, Forest Service, offered this:

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.