PUBLICATIONS:

Water supply/infrastructure and wildfire

• Pierce, G., E. Porse, F. Kearns, E. de Guzman, C. Salcedo, J. Gorman, and A. Hernandez. 2026. Water  Systems’ Wildfire Fighting Capacities and Expectations:  Workshop Synthesis Report. UC Ag and Natural Resources, California Institute for Water Resources and UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation.

• Kearns, F. 2025. Rethinking Water Systems in a Fire-Prone West: A Fire Chief’s Approach. UC Ag and Natural Resources, California Institute for Water Resources, The Confluence.

• Porse, E., G. Pierce, F. Kearns, E. de Guzman, C. Salcedo, and H. Hauptman. 2025. Water supply, infrastructure, and quality performance considerations for twenty-first-century urban wildfires. Environmental Research Letters 20 121001 doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae1a9a.

• Pierce, G., E. Porse, F. Kearns, E. de Guzman, C. Salcedo, J. Islas, and A. Hernandez. 2025. Water Systems and Wildfire: Understanding Capacities and Limitations. UC Ag and Natural Resources, California Institute for Water Resources, The Confluence.

• Kearns, F. 2025. Wildfire is a growing threat to the West’s water systems. High Country News, The Conversation.

• Pierce, G., F. Kearns, S. González, and L. Dunlap. 2025. Do Urban Water Supply Systems Put Out Wildfires? Frequently Asked Questions. UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. Available in English and Spanish.

• Kearns, F. and G. Pierce. 2025. Wildfire and water infrastructure. Water Talk podcast.

• Pierce, G., P. Roquemore, and F. Kearns. 2021. Wildfire and Water Supply in California: Advancing a Research and Policy Agenda. UC Ag and Natural Resources, California Institute for Water Resources and UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation Briefing Paper. Summary in English and Spanish.

Relational approaches to science communication and engagement

• Kearns, F. 2023. Trauma, Care, and Solidarity: Addressing the Emotional Toll of Chronic Drought. Water Resources IMPACT January/February 2023 (open access).

• Kearns, F.R. 2021. Book: Getting to the Heart of Science Communication: A Guide to Engagement, Island Press, Washington, DC.

• Kearns, F.R. 2016. Loss for words: Art, language, and the challenges of living on a changing planet. The Conversation.

• Kearns, F.R. 2015. Stretching science: Why emotional intelligence is key to tackling climate change. The Conversation and New Republic.

• Kearns, F.R. 2015. A relational approach to climate change: Working with people and conflict. Pages 219-234 in E. Fretz (ed) Climate Change Across the Curriculum, Lexington Books, Lanham, MD.

• Kearns, F.R. 2015. The stepping stones of integrating emotions into practicing science. On Being and Hippo Reads.

• Kearns, F.R. 2015. The art and science of waiting. Hippo Reads.

• Kearns, F.R. 2012. From science communication to relationship-building: Contemplative practice and community engagement in the environmental sciences. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences 2(3):257-277.

• Lymn, N., A. Bednarek, and F. Kearns. 2010. Making information meaningful. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 8(10):507. 

Water 

• Kearns, F.R. and D.T. Parker. 2018. Supporting sustainable groundwater management. California Agriculture 72(1):6-7 doi.org/10.3733/ca.2018a0007.

• Parker, D.T. and F.R. Kearns. 2016. California's water paradox: Why enough will never be enough. The California Journal of Politics and Policy 8(3) dx.doi.org/10.5070/P2cjpp8331698.

• Kearns, F.R and D.T. Parker. 2015. What would it take to end California’s drought? The Conversation and Newsweek.

• Parker, D.T. and F.R. Kearns. 2015. California's water paradox: Why enough will never be enough. The Conversation, Newsweek, and BBC. 

• Kearns, F.R. 2014. 5 key facts about the California drought—and 5 ways we’re responding to it. Hippo Reads. 

• Kearns, F.R., N.M. Kelly, J.L. Carter, and V.H. Resh. 2005. The use of landscape pattern metrics to quantify spatial configuration in a watershed context. Landscape Ecology 20:113–125.

• Fend, S. V., J. L. Carter, and F. R. Kearns. 2005. Relationships of field habitat measurements, visual habitat indices, and land cover to benthic macroinvertebrates in urbanized streams of the Santa Clara Valley, California. Pages 193-212 in L.R. Brown, R.H. Gray, R. M. Hughes, and M.R. Meador (eds) Effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems. American Fisheries Society, Symposium 47, Bethesda, Maryland.

• Harris, R.R., S.D. Kocher, J. Gerstein, F.R. Kearns, D.L. Lindquist, D. Lewis, J. LeBlanc, W.E. Weaver, and N.M. Kelly. 2003. Monitoring fish habitat restoration projects. Pages 1-213 in B. Collins (ed.) Interim Restoration Effectiveness and Validation Monitoring Protocols, California. Coastal Salmonid Restoration Monitoring and Evaluation Program. 320 pp., Ca. Dept. of Fish and Game, Fortuna, CA. 

• Kearns, F.R. 2003. The Relationship Between Physical Habitat and Biology in Freshwater Ecosystems. ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing.

• Kearns, F.R. 1998. Fisheries as experimental systems in ecology. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 79(2):165-166. 

Climate change

• Pathak, T.B., M.L. Maskey, J.A. Dahlberg, K.M. Bali, D. Zaccaria, and F. Kearns. 2019. Climate change and California agriculture.  Progressive Crop Consultant March/April: 26-32.

• Kearns, F.R. 2019. Adapting to the changing climate is mission critical for California. Bay Nature.

• Grantham, T., F.R. Kearns, S. Kocher, T. Pathak, and L. Roche. 2018. UC Cooperative Extension takes leading role in climate change research and extension. UC Delivers. 

• Pathak, T.B., M.L. Maskey, J.A. Dahlberg, F. Kearns, K.M. Bali, and D. Zaccaria. 2018. Climate change trends and impacts on California agriculture: A detailed review. Agronomy 8(3):25 dx.doi.org/10.3390/agronomy8030025.     

• Grantham, T., F.R. Kearns, S. Kocher, T. Pathak, and L. Roche. 2017. Building climate change resilience in California through UC Cooperative Extension. California Agriculture 71(4):197-200.

Wildfire & disasters

• Koundinya, V., C. Chiarella, S. Kocher, F. Kearns, and S. Drill. 2025. Building Resilience to Public Safety Power Shutoffs Through Public Education. Journal of Extension 63(1): a17.

• Koundinya, V., C. Chiarella, S. Kocher, and F. Kearns. 2020. Disasters Happen: Supporting Cooperative Extension Personnel for Disaster Management in California Communities. Journal of Extension 58(5): v58-5a2.

• Kocher, S., F. Kearns, V. Koundinya, B. Oatman, D. Alamillo, K. Panarella, S. Drill, T. Schohr, D. Lee, W. Thorpe. 2020. Disasters Happen, We Can and Will Be Prepared: Disaster Preparation and Response Guide for the UC ANR Community. University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. 20 pp.

• Kearns, F.R. and M.A. Moritz. 2019. Why we need to treat wildfire as a public health issue in California. The Conversation.

• Kearns, F.R. and M.A. Moritz. 2018. How fierce fall and winter winds help fuel California fires. The Conversation.

• Kearns, F.R. 2017. California fire damage to homes is less ‘random’ than it seems. The Conversation, CBS News, CityLab, and Salon.

• Kearns, F.R. 2017. California’s massive fires reveal our illusion of control over disasters. Bay Nature.

• Stephens, S.L., M.A. Adams, J. Handmer, F.R. Kearns, B. Leicester, J. Leonard, and M.A. Moritz. 2009. Urban-wildland fires: How California and other regions of the U.S. can learn from Australia. Environmental Research Letters 014010.

• Cleve, C., M. Kelly, F.R. Kearns, and M. Moritz. 2008. Classification of the wildland–urban interface: A comparison of pixel- and object-based classifications using high-resolution aerial photography. Computers, Environment, and Urban Systems 32:317–326.

• Shlisky, A., J. Waugh, P. Gonzalez, M. Gonzalez, M. Manta, H. Santoso, A.A. Nuruddin, D.A. Rodríguez-Trejo, R. Swaty, D. Schmidt, M. Kaufmann, R. Myers, A. Alencar, F. Kearns, D. Johnson, J. Smith, D. Zollner. 2007. Fire, Ecosystems, and People: Threats and Strategies for Global Biodiversity Conservation. GFI Technical Report 2007-2. The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, VA. (report)

• Kearns, F.R., N.C. Goldstein, B. Pedersen, M.A. Moritz. 2007. The Fire Information Engine: A web-based toolkit for wildfire-related needs. Journal of Map and Geography Libraries 4:195-207.

Community science

• Pedersen, B.*, F. Kearns*, and M. Kelly. 2007. Methods for facilitating web-based participatory research informatics. Ecological Informatics 2(1):33-42. (*denotes equal contribution)

• Kelly, M., F. Kearns, and K. Tuxen. 2004. Geospatial informatics for management of a new forest disease: Sudden Oak Death. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 70(9):1001-1004.

• Kearns, F.R., M. Kelly, and K.A. Tuxen. 2003. Everything happens somewhere: Using webGIS as a tool for sustainable natural resource management. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 1(10):541-548.

Misc

• Kearns, F.R. 1997. Scientific opportunities created by the newly consolidated U.S. Geological Survey and National Biological Service. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 78(2):157-158.

• Kearns, F.R. 1997. Human population and consumption: What are the ecological limits? Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America 78(2):161-163. 

RECENT FUNDING:

• UC Renewable Resources Extension Act: Water Talk: A Statewide Extension Podcasting Internship (2020-22 with Mallika Nocco and Sam Sandoval)

• UC Renewable Resources Extension Act: Climate change in California Cooperative Extension (2018-19 with Ted Grantham and Susie Kocher)

• USDA NIFA: Disaster readiness in California Cooperative Extension (with Susie Kocher)

• UC Renewable Resources Extension Act: Climate change in California Cooperative Extension (2017-19 with Susie Kocher and Tapan Pathak)

• Invoking the Pause: Relational engagement on climate change

• The Whitman Institute: Relational engagement in the sciences