Comment—A re-examination of the effects of fire suppression in the boreal forest

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 1462-1466 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Miyanishi ◽  
E A Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Reliable Estimate ◽  
Fire Size ◽  
Fire Cycle ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
In Fire

A report by Ward and Tithecott (P.C. Ward and A.G. Tithecott. 1993. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aviation, Flood and Fire Management Branch, Publ. 305.) is frequently cited in the literature as providing evidence of the effects of fire suppression on the boreal forest. The study is based on 15 years of fire data and stand age data from Ontario, Canada. A re-examination of this report reveals serious flaws that invalidate the conclusions regarding effects of fire suppression on fire size and fire frequency. The fire-size data from the unprotected zone are censored in the small size classes because of detection resolution, invalidating comparisons of shapes of the distributions between the protected and unprotected zones. Use of different plotting scales gives the false appearance of large differences in the number of large fires between the two zones. Stand age data are used to show a change in fire frequency in the 20th century, and this change is attributed to fire suppression. However, no evidence is presented to conclude that this change in fire frequency is attributable to fire suppression and not to climate change. The estimate of the current fire cycle is based on too short a record to give a reliable estimate given the variation in annual area burned. Therefore, this report does not present sound evidence of fire suppression effects and should not be cited as such.

Long-term reconstruction of the fire season in the mixedwood boreal forest of Western Canada

1999 ◽  
Vol 77 (8) ◽  
pp. 1185-1188 ◽  
Author(s):  
E A Johnson ◽  
K Miyanishi ◽  
N O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Pinus Banksiana ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Fire Cycle ◽  
Modelling Studies ◽  
Prince Albert National Park ◽  
In Fire

Climate modelling studies have predicted an increase in fire frequency with global warming as well as suggesting a longer fire season occurring later in the year. We used 160 years of fire scars in Pinus banksiana Lamb. dating from 1831 to 1948 and written fire records from 1927 to 1995 for Prince Albert National Park in the southern boreal forest to look for evidence of changes in the duration and timing of the fire season (defined as the months when large areas burn) that may have accompanied past changes in fire frequency. The Park's time-since-fire distribution had indicated two such changes: one around 1890 and the other around 1945, both in the direction of decreasing fire frequency. Both fire scars and written fire records indicated that the dominance of the spring fire season (April-June) has remained unchanged over the past 160 years. A small number of scars suggested that the fire season may have extended slightly into the summer (July) prior to 1890 when the fire cycle was much shorter and that the fire season may have shifted to a slightly earlier spring start after 1945 when the fire cycle was much longer.Key words: fire season, boreal forest, fire frequency.

Natural fire frequency for the eastern Canadian boreal forest: consequences for sustainable forestry

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yves Bergeron ◽  
Sylvie Gauthier ◽  
Victor Kafka ◽  
Patrick Lefort ◽  
Daniel Lesieur
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Sustainable Forest Management ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Entire Area ◽  
Fire Cycle ◽  
Clear Cutting ◽  
In Fire

Given that fire is the most important disturbance of the boreal forest, climatically induced changes in fire frequency (i.e., area burnt per year) can have important consequences on the resulting forest mosaic age-class distribution and composition. Using archives and dendroecological data we reconstructed the fire frequency in four large sectors along a transect from eastern Ontario to central Quebec. Results showed a dramatic decrease in fire frequency that began in the mid-19th century and has been accentuated during the 20th century. Although all areas showed a similar temporal decrease in area burned, we observed a gradual increase in fire frequency from the west to Abitibi east, followed by a slight decrease in central Quebec. The global warming that has been occurring since the end of the Little Ice Age (~1850) may have created a climate less prone to large forest fires in the eastern boreal forest of North America. This interpretation is corroborated by predictions of a decrease in forest fires for that region of the boreal forest in the future. A longer fire cycle (i.e., the time needed to burn an area equivalent to the study area) has important consequences for sustainable forest management of the boreal forest of eastern Canada. When considering the important proportion of overmature and old-growth stands in the landscape resulting from the elongation of the fire cycles, it becomes difficult to justify clear-cutting practices over all the entire area as well as short rotations as a means to emulate natural disturbances. Alternative practices involving the uses of variable proportion of clear, partial, and selective cutting are discussed.

scholarly journals Resilience of the boreal forest in response to Holocene fire-frequency changes assessed by pollen diversity and population dynamics

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. 1026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Carcaillet ◽  
Pierre J. H. Richard ◽  
Yves Bergeron ◽  
Bianca Fréchette ◽  
Adam A. Ali
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Boreal Forests ◽  
Frequency Control ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Frequency Changes ◽  
Fire Intervals ◽  
In Fire

The hypothesis that changes in fire frequency control the long-term dynamics of boreal forests is tested on the basis of paleodata. Sites with different wildfire histories at the regional scale should exhibit different vegetation trajectories. Mean fire intervals and vegetation reconstructions are based respectively on sedimentary charcoal and pollen from two small lakes, one in the Mixedwood boreal forests and the second in the Coniferous boreal forests. The pollen-inferred vegetation exhibits different trajectories of boreal forest dynamics after afforestation, whereas mean fire intervals have no significant or a delayed impact on the pollen data, either in terms of diversity or trajectories. These boreal forests appear resilient to changes in fire regimes, although subtle modifications can be highlighted. Vegetation compositions have converged during the last 1200 years with the decrease in mean fire intervals, owing to an increasing abundance of boreal species at the southern site (Mixedwood), whereas changes are less pronounced at the northern site (Coniferous). Although wildfire is a natural property of boreal ecosystems, this study does not support the hypothesis that changes in mean fire intervals are the key process controlling long-term vegetation transformation. Fluctuations in mean fire intervals alone do not explain the historical and current distribution of vegetation, but they may have accelerated the climatic process of borealisation, likely resulting from orbital forcing.

Analysis of the patterns of large fires in the boreal forest region of Alaska

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric S. Kasischke ◽  
David Williams ◽  
Donald Barry
Keyword(s):  
Forest Cover ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Lightning Strike ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Fire Cycle ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
Forest Region ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
The 1960S

Analyses of the patterns of fire in Alaska were carried out using three different data sets, including a large-fire database dating back to 1950. Analyses of annual area burned statistics illustrate the episodic nature of fire in Alaska, with most of the area burning during a limited number of high fire years. Over the past 50 years, high fire years occurred once every 4 years. Seasonal fire statistics indicated that high fire years consist of larger fire events that occur later in the growing season. On a decadal basis, average annual area burned has varied little between the 1960s and 1990s. Using a geographic information system (GIS), the spatial distribution of fires (aggregated by ecoregions) was compared with topographic, vegetation cover, and climate features of Alaska. The use of topographic data allows for a more realistic determination of fire cycle by eliminating areas where fires do not occur due to lack of vegetation above the treeline. Geographic analyses show that growing season temperature, precipitation, lightning strike frequency, elevation, aspect, and the level of forest cover interact in a complex fashion to control fire frequency.

From fire suppression to fire management: Advances and resistances to changes in fire policy in the savannas of Brazil and Venezuela

2018 ◽  
Vol 185 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludivine Eloy ◽  
Bibiana A. Bilbao ◽  
Jayalaxshmi Mistry ◽  
Isabel B. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Policy ◽  
In Fire

Changes in forest fire frequency in Kootenay National Park, Canadian Rockies

1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (8) ◽  
pp. 1763-1767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan M. Masters
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Distribution Analysis ◽  
Fire Cycle ◽  
Time Since Fire

Time-since-fire distribution analysis is used to estimate forest fire frequency for the 1400 km2 Kootenay National Park, British Columbia, located on the west slope of the Rocky Mountains. The time-since-fire distribution indicates three periods of different fire frequency: 1988 to 1928, 1928 to 1788, and before 1788. The fire cycle for the park was > 2700 years for 1988 to 1928, 130 years between 1928 and 1788, and 60 years between 1778 and 1508. Longer fire cycles after 1788 and 1928 may be due, respectively, to cool climate associated with the Little Ice Age and a recent period of higher precipitation. Contrary to some fire history investigations in the region, neither a fire suppression policy since park establishment in 1919, nor the completion of the Windermere Highway through the park in 1923 appear to have changed the fire frequency from levels during pre-European occupation. Spatial partitioning of the time-since-fire distribution was unsuccessful. No relationship was found between elevation or aspect and fire frequency. Key words: fire cycle, Rocky Mountains, climate change.

scholarly journals Trends and gaps of the scientific literature about the effects of fire on Brazilian Cerrado

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Filipe Viegas de Arruda ◽  
Diego Guimarães de Sousa ◽  
Fabrício Barreto Teresa ◽  
Vitor Hugo Mendonça do Prado ◽  
Hélida Ferreira da Cunha ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Institutions ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Federal District ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Brazilian Cerrado ◽  
Number Of Publications

Abstract Fire management is an important issue in the Brazilian Cerrado, since both anthropogenic high intensity fires and complete fire suppression can reduce the biodiversity in this biome. In this paper, we highlight the trends in scientific literature about fire effects in the Cerrado, aiming to detect possible gaps and to indicate directions of future scientific research. We searched for articles in the periodic database Web of Knowledge from 1991 to 2016, and observed an increase in the number of publications throughout the years. Most articles were associated with Brazilian institutions (58%), followed by those with collaboration between Brazilian and international institutions (33%), and those published by authors exclusively from international institutions (9%). Most articles addressed the effects of fire on biodiversity (77%), followed by articles about abiotic environment (19%), and then biotic interactions or interactions between organisms and environment (4%). The most studied taxonomic group was plants (75%), followed by mammals (8%) and insects (6%), with the remaining taxa comprising about 11% of publications. The Federal District was the federative unit with the greatest number of studies (31%). The majority of studies was conducted in areas with fewer fire events, whereas areas with major incidence of fires are poorly studied. Our data shows that studies on the effect of fires on the Brazilian Cerrado are geographically and taxonomically biased. This lack of knowledge limits the extrapolations about the effects of fire on this biome. Therefore, we emphasize the need for investment in research in areas with high fire frequency and also for an increase in knowledge about these effects on the biota, especially on the fauna. This action is fundamental to support the development of public policies for effective and directed fire management in the Cerrado.

Changing fuel management strategies - The challenge of meeting new information and analysis needs

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan G. Conard ◽  
Timothy Hartzell ◽  
Michael W. Hilbruner ◽  
G. Thomas Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Fire Management ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Hazard ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Fuel Management ◽  
Burned Areas ◽  
Ecological Principles ◽  
In Fire

This paper was presented at the conference ‘Integrating spatial technologies and ecological principles for a new age in fire management’, Boise, Idaho, USA, June 1999 ‘The earth, born in fire, baptized by lightning since before life"s beginning, has been and is a fire planet.’ E.V. Komarek Attitudes and policies concerning wildland fire, fire use, and fire management have changed greatly since early European settlers arrived in North America. Active suppression of wildfires accelerated early in the 20th Century, and areas burned dropped dramatically. In recent years, burned areas and cost of fires have begun to increase, in part due to fuel buildups resulting from fire suppression. The importance of fire as an ecosystem process is also being increasingly recognized. These factors are leading to changes in Federal agency fire and fuels management policies, including increased emphasis on use of prescribed fire and other treatments to reduce fuel loads and fire hazard. Changing fire management strategies have highlighted the need for better information and improved risk analysis techniques for setting regional and national priorities, and for monitoring and evaluating the ecological, economic, and social effects and tradeoffs of fuel management treatments and wildfires. The US Department of Interior and USDA Forest Service began the Joint Fire Science Program in 1998 to provide a sound scientific basis for implementing and evaluating fuel management activities. Development of remote sensing and GIS tools will play a key role in enabling land managers to evaluate hazards, monitor changes, and reduce risks to the environment and the public from wildland fires.

Factors influencing large wildland fire suppression expenditures

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingjing Liang ◽  
Dave E. Calkin ◽  
Krista M. Gebert ◽  
Tyron J. Venn ◽  
Robin P. Silverstein
Keyword(s):  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Private Land ◽  
Fire Size ◽  
Department Of Agriculture ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
The Us ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
Parsimonious Model

There is an urgent and immediate need to address the excessive cost of large fires. Here, we studied large wildland fire suppression expenditures by the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Among 16 potential non-managerial factors, which represented fire size and shape, private properties, public land attributes, forest and fuel conditions, and geographic settings, we found only fire size and private land had a strong effect on suppression expenditures. When both were accounted for, all the other variables had no significant effect. A parsimonious model to predict suppression expenditures was suggested, in which fire size and private land explained 58% of variation in expenditures. Other things being equal, suppression expenditures monotonically increased with fire size. For the average fire size, expenditures first increased with the percentage of private land within burned area, but as the percentage exceeded 20%, expenditures slowly declined until they stabilised when private land reached 50% of burned area. The results suggested that efforts to contain federal suppression expenditures need to focus on the highly complex, politically sensitive topic of wildfires on private land.

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