The Element That Isn't
Author: Stephen J. Pyne
Pages: 1-6
How should we think about fire? An answer is not obvious. It is testimony to the immense significance of fire that humanity has for so long chosen not only to anthropomorphize it but to grant it a substantive identity it does not deserve. Early philosophers considered it a god, or at least theophany, the manifestation of a god-like presence and power. Read More.
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A Wildfire Hazard Assessment and Map for La Plata County, Colorado, USA
Author: William H. Romme, Peter J. Barry, David D. Hanna, M. Lisa Floyd, Scott White
Pages: 7-30
In response to the needs of local fire managers, we developed a map of wildfire hazard for La Plata County in southwestern Colorado, USA. Our measure of fire hazard had two components: (i) the probability, should fire occur under dry weather conditions, that fire behavior will be extreme, and (ii) the human values that may be lost or damaged if extreme fire behavior occurs. Using a classification approach in a GIS environment, we developed quantitative indices of potential heat release, flame length, and rate of spread for each vegetation type in the County. Read More.
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Modeling spatial patterns of fuels and fire behavior in a longleaf pine forest in the southeastern USA
Author: D. K. Kennard, K. Outcalt
Pages: 31-52
Characterizing spatial patterns of fire behavior is an important and rarely considered means of understanding patterns of vegetation recovery following a fire event. Using geostatistics, we characterized spatial patterns of pre-burn fuel loads, fire temperature and duration during prescribed burns, and post-burn fuel loads in four longleaf pine stands in the southeastern USA. Read More.
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Long-Term Surface Fuel Accumulation in Burned and Unburned Mixed-Conifer Forests of the Central and Southern Sierra Nevada, CA USA
Author: MaryBeth Keifer, Jan W. van Wagtendonk, Monica Buhler
Pages: 53-72
After nearly a century of fire exclusion in many central and southern Sierra Nevada mixedconifer forests, dead and down surface fuels have reached high levels without the recurring fires that consume the accumulated organic matter. The effects of prescribed fires used to reduce fuel loads and restore fire have been monitored in Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks for over 30 years. Ten years following prescribed fire treatments in Sequoia and Kings Canyon, mean total fuel loads accumulated to 84 percent of pre-fire levels in ponderosa pine forests, 83 percent in white fir-mixed conifer, and 66 percent in giant sequoia-mixed conifer forests. Read More.
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Geographic Analysis of Natural Fire Rotation in the California Redwood Forest During the Suppression Era
Author: Christopher B. Oneal, John D. Stuart, Steven J. Steinberg, Lawrence Fox III
Pages: 73-99
A geographic information system (GIS) was used to analyze the effects of six physical variables (redwood sub-region, slope, aspect, elevation, distance from the coast, and moisture regime) on the natural fire rotation (NFR) of redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests between 1950 and 2003. NFR is defined as the years necessary for fires to burn over an area equal to that of the study area. Read More.
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Effects of Fine Fuel Moisture and Loading on Small Scale Fire Behavior in Mixed-Oak Forests of Southern Ohio
Author: John B. Graham, Brian C. McCarthy
Pages: 100-114
The Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC) and the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Data Center produce Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC) maps for use by Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams in rapid response to wildfires. BAER teams desire maps indicative of fire effects on soils, but green and nonphotosynthetic vegetation and other materials also affect the spectral properties of post-fire imagery. Read More.
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Fire History and Climate Influences from Forests in the Northern Sierra Nevada, USA
Author: Tadashi J. Moody, JoAnn Fites-Kaufman, Scott L. Stephens
Pages: 115-141
Fire chronologies were developed for four regions representing two general forest types in the Plumas National Forest, Northern Sierra Nevada, California. Chronologies were developed using dendrochronological techniques largely from remnant woody materials, since past logging has left few live trees with long fire scar records. Over the period from 1454 to 2001, 113 fire years were identified in the four regions. Read More.