Research Database
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Defining extreme wildland fires using geospatial and ancillary metrics
Year: 2014
There is a growing professional and public perception that ‘extreme’ wildland fires are becoming more common due to changing climatic conditions. This concern is heightened in the wildland–urban interface where social and ecological effects converge. ‘Mega-fires’, ‘conflagrations’, ‘extreme’ and ‘catastrophic’ are descriptors interchangeably used increasingly to describe fires in recent decades in the US and globally. It is necessary to have consistent, meaningful and quantitative metrics to define these perceived ‘extreme’ fires, given studies predict an increased frequency of large and…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Historic Variability: Informing Restoration Strategies, Not Prescribing Targets
Year: 2014
The concept of historic range of variability (HRV) is briefly evaluatedwithin the context of its application in ecosystem managementover the past two decades. Despite caveats to the contrary, animplicit assumption continues to emerge of climatic stationarity,and, by corollary, that presettlement centuries provide an appropriatereference period. This is examined from the perspective ofhistoric climate change and ecosystem response. As a means ofdeveloping reference prescriptions and management targets, HRVis generally inappropriate, although if historic periods are usedfor reconstruction that…
Publication Type: Journal Article