Research Database
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4
Historic Variability: Informing Restoration Strategies, Not Prescribing Targets
Year: 2014
The concept of historic range of variability (HRV) is briefly evaluated within the context of its application in ecosystem management over the past two decades. Despite caveats to the contrary, an implicit assumption continues to emerge of climatic stationarity, and, by corollary, that presettlement centuries provide an appropriate reference period. This is examined from the perspective of historic climate change and ecosystem response. As a means of developing reference prescriptions and management targets, HRVis generally inappropriate, although if historic periods are used for…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Managing burned landscapes: Evaluating future management strategies for resilient forests under a warming climate
Year: 2014
Climate change effects on forested ecosystems worldwide include increases in drought-related mortality, changes to disturbance regimes and shifts in species distributions. Such climate-induced changes will alter the outcomes of current management strategies, complicating the selection of appropriate strategies to promote forest resilience. We modelled forest growth in ponderosa pine forests that burned in Arizona’s 2002 Rodeo-Chediski Fire using the Forest Vegetation Simulator Climate Extension, where initial stand structures were defined by pre-fire treatment and fire severity. Under extreme…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Social science research on Indigenous wildfire management in the 21st century and future research needs
Year: 2014
This article reviews social science research on Indigenous wildfire management in Australia, Canada and the United States after the year 2000 and explores future research needs in the field. In these three countries, social science research exploring contemporary Indigenous wildfire management has been limited although there have been interesting findings about how Indigenous culture and knowledge influences fire management. Research with Indigenous communities may be limited not because of a lack of interest by social scientists, but rather by obstacles to doing research with Indigenous…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Traditional Ecological Knowledge: A Model for Modern Fire Management?
Year: 2014
For many thousands of years, aboriginal peoples worldwide used fire to manage landscapes. In NorthAmerica, the frequency and extent of fire (both human caused and natural) were much reduced afterEuropean colonization. Fire exclusion became the policy in the United States for most of the 20thcentury as the country became more settled and industrialized. Past fire exclusion has helped producelandscapes that are highly susceptible to uncharacteristically severe wildfire. An urgent challengefor land managers today is to reduce fire risk through several means, including prescribed burning,without…
Publication Type: Report