Factors influencing fire behaviour in shrublands of different stand ages and the implications for using prescribed burning to reduce wildfire risk

Baeza, M. Jaime; Luis, Martín de; Raventós, José; Escarré, A.

doi:10.1006/jema.2002.0545

Cited by 185 publications

(149 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Baeza et al 2002;Graham et al 2004) and suggests that a network of prescribed burns to break up large areas of flammable vegetation are desirable from a fire control point of view, even when the management aim is to avoid fire where possible. Examples of this approach include:…”

Section: Careful Consideration Of Fuel Management and Fire Hazardmentioning

confidence: 99%

The future of fire management in the British uplands

Davies¹,

Gray²,

Hamilton³

et al. 2008

International Journal of Biodiversity Science & Management

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SUMMARYPrescribed and wild fires play a significant role in the ecology of upland areas; changes in the frequency and intensity of both can have significant effects on biodiversity and ecosystem function. Whilst the way we manage fire in the future will depend on desired outcomes, the risk of wildfires and the suitability of conditions for prescribed burning will depend on climate, land-use and environmental change. Changes in relative fire risk and hazard therefore need to be carefully considered when setting management policy. Fire has long been used as a management tool in the uplands of the UK but there has been little formal support or training, and emphasis has been placed on traditional knowledge. While there is pressure in some quarters for a reduction in the use of fire, prescribed burning can be used to protect biodiversity assets and reach a range of management objectives. Large areas of old heather excluded from rotational burning pose a significant fire hazard. Wildfires in such areas will be more intense and severe, and more likely to ignite peat, causing considerable environmental damage and releasing large quantities of carbon. We argue for an ecological basis for the use of fire and seek to open a debate by briefly reviewing the main controls on fire risk in upland areas and discussing existing management and its challenges with regards to three case studies: traditionally managed moorland, forestry and peatland soils. We make recommendations for future management and suggest significant challenges exist for managers and researchers that need to be dealt with urgently.

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Section: Careful Consideration Of Fuel Management and Fire Hazardmentioning

confidence: 99%

The future of fire management in the British uplands

Davies¹,

Gray²,

Hamilton³

et al. 2008

International Journal of Biodiversity Science & Management

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“…In most of these areas, the use of prescribed fires to reduce fuels is a key strategy for managing the size, severity and impact of wildfires (Baeza, De Luis et al 2002;Cheney 1994;Collins, Kelly et al 2007;Fernandes and Botelho 2003;Finney 2007;Gould, McCaw et al 2007;Luke and McArthur 1977;McCarthy and Tolhurst 2004;Mitchell, Harmon et al 2009). However, the effectiveness of prescribed fire has rarely been evaluated at practical management scales (Bradstock 2003;Fernandes and Botelho 2003;Finney 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of prescribed fire on the extent of wildfire in savanna landscapes of western Arnhem Land, Australia

Price

Russell‐Smith

Watt

2012

Int. J. Wildland Fire

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Fire regimes in many north Australian savanna regions are today characterised by frequent wildfires occurring in the latter part of the 7-month dry season. A fire management program instigated from 2005 over 24 000 km2 of biodiversity-rich Western Arnhem Land aims to reduce the area and severity of late dry-season fires, and associated greenhouse gas emissions, through targeted early dry-season prescribed burning. This study used fire history mapping derived mostly from Landsat imagery over the period 1990-2009 and statistical modelling to quantify the mitigation of late dry-season wildfire through prescribed burning. From 2005, there has been a reduction in mean annual total proportion burnt (from 38 to 30%), and particularly of late dryseason fires (from 29 to 12.5%). The slope of the relationship between the proportion of early-season prescribed fire and subsequent late dry-season wildfire was ~-1. This means that imposing prescribed early dry-season burning can substantially reduce late dry-season fire area, by direct one-to-one replacement. There is some evidence that the spatially strategic program has achieved even better mitigation than this. The observed reduction in late dry-season fire without concomitant increase in overall area burnt has important ecological and greenhouse gas emissions implications. This efficient mitigation of wildfire contrasts markedly with observations reported from temperate fire-prone forested systems.

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“…In the many parts of the world where unplanned (wild) fire poses a threat to people and property, fuel management via prescribed burning is practiced to reduce the risks (Baeza et al 2002;Cheney 1994;Luke and McArthur 1977). Despite its widespread use, and many advocates (Anon 2008;Brewer and Rogers 2006;Esplin et al 2003;Minnich 1998), the efficacy of prescribed fire is poorly understood (Fernandes and Botelho 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Drivers of Effectiveness of Prescribed Fire Treatment

Price

2012

Forest Science

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Prescribed burning for fuel reduction is a major strategy for reducing the risk from unplanned fire. Although there are theoretical studies suggesting that prescribed fire has a strong negative influence on the subsequent area of unplanned fire (so-called leverage), many empirical studies find a more modest influence. Here, I develop a series of simulations to explore the landscape drivers of leverage. Leverage declines with treatment level in a nonlinear, "decay" relationship, implying diminishing effectiveness. The spatial configuration of the prescribed fire treatment has a major effect: long linear (gridded) barriers are far more effective than patch barriers, but gaps in the grid lead to large reductions in leverage. However, the extent of unplanned fires in the landscape has the largest influence such that a landscape with 3% annual extent has only one-fifth of the leverage of a landscape with 28%. Leverage decreases with the probability of spread, suggesting that treatment is less effective when fire weather is severe. For gridded designs, leverage increases with the size of individual fires, but this is not the case for patch designs. These results agree well with recent empirical studies finding that prescribed burning has only a modest effect on subsequent unplanned fire in many biomes. They also help to explain why those empirical studies report lower effectiveness than many simulation studies. In practice, leverage values >1 (replacement of unplanned with planned fire) are hard to achieve. The drivers of effectiveness of prescribed fire treatment AbstractPrescribed burning for fuel reduction is a major strategy for reducing the risk from unplanned fire. While there are theoretical studies suggesting that prescribed fire has a strong negative influence on the subsequent area of unplanned fire (so called leverage), many empirical studies find a more modest influence. Here, I develop a series of simulations to explore the landscape drivers of leverage. Leverage declines with treatment level in a non-linear, 'decay' relationship, implying diminishing effectiveness. The spatial configuration of the prescribed fire treatment has a major effect: long linear (gridded) barriers are far more effective than patch barriers, but gaps in the grid lead to large reduction in leverage. However, the extent of unplanned fires in the landscape has the largest influence such that a landscape with 3% annual extent has only one fifth of the leverage of a landscape with 28%. Leverage decreases with the probability of spread, suggesting that treatment is less effective when fireweather is severe. For gridded designs, leverage increases with the size of individual fires, but this is not the case for patch designs. These results agree well with recent empirical studies that find prescribed burning has only a modest effect on subsequent unplanned fire in many biomes. They also help to explain why those empirical studies report lower effectiveness than many simulation studies. In practice, leverage values above 1 (repla...

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Factors influencing fire behaviour in shrublands of different stand ages and the implications for using prescribed burning to reduce wildfire risk

Cited by 185 publications

References 25 publications

The future of fire management in the British uplands

The future of fire management in the British uplands

The influence of prescribed fire on the extent of wildfire in savanna landscapes of western Arnhem Land, Australia

The Drivers of Effectiveness of Prescribed Fire Treatment

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