The Influence of Man and Climate on Frequency of Fire in the Interior Wet Belt Forest, British Columbia

Johnson, Edward A.; Fryer, Geoffrey; Heathcott, Mark

doi:10.2307/2261120

Cited by 106 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Both the Little Ice Age (ca AD 1500-1850) and the Medieval Warm Period (ca 1100-1400) showed great variability of arid and wet periods (Luckman 2000;Tian et al 2006), with variable associated fire regimes. Johnson et al (1990), Johnson & Larsen (1991), Reed (2000) and Weir et al (2000) found changes in fire frequency within the Little Ice Age. Thus, a warmer world need not necessarily be considered a world with more fire activity in the boreal forest of North America.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Climate and wildfires in the North American boreal forest

Fauria

Johnson

2007

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

126

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The area burned in the North American boreal forest is controlled by the frequency of midtropospheric blocking highs that cause rapid fuel drying. Climate controls the area burned through changing the dynamics of large-scale teleconnection patterns (Pacific Decadal Oscillation/El Niñ o Southern Oscillation and Arctic Oscillation, PDO/ENSO and AO) that control the frequency of blocking highs over the continent at different time scales. Changes in these teleconnections may be caused by the current global warming. Thus, an increase in temperature alone need not be associated with an increase in area burned in the North American boreal forest. Since the end of the Little Ice Age, the climate has been unusually moist and variable: large fire years have occurred in unusual years, fire frequency has decreased and fire-climate relationships have occurred at interannual to decadal time scales. Prolonged and severe droughts were common in the past and were partly associated with changes in the PDO/ENSO system. Under these conditions, large fire years become common, fire frequency increases and fire-climate relationships occur at decadal to centennial time scales. A suggested return to the drier climate regimes of the past would imply major changes in the temporal dynamics of fire-climate relationships and in area burned, a reduction in the mean age of the forest, and changes in species composition of the North American boreal forest.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Climate and wildfires in the North American boreal forest

Fauria

Johnson

2007

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

126

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“…Railways have often been related to accidental or negligence fires due to braking trains, broken brake shoes as well as repair works along railway tracks (Johnson et al 1990, Cardille et al 2001, Arndt 2007, Martinez et al 2009). On one hand, Cardille et al (2001) assume that railroad density is influencing the ignition potential and frequency.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling human-caused forest fire ignition for assessing forest fire danger in Austria

Arndt¹,

Vacik²,

Koch³

et al. 2013

iForest

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© iForest -Biogeosciences and Forestry IntroductionFire danger is generally understood as the likelihood of a fire to occur (Chuvieco & Congalton 1989). In fire danger assessments the evaluation of the chances of fire ignition is generally done by identifying the contributing factors and their integration into an index quantifying the level of danger (Chuvieco et al. 2003, Sebastián-López et al. 2008. For the probability of a fire to occur, two agents are identified: natural (predominantly lightning) and anthropogenic causes, which are mainly related to human activities. In this context, the probability of human-caused fire ignition is the result of the direct or indirect presence of human activity in the landscape (Martinez et al. 2009). International studies indicate that roughly 90% of forest fires are human-caused, whereas only a small percentage of forest fires have natural causes, i.e., lightning (Cardille et al. 2001, Grissino-Mayer et al. 2004, Mollicone et al. 2006, Vacik et al. 2011. In Europe, human activities account for the majority of fire ignition (Leone et al. 2002, Catry et al. 2009, Martinez et al. 2009).Various goods and services provided by forests such as water supply, carbon sinks, recreation and protection services are most likely to be impacted by wildfires (Wotton et al. 2003, Grissino-Mayer et al. 2004, Brown et al. 2004, Fried et al. 2004, Catry et al. 2009, Dumas et al. 2008, Weibel et al. 2009). Especially in the densely populated European mountain forests the danger of fire ignition is of high significance for the maintenance of its ecosystem goods and services as these ecosystems are very sensitive to environmental changes (Steininger & WeckHannemann 2002, Lindner et al. 2010. Additionally the economic value of goods and services of the alpine region experiences an increased recognition especially through sporting activities and outdoor recreation (Hall & Page 2009). Furthermore, the alpine region is crossed by important transit and trade routes. They aid in promoting tourism in the mountainous regions across Europe (Gambino & Romano 2003, Nordregio 2004, Brauchle 2006, which is leading to an increased development of touristic infrastructure besides the extensive use by naturebased tourism (Gambino & Romano 2003, Heinrichs et al. 2010). The herewith associated rise in pressure on forests through a growing number of tourists is potentially increasing danger of fire ignition. The increasing significance of transportation for the supply of living goods as well as for the provision of access to services potentially affects fire ignition as well. Several international studies have shown the significance of the distance of forest fires to roads, settlements and infrastructure, or specific land uses or even its abandonment as predisposition for fire ignition (Vega-Garcia et al. 1995, Goldammer 2003, Kalabokidis et al. 2002, Catry et al. 2009, Martinez et al. 2009).Although human factors are relatively important when analyzing forest fire ignition, little attention has been paid to their s...

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“…In both cases Marston Bates [31] in his The Forest and the Sea, and Peter Mattheissen [6] in his Wildlife in America, described these relationships. The buildup of fire fuel and the question of fire prevention as opposed to natural regimes have been studied by Johnson et al [32] in British Columbia. Their study found that in contradiction to the idea that fire suppression was responsible for fire frequency and intensity, they found the fire history to be a natural regime.…”

Section: Fire Suppression and Prescribed Burnsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dominant Paradigm of Fire Control: Solution or Problem?

Caldararo

2012

J Forest Res Open Access

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This paper discusses several issues in forest and Wildland management that have become a paradigm with references from the popular press regarding forest and Wildland fire. A number of ideological conceptions of the world construct perceptions and undermine efforts to reduce or control wild fires. These conceptions presuppose events in a "natural world" that is really a human control and limited space. Many of these conceptions structure how human activities are planned in "natural" or "wild" areas as suburban sprawl continues. These conceptions also structure how fires are perceived to originate and spread defeating fire fighting and planning for fire control. This paper shows how these activities actually promote fire and are creating conditions for more expensive and intense fires. One of the central ideas to today's seasonal wild fires is that they have resulted from years of fire suppression and a buildup of biomass. This is contradicted by pollen analysis, fire regimes and the concentration of the most extensive fires in the past 20 years after fire management philosophies had changed to allow for periodic control burns. A human "fire adapted" ecosystem has been created and is being spread and complicated by planning and fire suppression activities. Fire suppression history and its relation to wildfire, defensive space and prescribed burns have become concepts entrenched in the public mind. Whether scientific evidence supports these beliefs and what consequences result is reviewed. Evidence is presented concerning bias in firefighter's choice of homes to defend that may skew data on home survival.

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The Influence of Man and Climate on Frequency of Fire in the Interior Wet Belt Forest, British Columbia

Cited by 106 publications

References 14 publications

Climate and wildfires in the North American boreal forest

Climate and wildfires in the North American boreal forest

Modeling human-caused forest fire ignition for assessing forest fire danger in Austria

Dominant Paradigm of Fire Control: Solution or Problem?

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