Assessing the impact of stand-level harvests on the flammability of forest landscapes
Cristian D. Palma A , Wenbin Cui B , David L. Martell C F , Dario Robak D and Andres Weintraub EA Department of Forest Resources Management, University of British Columbia, 2045–2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
B Ontario Forest Research Institute, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, 1235 Queen Street East, Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada.
C Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3B3, Canada.
D Departamento de Computacion, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Pabellon I, Ciudad Universitaria, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
E Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial, Universidad de Chile, República 701, Santiago, Chile.
F Corresponding author. Email: martell@smokey.forestry.utoronto.ca
International Journal of Wildland Fire 16(5) 584-592 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF06116
Submitted: 10 August 2006 Accepted: 29 January 2007 Published: 26 October 2007
Abstract
The harvesting of forest stands can reduce landscape flammability by fragmenting fuel continuity in ways that make it difficult for fires to spread and by providing firefighters with fuel discontinuities they can use as anchor points for suppression operations. We describe a methodology for assessing the impact of harvesting designated forest stands on landscape flammability and expected losses. We combine assessments of the probability that fires will be ignited at any point on the landscape with probabilistic predictions concerning how long escaped fires will burn and how they will spread. Shortest path methods are used to identify critical paths that link potential ignition points with values at risk. We then rank stands with respect to their ability to disrupt those critical paths and thereby reduce landscape flammability and fire losses. We describe how we applied our methodology to a 12 964-ha forested area of boreal forest in the province of Alberta, Canada. Our results indicate that the crucial stands in our study area, those that have the most significant impact on landscape flammability and fire loss, tend to be those that are flammable and located on or close to critical paths that link areas where fires are most likely to occur with values at risk.
Additional keywords: fire–smart forest management, fire spread, fuel management, shortest path algorithm.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported in part by the Sustainable Forest Management Network. We thank M. Acuna who provided the proposed cut blocks and their attributes to us. We wish to thank the late Bernie Todd, Kelvin Hirsch, and Marc Parisien of the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) who encouraged us to study this problem and shared many of their ideas concerning fire-smart forest management and landscape burn probability modelling with us. Special thanks are due to Jonathan Russell of Millar Western Forest Products Ltd, who provided us with valuable advice and the Millar Western data we required to carry out this study. We would also like to express our appreciation to an anonymous associate editor and two anonymous referees whose comments and suggestions helped us improve an earlier version of this manuscript significantly.
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1 We use the term ‘landscape flammability’ to describe the extent to which a forest landscape is susceptible to burning. In that context, an increased probability of fires occurring or growing larger would render a landscape more flammable. The online version of the Oxford English Dictionary (http://dictionary.oed.com/, accessed 30 May 30 2007) defines ‘inflammable’ as ‘capable of being inflamed or set on fire; susceptible of combustion; easily set on fire’. The Oxford Dictionary of Current English (Thompson 1998) notes that ‘flammable is often used because inflammable can be mistaken for a negative (the true negative being non-flammable).’
