Beyond wildfire: perspectives of climate, managed fire and policy in the USA
Crystal A. Kolden A B C and Timothy J. Brown BA Graduate School of Geography, Clark University, Worcester, MA 01610, USA.
B Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV 89512, USA.
C Corresponding author. Email: ckolden@gmail.com
International Journal of Wildland Fire 19(3) 364-373 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF08111
Submitted: 24 June 2008 Accepted: 30 July 2009 Published: 13 May 2010
Abstract
Climate–wildfire relationships have been widely addressed by the scientific community over the last two decades; however, the role of climate in managed fire in the US (i.e. prescribed fire and wildland fire use) has not yet been addressed. We hypothesised that if climate is an important component of managed fire, the fire community would already be aware of this and using climate information in order to mitigate risks associated with managed fires. We conducted 223 surveys with fire managers to ascertain how climate information is utilised in managed-fire decision-making. We found that wildland fire use managers consider climate to be an important aspect of managed fire and use various types of climate information, but prescribed-fire managers do not generally consider climate or use climate information in their planning activities. Survey responses also indicate a lack of agency training on climate information and decision-support tools. This is partly attributed to obstacles in US fire policy that inhibit widespread utilisation of climate information. We suggest these results are indicative of a broader conflict in US wildfire policy, which does not directly address climate despite two decades of scientific research showing climate plays a key role in wildfire regimes.
Additional keywords: fire risk, prescribed fire, wildland fire use.
Acknowledgements
Funding for this research was provided through Task Order RAF03-0004 under the intergovernmental Cooperative Assistance Agreement 1422RAA000002 between the Bureau of Land Management and the Desert Research Institute. The authors thank all of the fire managers who participated in the surveys and made this work possible, and Scott Mensing for advising the Master’s degree thesis under which the bulk of this work was initially done. The associate editor, two anonymous reviewers, and John Abatzoglou provided invaluable feedback that substantially strengthened the manuscript and its message. Also thanks to Paul Schlobohm, Bureau of Land Management, for project advice and support.
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