Fire Climatology in the western United States: introduction to special issue

Thomas W. Swetnam; R. Scott Anderson

doi:10.1071/WF08016

FOREWORD

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Fire Climatology in the western United States: introduction to special issue

Thomas W. Swetnam ^A and R. Scott Anderson ^B

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. Email: tswetnam@ltrr.arizona.edu

^B Center for Environmental Sciences and Quaternary Sciences Program, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA. Email: Scott.Anderson@nau.edu

International Journal of Wildland Fire 17(1) 1-7 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF08016
Submitted: 29 January 2008 Accepted: 31 January 2008 Published: 18 February 2008

Abstract

Advances in fire climatology have derived from recent studies of modern and paleoecological records. We convened a series of workshops and a conference session to report and review regional-scale findings, and these meetings led to the 10 papers in this special issue. Two papers focus on fire and climate patterns in the modern era using documentary records, four papers utilise tree rings to evaluate recent centuries of change, and four papers evaluate charcoal and pollen in lake, bog, and alluvial sediments over the Holocene. Here we summarise some of the key findings from these papers in the context of other recent fire climatology literature. These studies illustrate the value of long-term perspectives and spatial networks of fire and climate data in discovering the patterns and modes of past fire regime and climate variations.

Acknowledgements

For support of workshops, publication page charges, and other aspects of the research reported in this special issue we thank the USGS BRD Global Change and associated Western Mountain Initiative research programs. Support for the workshops was also provided by the National Science Foundation (International Programs), NOAA (Office of Global Programs), US Forest Service (Pacific NW Research Station), PAGES (Inter-American Institute), the USDI/USDA Joint Fire Sciences Program, US Global Change Research Program and the Global Change Program of the IGBP. A special thanks to Craig Allen and Cathy Whitlock for help in securing funding and helping organise workshops. We also thank our respective institutions: Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona and the Center for Environmental Sciences & Education, Northern Arizona University.

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