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Fire Then and Now: A Look at Wildland Fire in North America in the 21st Century

Full publication here

Abstract: Wildland fire is a global phenomenon that influences ecosystems, cultures, and livelihoods. Humans are only one driver of fire behavior and occurrence, as fires function across dynamic fuel and weather scenarios, yet the human controls of fire are strong and can function through positive or negative feedbacks and direct or indirect forces. For example, humans can influence fire positively and indirectly via fire suppression policies that lead to fuel accumulation and an escalation in future fire behavior, or negatively and directly through fuel manipulation that reduces fuel accumulation and de-escalates fire behavior. Broad anthropogenic changes such as urbanization, development in rural areas, and climatic changes also influence fire. Fire management shapes the ecology of many systems. Human history has largely influenced fire use, and has subsequently induced changes in ecology and human livelihood. Federal expenditure for fire suppression is increasing dramatically and in 2018 exceeded 3 billion USD. Concomitantly, the number of acres burned annually in North America has increased from the years 1985-2018, illustrating our changing relationship with and management of fire.

Thumbnail Image: The Beaver Creek fire of 2016 in Colorado and Wyoming on the Medicine Bow and Routt National Forests. Wildfire in the crown of this high-elevation, mixed conifer forest in the southern Rocky Mountains. Photo Credit to Tyler Campbell

Marah, Bryn D. and Scasta, J. Derek. FIRE THEN AND NOW: A Look at Wildland Fire in North America in the 21st Century. July 2019.

Posted by:
Gloria Edwards
Published on:
October 26, 2020

Categories: Highlights, Technical ReportTags: bark beetles, beetle epidemics, beetle infestation, climate, Climate & Fire, climate change, climate change vulnerability, Community Wildfire Protection Plans, extreme fire behavior, extreme fire weather, fire and fuels, fire behavior, fire behavior modeling, fire fuel smoke, Fire History, fire regime, Fire Regimes, fire suppression, firefighting, forest fire, fuel breaks, fuel consumption, fuel data, fuel loading, fuel management, fuel mapping, fuel modeling, fuel reduction projects, fuel treatments, fuels, Fuels & Fuel Treatments, fuels availability, fuels emission, fuels heterogeneity, fuels management, fuels management and effectiveness, Fuels reduction, fuels removal, fuels thinning treatments, fuels treatments, fuels type, Hazardous Fuels Treatments, high-severity wildfire, mountain pine beetle, post-wildfire, post-wildfire landscapes, prescribed burning regulations, Prescribed Fire, prescribed fire effectiveness, prescribed fire law, Prescribed fire laws, prescribed fire management, prescribed fire regime, social wildfire effects, surface fuel loading, weather, wildfire, wildfire behavior, wildfire behavior modeling, Wildfire economics, wildfire exposure, wildfire frequency, wildfire hazard, wildfire intensity, wildfire management, Wildfire Operations & Management, wildfire policy, wildfire preparation, wildfire prevention, wildfire probability, wildfire risk, wildfire risk assessment, wildfire risk mitigation, wildfire risk reduction, wildfire safety zone, wildfire severity, wildfire simulations, wildfire smoke, wildfire suppression, wildfire susceptibility, wildfire triage, Wildland, Wildland Fire, wildland fire emissions, wildland fire science, wildland fire smoke, Wildland Firefighting, wildland urban interface

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This regional Fire Exchange is one of 15 regional fire science exchanges sponsored by the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP).
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