History and Management of Crown-Fire Ecosystems: a Summary and Response
Keeley JE and Fotheringham C. 2001. History and Management of Crown-Fire Ecosystems: a Summary and Response. Conservation Biology. 15(6):1561-1567
Some ecosystems, such as yellow pine forests, have had a long history of frequent surface fires, but because of fire suppression policy, fires have been largely excluded from them during the last century (Covington 2000). Unnatural fuel accumulation in these forests has increased the potential for large, catastrophic crown fires, and reintroduction of prescribed fire is one remedy for this critical fire hazard. But fire ecologists and fire managers need to be cautious in transferring this model to all western ecosystems (Anderson et al. 1999; Gutsell et al. 2001). Although large, catastrophic crown fires are apparently unnatural in yellow pine forests (but cf. Shinneman & Baker 1997), this is not so in other western forests and shrublands, and widespread prescription burning is not warranted everywhere.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Keeley, Jon; Fotheringham, C.J.
- Units
- SEKI , SIEN
- Keywords
- catastrophic fire, chaparral shrublands, Crown fire, Ecology, Effects), Environmental Impact, FIRE, Fire (Behavior, Fire Ecology, fire exclusion, Fire Suppression, Fuel accumulation, Prescribed Fire, prescription burning, surface fire, yellow pine, yellow pine fire model