Fire is a component of the environment. Fire ecology is the study of the interaction of fire with living things. It has been suggested that Firetending be merged into this article or section. ... The word ecology is often used in common parlance as a synonym for the natural environment or environmentalism. ...

The effects of fire are due to a complex combination of:-

1. the frequency of fire

2. the intensity of fire;

3. the season of fire.

Together, these variables define a fire regime.

Plants have developed many strategies to cope with fire. Divisions Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta - liverworts Anthocerotophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum (a fern...

Some may be resprouters. Exposed parts are burnt and damaged but at least part of the plant survives and resprouts from tissue protected from the fire. This may be above ground parts, protected by thick bark or from underground parts.

Some plants are obligate seeders. These plants die due to the fire but have had sufficient time between fires to complete at least one seeding cycle and sufficient seed bank has been produced to provide for recruitment of a new population.

INTRODUCTION

Fire ecology is the study of ecosystems impacted by fire. The discipline typically focuses on ecosystems with historical fire regimes that have shaped the composition and dynamics of ecological communities over evolutionary time scales, though now it has also become a sub-discipline of restoration ecology. Campaigns such as “Smokey Bear” have molded public opinion to believe that wildfires are always harmful to nature. This view is based on the outdated belief that ecosystems progress toward an equilibrium and that disturbance (such as fire) disrupts the harmony of nature. More recent ecological research has shown, however, that fire is an integral component to the function and biodiversity of many communities, and that the organisms within those communities have adapted to withstand and even exploit it. Fire suppression, in combination with other human-caused environmental changes, has resulted in unforeseen changes to ecosystem dynamics and species composition and has backfired to create some of the largest, most intense wildfires yet. Land managers are faced with tough questions about where it is appropriate to restore a fire regime and how to do it. These questions are crucial today as we see the consequences of years of fire suppression and the continued expansion of people into fire-adapted ecosystems. The word ecology is often used in common parlance as a synonym for the natural environment or environmentalism. ... In ecology, an ecosystem is a community of organisms (plant, animal and other living organisms - also referred as biocenose) together with their environment (or biotope), functioning as a unit. ... It has been suggested that Firetending be merged into this article or section. ... Restoration ecology is the study of returning degraded ecosystems and landscapes to a reference state where ecological communities and processes are re-established. ... Only YOU can prevent forest fires! Smokey Bear is a mascot of the United States Forest Service created in 1944 to educate the public on the dangers of forest fires. ... Rainforests are the most biodiverse ecosystem on earth Biodiversity or biological diversity is the diversity of life. ...

COMPONENTS OF A FIRE REGIME

A fire regime describes the pattern that fire follows in a particular ecosystem. It consists of the following components (Bond and Keeley 2005):

1. Fuel Consumption and Fire Spread Patterns

Fire can burn at three levels. Ground fires burn through soil that is rich in organic matter. Surface fires burn through dead plant material that is on the ground. Crown fires burn in the tops of shrubs and trees. Ecosystems may experience mostly one level of fire or a mix of the three.

2. Intensity

This is a measure of how much energy is released during a fire, and is sometimes estimated by flame length and rate of spread. This measure is often used by firefighters.

3. Severity

This is a term ecologists used to refer to the impact that a fire has on an ecosystem. Ecologists can define it in many ways, but one way is through an estimate of plant mortality.

4. Frequency

This is a measure of how common fires are in a given ecosystem. It is either defined as the interval between fires at a given site, or the amount of time it takes to burn the equivalent of a specified area.

5. Seasonality

This refers to the time of year during which fires are most common. They often occur during the dry season, and in some areas also co-occur with the time of year when lightning is present for fire ignition.

IMMEDIATE IMPACTS OF FIRE

The following is a brief description of the immediate impacts of fire on abiotic and biotic components of ecosystems. Longer-term dynamics and whole-community changes are discussed in Section 3.

1. Abiotic Responses to Fire:

Fire has important effects on the abiotic (non-living) components of an ecosystem, particularly the soil, through both direct contact with the soil and its effects on the plant community using the soil (Hart et al. 2005).

A. Temperature:

By removing overhead vegetation, fire opens soil up to increased solar radiation and warming during the day. Alternately, the loss of vegetation also allows soils to become cooler and do so more quickly at night.

B. Moisture:

Soil moisture does not change predictably with fire, and is a function of fire intensity and soil properties. Fewer leaves left to intercept rain allows more rain to reach the soil’s surface and decreased transpiration (the process by which water travels through plants and evaporates through pores in the leaves) because of the smaller leaves of post-fire plants allows the soil to retain more moisture. This overall positive effect on moisture can be counteracted when fires increase the ground’s exposure to sunlight and evaporation, and/or when fire creates water-repellent soils. Water-repellent soils may form when fire heats organic matter on the ground into a waxy covering. This can lead to increased erosion.

C. Physical and Chemical Properties:

Fire causes nutrient loss through a variety of mechanism, including oxidation, volatilization, and increased erosion and leeching by water. Temperatures must be very high, however, to cause a significant loss of nutrients, and these nutrients are often quickly replaced by dead organic matter left behind in the fire. Charcoal is able to counteract some nutrient and water loss because of its absorptive properties.

Overall, soils become more basic (lower pH) following fires because of acid combustion. By driving novel chemical reactions at high temperatures, fire can even alter the texture and structure of soils by affecting the clay content and the ability of soil to form aggregates (clumps of soil that increase the ground’s porosity to water).

Transpiration is a continuous process caused by the evaporation of water from leaves of plants and its corresponding uptake from roots in the soil. ... // Nutrients and the body A nutrient is any element or compound necessary for or contributing to an organisms metabolism, growth, or other functioning. ... The most fundamental reactions in chemistry are the redox processes. ... Volatilisation is the process whereby a dissolved sample is vaporised. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents of animal and vegetable substances. ... The word basic may refer to one of several articles in Wikipedia: Basic English BASIC programming language Basic (chemistry), the opposite to acidic, reacting with acids to form salts. ... In databases, ACID stands for Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, and Durability. ...

2. Biotic Adaptations and Responses to Fire:

A. Plants:

Plants have many adaptationsto fire. In chaparral communities in Southern California, some plants have leaves coated in flammable oils that foster an intense fire. The heat will cause their fire-activated seeds to germinate and capitalize on the lack of competition in the burnt landscape. Other plants have smoke-activated seeds and/or fire-activated buds. lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) cones are sealed with resin until fire melts it away and releases the seeds (USDA Forest Service). Many plant species, including shade-intolerant giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), require fire to make light gaps in the vegetation canopy. This allows their new seedlings to compete with more shade-tolerant seedlings of other species and establish themselves in a process known as “recruitment” (US National Park Service).

Because their stationary nature precludes fire avoidance, plants span the range from fire-intolerant species to fire-tolerant to fire-resistant species (Kramp et al. 1986):

i. Fire-Intolerant Plants: Fire-intolerant species tend to be highly flammable and completely destroyed by fire. Some of these plants and their seeds may simply fade from the community after a fire and not return, yet others have adapted to ensure that their offspring survive in the next generation. “Obligate seeders” are plants with large, fire-activated seed banks that germinate, grow, and mature rapidly following a fire in order to reproduce and renew the seed bank before the next fire (Kramp et al. 1986, Knox and Clark 2005).

ii. Fire-Tolerant Plants: Fire-tolerant species, on the other hand, are able to withstand some forms of fire and grow despite some damage. These plants are sometimes referred to as “resprouters.” Ecologists have shown that some species of resprouters store extra energy in their roots for recovery and re-growth following a fire (Kramp et al. 1986, Knox and Clarke 2005).

iii. Fire Resistant Plants: Fire-resistance refers to plants that suffer little damage during a characteristic fire regime. This mostly applies to large trees whose flammable parts are high above surface fires. Mature ponderosa pine (Prosopis glandulosa) is an example of one such tree that suffers virtually no crown damage under its naturally mild fire regime because it sheds its lower, vulnerable branches as it matures (Kramp et al. 1986, Pyne 2002).

2. Animals and Microbes

Like plants, animals display a range of post-fire responses, but they differ from plants in that they must avoid the actual fire to survive. Though birds are vulnerable when nesting, they are generally able to escape the fire. They often profit off of prey items fleeing from the fire and recolonize burned areas quickly because of their high mobility. Mammals are also often capable of either fleeing the fire or seeking cover while it passes and then recolonizing quickly. Amphibians and reptiles may avoid flames by burrowing into the ground or using the burrows of other animals. Amphibians in particular are able to take refuge in water or very wet mud (Kramp et al. 1986). Some arthropods may also take shelter during a fire, though the heat and smoke actually attracts some of them to their deaths (DeBano et al. 1998). Microbial organisms in the soil vary in their heat tolerance but are more likely to survive the deeper they are in the soil, the lower the fire intensity and residence time, and the drier the soil. A post-fire increase in nutrients may result in larger microbial communities than before the fire (Hart et al. 2005).

The eye is an adaptation. ... Chaparral is a shrubland biome found primarily in California, USA, that is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild, wet winters and hot dry summers) and wildfire. ... Competition is the act of striving against another force for the purpose of achieving dominance or attaining a reward or goal, or out of a biological imperative such as survival. ... Binomial name Pinus contorta Douglas Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta) is a common tree in western North America. ... Binomial name Pinus ponderosa Douglas ex C. Lawson Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) is a widespread and very variable pine native to western North America. ... For other meanings of bird, see bird (disambiguation). ... Orders Subclass Monotremata Monotremata Subclass Marsupialia Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Subclass Placentalia Xenarthra Dermoptera Desmostylia Scandentia Primates Rodentia Lagomorpha Insectivora Chiroptera Pholidota Carnivora Perissodactyla Artiodactyla Cetacea Afrosoricida Macroscelidea Tubulidentata Hyracoidea Proboscidea Sirenia The mammals are the class of vertebrate animals primarily characterized by the presence of mammary... For other uses, see Amphibian (disambiguation). ... Orders  Crocodilia - Crocodilians scary crocodiles. ... A microorganism or microbe is an organism that is so small that it is microscopic (invisible to the naked eye). ...

LONG-TERM AND ECOSYSTEM-LEVEL IMPACTS OF FIRE

Fire behavior is different in every ecosystem and the organisms in those ecosystems have adapted accordingly. One sweeping generality is that in all ecosystems fire creates a mosaic of different habitat patches, with sites ranging from just burned to untouched by fire for years, through a process known as succession. Succession is the progress of site through continuous and directional phases of colonization by and extinction of species populations after a disturbance, such as fire (Begon et al. 1996, pg. 692). Ecologists usually characterize succession through vegetation. After a fire, the first species to colonize are those whose seeds are already present or those whose seeds disperse to the burned area quickly. These are generally fast-growing herbaceous plants that need lots of light and are poor competitors in crowded areas. As time passes, more slowly growing, shade-tolerant, and competitive, woody species crowd out the herbaceous plants. These woody plants may be shrubs or trees (Begon et al. 1996, pg 700). Different species of plants, animals, and microbes specialize in exploiting different successional stages, and by creating these different types of patches, fire allows a greater number of species to exist within a landscape. Below are some characteristics of soils and the three main types of fire-adapted ecosystems. Specific examples are given to illustrate ecosystem-level responses to fire. The term habitat has a number of unrelated meanings: A concept in Ecology: see habitat. ... Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. ... In ecology, a disturbance is a temporary change in average environmental conditions that causes a ponounced change in ecosystem structure that lasts longer than the change in the environment. ... This article is about the plants used in cooking and medicine. ...

1. Forests:

Mild to moderate fires burn in the forest understory, removing small trees and herbaceous groundcover. Only high-intensity fires burn into the crowns of the tallest trees, at which point sparks from exploding trees cause fire to spread rapidly in its own convective winds. Prescribed fires typically aim for low to moderate intensity, whereas wildfires can evolve into crown fires. When a forest burns frequently and thus has less plant litter build-up, below-ground soil temperatures rise only slightly and thus are not lethal to roots deep in the soil (DeBano et al. 1998). Though there are some characteristics inherent to forests that influence fire, Beaty and Taylor (2001) point out that extrinsic factors such as climate and topography also play an important role in determining fire severity and fire extent. They found that fires spread most widely during drought years, are most severe on upper slopes, and are influenced by species composition. FOREST, which describes itself as the voice and friend of the smoker, is a United Kingdom political pressure group that campaigns for the right of people to smoke tobacco and opposes attempts to ban or reduce tobacco consumption, as well as casting doubt on medical claims of the health risks... Surface of the Earth Topography, a term in geography, has come to refer to the lay of the land, or the physiogeographic characteristics of land in terms of elevation, slope, and orientation. ...

Forests in British Columbia:

In Canada, forests cover 10% of the land yet harbor 70% of the country’s bird and terrestrial mammal species. Bunnell (1995) found that natural fire regimes were important in maintaining a diverse assemblage of vertebrate species in twelve different forest types in British Columbia. Different species have adapted to exploit different stages of succession and habitat created by fire (such as downed trees and debris). He also found that characteristics of the fire, such as its size and intensity, caused the habitat to change differentially and thus influenced how vertebrate species were able to use burned areas.

Subgroups †Conodonta Hyperoartia   Petromyzontidae (lampreys) †Pteraspidomorphi †Thelodonti †Anaspida †Cephalaspidomorphi   †Galeaspida   †Pituriaspida   †Osteostraci Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates)   †Placodermi   Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish)   †Acanthodii   Osteichthyes (bony fish)     Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish)     Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish)       Actinistia (coelacanths)       Dipnoi (lungfish)       Tetrapoda (four-limbed vertebrates)         Amphibia (amphibians)         Amniota (amniotic embryo)           Sauropsida (reptiles)             Aves (birds)           Synapsida (mammal...

2. Shrublands:

Shrub fires typically concentrate in the canopy and spread continuously if the shrubs are close enough together. Shrublands are typically dry and are prone to accumulations of highly volatile fuels, especially on hillsides. Burns follow the path of least moisture and greatest amount of dead fuel material. Surface and below-ground soil temperatures during a burn are generally higher than those of forest fires because heat is concentrated lower to the ground, though they can vary greatly (DeBano 1998). A broom shrub in flower A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 6 m tall. ... Shirley is a district of Croydon, South London between Addington, Addiscombe and West Wickham in the London Borough of Bromley. ...

South African Fynbos Shrublands:

Fynbos shrublands occur in a small belt across South Africa. The plant species in this ecosystem are highly diverse, yet the majority of these species are obligate seeders (see above, Biotic Adaptations and Responses to Fire: Plants). Wisheu et al. (2000) hypothesize that plants evolved into obligate seeders as a response to fire and nutrient-poor soils. Because fire is common in this ecosystem and the soil has limited nutrients, it is most efficient for plants to produce many seeds and then die in the next fire. Investing a lot of energy in roots to survive the next fire when those roots will be able to extract little extra benefit from the nutrient-poor soil would be less efficient. They also hypothesize that the rapid generation time of these obligate seeders has led to more rapid evolution and speciation in this ecosystem resulting in its highly diverse plant community.

Fynbos (Afrikaans for fine bush) is the natural vegetation occurring in a small belt of South Africa, mainly in the South-western Cape. ... A speculative phylogenetic tree of all living things, based on rRNA gene data, showing the separation of the three domains, bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. ... Speciation refers to the evolutionary process by which new biological species arise. ...

3. Grasslands:

Grasslands burn more readily than forest and shrub ecosystems, with fire moving through the stems and leaves of herbaceous plants and only lightly heating the underlying soil even in cases of high intensity. In most grassland ecosystems, fire is the primary mode of decomposition, making it crucial in nutrient cycling (DeBano et al. 1998). An Inner Mongolia Grassland. ... This article is in need of attention; please see the talk page. ... A cycle by which chemical substance are constantly being recycled through the biosphere from the soil, as plant nutrients, to producers (plants), to consumers (animals), to decomposers in the soil, and then back to the producers. ...

South African Savanna:

In the South African savanna, recently burned areas have new growth that provides palatable and nutritious forage compared to older, tougher grasses. This new forage draws large herbivores off unburned grazed lawns, which are areas kept short by constant grazing. On these lawns, only species adapted to grazing are able to persist. The distraction provided by the newly-burned areas allows grazing-intolerant grass species to grow in the abandoned lawns and thus persist within the ecosystem (Archibald et al. 2005).

Savanna is a grassland dotted with trees, and occurs in several types of biomes. ... In zoology, an herbivore is an animal that is adapted to eat primarily plants (rather than meat). ...

CONSEQUENCES OF FIRE SUPPRESSION

As alluded to above, fire serves many important functions within fire-adapted ecosystems. Fire plays an important role in nutrient cycling, diversity maintenance, community composition, and habitat structure. Suppression of fire has led to unforeseen changes in ecosystems that often adversely affect plants, animals, and humans. Below are examples of some of the consequences of fire suppression. Wildfires that deviate from the historical fire regime because of fire suppression are called “uncharacteristic fires.”

Chaparral Communities in southern California:

In 2002 and 2003, southern California witnessed powerful wildfires of unprecedented severity. Hundreds of homes and hundreds of thousands of acres of land went up in flames. Dry weather, fuel build-up from years of fire suppression, and resin-producing plants adapted to encourage fire to activate seed germination all contributed to the catastrophic outcome. Compared to chaparral in Baja California, which has not experienced such severe fire suppression, southern California chaparral fires are significantly larger in size, intensity, and spread rate (Minnich 1983). While the fire was a humanitarian crisis, it appears to have had few adverse affects on native plant communities, which have shown strong post-fire recovery of native shrubs (Keeley et al. 2005b). One drawback to the fires, however, is increased density of invasive and non-native plant species that quickly colonize burned areas. Because shrubs in these communities are adapted to a particular historical fire regime, altered fire regimes may change the selective (see natural selection) pressures on plants and favor invasive and non-native species that are better able to exploit the novel post-fire conditions (Keeley et al. 2005a). Invasive may refer to: An invasion An invasive species An invasive medical procedure This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Sweet clover (), introduced and naturalized to the U.S. from Eurasia as a forage and cover crop, supports insect biodiversity. ... Natural selection is the process in which individual organisms that possess favourable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce. ...

Boise National Forest:

Following several uncharacteristically large wildfires, Burton (2005) found that the high-severity fires had an immediate negative impact on fish populations, posing particular danger to small and isolated fish populations. Burton also found, however, that in the long term fire appears to rejuvenate fish habitat by causing hydraulic changes that increase flooding and lead to silt removal and deposition of favorable habitat substrate. This led to larger post-fire populations of the fish that were able to recolonize these improved areas. He concludes that though fire generally appears favorable for fish in these ecosystems, the more intense immediate detriments of uncharacteristic wildfires, in combination with fragmentation of populations by human barriers to dispersal (such as dams) pose a threat to fish populations. Hydraulics is a branch of science and engineering concerned with the use of liquids to perform mechanical tasks. ... Silt refers to soil or rock particles of a certain very small size range (see grain size). ...

Ponderosa Pine Forests of the Southwest United States:

Ponderosa pine forests are now facing severe damage under harsher fire regimes brought on by fire suppression and aggravated by natural drought cycles (Savage and Mast 2005). Fires in these forests now result in crown fires that cause extensive mortality, whereas these forests historically suffered mild to moderate fires that generally did not reach the crown and left most of the trees alive. McCullough et al. (1998) also notes that fire suppression leads to increased defoliation of the trees by herbivorous insects whose populations might otherwise be moderated by fire.

FIRE AS A MANAGEMENT TOOL

As a discipline, “restoration ecology” is currently receiving attention as a way to potentially reverse or mitigate some of the changes that humans have caused in ecosystems. Fire is one tool that is currently receiving considerable attention as a tool of restoration and management. Applying fire may create habitat for species negatively impacted by fire suppression, or managers may use it as a novel tool, such as in the control of invasive species without resorting to herbicides or pesticides. What state managers should restore an ecosystem to is a matter in and of itself. Does “natural” mean pre-human? Pre-European? MacDougall et al. (2004) point out that fires set by indigenous people, not natural fires, historically maintained the diversity of the oak grasslands of Canada. When, how, and where managers should use fire as a management tool is subject to debate. Below are some case studies of fire as a restoration tool. Restoration ecology is the study of returning degraded ecosystems and landscapes to a reference state where ecological communities and processes are re-established. ...

The Florida Everglades:

The Florida everglades is one example of an ecosystem with a historical regime of frequent fires. Currently, the everglades are undergoing long-term and large-scale restoration. Beckage et al. (2005) suggest that ecologists and managers look to the climate to answer questions about how frequently to prescribe burns, pointing out that there is a strong relationship between climate and fire in Florida. The El Niño Southern Oscillation increases the frequency of lighting strikes, opening up a window for fire before there is too much precipitation. They do warn, however, that human-induced climate change may result in a perpetual El Niño that never allows conditions dry enough for fire and thus thwarts management efforts for fire-dependent species. An Anhinga perched on the boardwalk railing Everglades is also the name of a city in Collier County, Florida. ... Chart of ocean surface temperature anomaly [°C] during the last strong El Niño in December 1997 El Niño and La Niña (also written in English as El Nino and La Nina) are major temperature fluctuations in surface waters of the tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean. ...

The Great Plains Shortgrass Prairie:

The combination of heavy livestock grazing and fire-suppression has drastically altered the structure, composition, and diversity of the shortgrass prairie ecosystem, allowing woody species to dominate many areas and promoting fire-intolerant invasive species. In semi-arid ecosystems where decomposition is slow, fire is crucial for returning nutrients to the soil and allowing the grasslands to sustain their high productivity. Though fire historically occurred during growing and dormant seasons, Brockway et al. (2002) found prescribed fire during the dormant season was most effective at increasing grass and forb cover, biodiversity, and plant nutrient uptake in shortgrass prairie. Managers must also take into account, however, how invasive and non-native species respond to fire if they also want to restore native ecosystem integrity. For example, Emery and Gross (2005) found that fire could only control the invasive spotted knapweed (Centaurea maculosa) on the Michigan prairie grasslands in the summer because that is the time in knapweed’s life cycle that is most important to population growth. A forb is a non-woody flowering plant that is not a grass. ...

Mixed Conifer Forests in the Sierra Nevadas:

Coarse woody debris and snags (dead tree stumps taller than 8 feet) in mixed conifer forests of the Sierra Nevadas not only provide important wildlife habitat, but also contribute to soil stabilization. Problematically, they also contribute to more severe fires that reach the tree crowns, which are more severe than ever because of fire suppression. The severity of these fires then completely consumes snags and coarse wood debris, leaving soil exposed and animals without the benefit of some important fire-created habitats. Stephens and Moghaddas (2005) found that snags and debris in various states of decay were differentially affected by fire and fire/mechanical (i.e. physically removing trees) fuel reduction treatments, whereas solely mechanical treatments had no effect. This puts managers in a dilemma of choosing between mechanical thinning, which is less effective at reducing fire severity, and controlled burn treatments, which will destroy potential wildlife habitat.

CURRENT POLICY REGARDING WILDFIRE

United States:

Fire policy involves the federal government, individual state governments, tribal governments, interest groups, and the general public. The new federal outlook on fire policy parallels advances in ecology and moves toward the view that many ecosystems depend on disturbance for diversity and process maintenance. Though human safety is still the number one priority in fire management, new government goals include long-term consideration of ecosystem function. The newest policy allows managers to gauge the relative values of private property and resources in particular situations and set their priorities to maximize economic efficiency (USDA Forest Service). Advances in policy technique, such as sophisticated risk assessment strategies that integrate the latest in ecological research with the social and economic consequences of a particular outcome, are one way to make the most informed fire policy decisions based on the interests of many stakeholders (Dellasala et al. 2004, Fairbrother and Turnley 2005). The government now recognizes that the longer fuel accumulates in fire suppressed areas, the greater the damage will be when an unexpected fire burns out of control (USDA Forest Service). One of the primary goals in fire management is increased public education in order to deprogram some of the “Smokey the Bear” fire suppression mentality and introduce the public to the benefits of regular natural fire. Some Impediments to fire reintroduction include funding, regulations set by the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency concerning wildfire emissions, limited fire professionals, potential property damage from escaped fire and complaints about smoke and destruction of scenic views (USDA Forest Service).

See also

• Wildfire
• USGS Western Ecological Research Center- Fire Ecology

• Yellowstone National Park- Fire Ecology

• Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy- Fire Ecology

The Old Fire burning in the San Bernardino Mountains (image taken from the International Space Station) A wildfire, also known as a forest fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, brush fire, or bushfire (in Australasia), is an uncontrolled fire often occurring in wildland areas, but which can also consume houses or...

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