Presents key social science findings from three National Fire Plan-sponsored research projects. Articles highlight information of likely interest to individuals working to decrease wildfire hazards on both private and public lands. Three general topic areas are addressed: (1) public views and acceptance of fuels management, (2) working with homeowners and communities, and (3) tools that can help us understand social issues.
This edited volume presents original scientific research and knowledge synthesis covering the past, present, and potential future fire ecology of major US forest types, with implications for forest management in a changing climate. The editors and authors highlight broad patterns among ecoregions and forest types, as well as detailed information for individual ecoregions, for fire frequencies and severities, fire effects on tree mortality and regeneration, and levels of fire-dependency by plant and animal communities. The foreword addresses emerging ecological and fire management challenges for forests, in relation to sustainable development goals as highlighted in recent government reports. An introductory chapter highlights patterns of variation in frequencies, severities, scales, and spatial patterns of fire across ecoregions and among forested ecosystems across the US in relation to climate, fuels, topography and soils, ignition sources (lightning or anthropogenic), and vegetation. Separate chapters by respected experts delve into the fire ecology of major forest types within US ecoregions, with a focus on the level of plant and animal fire-dependency, and the role of fire in maintaining forest composition and structure. The regional chapters also include discussion of historic natural (lightning-ignited) and anthropogenic (Native American; settlers) fire regimes, current fire regimes as influenced by recent decades of fire suppression and land use history, and fire management in relation to ecosystem integrity and restoration, wildfire threat, and climate change. The summary chapter combines the major points of each chapter, in a synthesis of US-wide fire ecology and forest management into the future. This book provides current, organized, readily accessible information for the conservation community, land managers, scientists, students and educators, and others interested in how fire behavior and effects on structure and composition differ among ecoregions and forest types, and what that means for forest management today and in the future.
Years of drought and decades of aggressive fire exclusion have left North American forests at high risk for future catastrophic fires. Forest settings are a magnet for recreational opportunities and for rapidly growing residential developmentputting an increasing number of citizens and their property into the path of wildfires. Recordsetting wildfires initiated the twentyfirst century and motivated the rise to prominence of wildfire on the political agenda, prompting important and farreaching new public policy initiatives. To be effective, these policies must be informed by sciencebut that requires more than just improved knowledge about the physical and biological dynamics of fire and forest ecosystems. Social values, socioeconomic factors, demographic trends, institutional arrangements, and human behavior must also be taken into consideration by the agencies and individuals responsible for wildland fire decision making. The first book to integrate the social science literature on the human dimensions of wildfire, People, Fire, and Forests reviews current studies from this broad, interdisciplinary field and synthesizes them into a rich body of knowledge with practical management implications. Chapters in the book highlight principal findings and common threads in the existing research and identify strengths and gaps. They cover such topics as public perception of wildfire risk, acceptability of fire management policies, and community impacts of wildfire. Designed to make relevant social science information more available and useful to wildfire risk managers and policy makers, People, Fire, and Forests is also intended to encourage and guide further research into wildfire. By exploringthe theoretical and methodological issues surrounding human interactions with wildfire and describing the practical implications of this research, this volume provides an essential resource for students, scholars, and professionals.
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1981.
