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Latest Library Content tagged with "fire"

Northern California Wildfire Teleconference AUDIO

 Northern California is again entering a long wildfire season with high heat and drought conditions expected well into fall. But a Wilderness Society teleconference featured experts that discussed how some communities and firefighting policies are changing the way wildfires are fought — still keeping communities safe as a top priority while also preserving forests. Listen to the teleconference.

Ecological Foundations of Fire Management in North American Forests and Shrubland Ecosystems PDF

The degree to which human intervention has modified fire frequency, intensity, and severity varies greatly among different ecosystems, and must be considered when planning to alter fuel loads or implement restorative treatments.

Wildland-Urban Interface Maps Vary with Purpose and Context PDF

Wildland-urban interface (WUI) are areas where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland. Maps of the WUI are both policy tools and powerful visual images. Although the growing number of WUI maps serve similar purposes, this article indicates that WUI maps derived from the same data sets can differ in important ways related to their original intended application.

Restoration of Low Elevation Dry Forests of the Northern Rocky Mountains: A Holistic Approach PDF

Dry forests of the northern Rocky Mountains can be described as stands of pure ponderosa pine, or pine intermixed with Douglas-fir and western larch that cover the lower slopes of these mountains and provide important habitat for a number of wildlife species. Since the beginning of the 19th century, these forests were greatly affected by logging, grazing, road-building, and fire suppression. Such activities changed the structure of the forests reducing their ecological integrity.

Learn From the Burn Podcast AUDIO

As fire season heats up, we hear less about the benefit of controlled burns. But here's the story of a fire gone right. This podcast addresses how controlled burns are restoring the Los Padres National Forest.

Federal Fire Policy and Management Position Paper: State Fire Assistance PDF

The Wilderness Society's Wildland Fire Program works to change our nation’s approach to fire management to focus on protecting communities, restoring ecosystems, and sustaining fire’s role in fire-dependent landscapes, where safe to do so. Our vision is of a landscape composed of fire-safe communities existing within a larger, healthy forest ecosystem.

Fire and Fuels Restoration Priority System PDF

Identifying the most appropriate areas for forest restoration requires the consideration of numerous factors while also considering the impact on the greater landscape. Unfortunately there is currently no systematic, landscape scale approach to prioritizing forest restoration in the Northern Rockies other than the very coarse-scale USFS Integrated Restoration Priority System. The absence of a high resolution prioritization system creates problems when allocating funds, determining the most appropriate sites for restoration, or defending the location of a selected project.

The Evolution of Wilderness Fire Policy PDF

This article gives a brief overview of the policy history of wilderness fire. For most of the century, fire was considered a universal threat to people, resources, and wildlands. Eventually, through the observations of foresters and research of scientists force the realization of the role of fire in sustaining species and maintaining the character of the ecosystems. However, the implementation of wildland fire use (WFU) is still limited due to various attitudinal, institutional and political barriers.

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