Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Box 5.1 (
cont.
)
Fig. B5.1.2
Aerial image of the interior landscapes (50-75 km inland), adjacent to the USA/
Mexico border (arrowed). The immediate change south of the border is evident
with the large population center of Tecate, Mexico, which contributes to extensive rural
development along much of the southern edge of the border, something not observed along
the northern edge of the border
.
our expert, you have yours” stand. However, management has never relied on
consensus in decision making as most debates in science have some dissenting
opinions; witness for example “climate change” science. Best management
practices require accepting the preponderance of evidence and in the case of
fires in southern California, it is blatantly clear that age of fuels is not the
primary determinant of catastrophic fire losses. The primary problem with
ignoring this evidence is that it distracts from real solutions to fire problems
in the region, which are not tied to fuel treatments in the wildlands but rather
on concentrated effort at the wildland-urban interface. In the twenty-first
century most agencies in the region have abandoned the idea of trying to
create mosaics of fuel age classes as a means of controlling wildland fires (see
Chapter 13
).
A similar Baja model has been used to find support for hypothesized impacts
of fire suppression in California forests with a surface fire regime. This model is
based on comparisons of fire regimes and forest structure between southern
California and northern Baja California forests (Savage
1997
; Minnich &
Everett
2002
; Stephens
et al.
2003
). These studies assume the only significant
difference between forests north and south of the border is their different
history of fire management. However, there are important climatic differences
between these regions (Minnich
1987b
;Keeley&Fotheringham
2001a
)that
could explain differences in fire regime and forest structure. Regardless of the
value of these studies in demonstrating fire management impacts, the observed
climatic differences may ultimately prove to be valuable in investigating future
Continued
