Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 3.1
LANDFIRE data sets available for the entire U.S.
Vegetation and fire effects data
products
Fire behavior data products
Fire regime data products
•
13 Anderson (
1982
)fire
behavior fuel models
•
FRCC (fire regime
condition class)
•
Environmental SITE potential
•
Biophysical settings
•
•
•
40 Scott and Burgan (
2005
)
fire behavior fuel models
FRCC departure index
(degree of departure from
FRCC)
Existing vegetation type
•
Existing vegetation height
•
Canadian forest fire danger
rating system
•
Existing vegetation cover
•
Fire regime groups
•
Vegetation dynamics models
•
Forest canopy bulk density
•
Mean fire return interval
•
Fuel loading models
•
Forest canopy base height
•
Percent low-severity fire
•
Fuel characteristic
classification system
•
Forest canopy height
•
Percent mixed-severity fire
•
Forest canopy cover
•
Percent
replacement-severity fire
•
Elevation
•
Aspect
•
Succession Classes
•
Slope
Source:
http://landfire.cr.usgs.gov/viewer
3.6 Conclusion
Wildland fire is now generally considered a natural process that occurs in ecosys-
tems and we now see more agencies and land managers trying to reintroduce more
elements of natural fire regimes, even in areas that have seen decades of fire suppres-
sion. It is now also well understood that in many areas we can not entirely exclude
fire and even if we were to succeed our efforts would have other undesirable effects
on biodiversity and ecosystems. Nevertheless, as more and more human develop-
ment expands into previously undeveloped land, it is inevitable that we will see
wildland fire conflicting with human agendas, sometimes with tragic consequence.
One of the critical questions for Pyrogeography is: how well can we learn to
live with fire and how much are we willing to change ecosystems or our prac-
tices to improve our species interactions with fire? Answers to this question will
require expanding our spatial and temporal understanding of the ecological and
human processes that influence and are influenced by wildland fire. Pyrogeography
offers an analytical framework that can integrate the biophysical and social factors
involved in this sort of complex work, in turn helping the many people who depend
on improving our understanding of fire.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Jacob Lesser for his assistance with the graphics for this
chapter.
References
Albini FA (1976) Estimating wildfire behavior and effects. USDA US For Ser Gen Tech Rep INT-
30, Ogden, UT
Anderson HE (1982) Aids to determining fuel models for estimating fire behavior. USDA US For
Ser Gen Tech Rep INT-122, Ogden, UT
