Goal setting and Indigenous fire management: a holistic perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 974
Author(s):  
William Nikolakis ◽  
Emma Roberts ◽  
Ngaio Hotte ◽  
Russell Myers Ross
Keyword(s):  
First Nations ◽  
Goal Setting ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Management Program ◽  
And Cluster Analysis ◽  
General Goals ◽  
In Fire

After generations of fire-suppression policy, Indigenous fire management (IFM) is being reactivated as one way to mitigate wildfire in fire-prone ecosystems. Research has documented that IFM also mitigates carbon emissions, improves livelihoods and enhances well-being among participants. This study documents the goals of the Yunesit’in and Xeni Gwet’in First Nations as they develop a fire management program in central British Columbia, Canada. Drawing on goal setting theory and interviews, a qualitative coding and cluster analysis identified three general goals from fire management: (1) strengthen cultural connection and well-being, (2) restore the health of the land and (3) respect traditional laws. Sub-goals included enhancing community member health and well-being, improving fire management practices to maintain ‘pyrodiversity’ and food security and re-empowering Indigenous laws and practices. This community-developed framework will guide program evaluation and brings insight to a theory of IFM.

Bayes Nets as a method for analysing the influence of management actions in fire planning

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 909 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. D. Penman ◽  
O. Price ◽  
R. A. Bradstock
Keyword(s):  
Process Model ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Relative Reduction ◽  
Holistic Model ◽  
Bayes Nets ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Fire Planning ◽  
In Fire

Wildfire can result in significant economic costs with inquiries following such events often recommending an increase in management effort to reduce the risk of future losses. Currently, there are no objective frameworks in which to assess the relative merits of management actions or the synergistic way in which the various combinations may act. We examine the value of Bayes Nets as a method for assessing the risk reduction from fire management practices using a case study from a forested landscape. Specifically, we consider the relative reduction in wildfire risk from investing in prescribed burning, initial or rapid attack and suppression. The Bayes Net was developed using existing datasets, a process model and expert opinion. We compared the results of the models with the recorded fire data for an 11-year period from 1997 to 2000 with the model successfully duplicating these data. Initial attack and suppression effort had the greatest effect on the distribution of the fire sizes for a season. Bayes Nets provide a holistic model for considering the effect of multiple fire management methods on the risk of wildfires. The methods could be further advanced by including the costs of management and conducting a formal decision analysis.

From fire suppression to fire management: Advances and resistances to changes in fire policy in the savannas of Brazil and Venezuela

2018 ◽  
Vol 185 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludivine Eloy ◽  
Bibiana A. Bilbao ◽  
Jayalaxshmi Mistry ◽  
Isabel B. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Policy ◽  
In Fire

Changing fuel management strategies - The challenge of meeting new information and analysis needs

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan G. Conard ◽  
Timothy Hartzell ◽  
Michael W. Hilbruner ◽  
G. Thomas Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Fire Management ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Hazard ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Fuel Management ◽  
Burned Areas ◽  
Ecological Principles ◽  
In Fire

This paper was presented at the conference ‘Integrating spatial technologies and ecological principles for a new age in fire management’, Boise, Idaho, USA, June 1999 ‘The earth, born in fire, baptized by lightning since before life"s beginning, has been and is a fire planet.’ E.V. Komarek Attitudes and policies concerning wildland fire, fire use, and fire management have changed greatly since early European settlers arrived in North America. Active suppression of wildfires accelerated early in the 20th Century, and areas burned dropped dramatically. In recent years, burned areas and cost of fires have begun to increase, in part due to fuel buildups resulting from fire suppression. The importance of fire as an ecosystem process is also being increasingly recognized. These factors are leading to changes in Federal agency fire and fuels management policies, including increased emphasis on use of prescribed fire and other treatments to reduce fuel loads and fire hazard. Changing fire management strategies have highlighted the need for better information and improved risk analysis techniques for setting regional and national priorities, and for monitoring and evaluating the ecological, economic, and social effects and tradeoffs of fuel management treatments and wildfires. The US Department of Interior and USDA Forest Service began the Joint Fire Science Program in 1998 to provide a sound scientific basis for implementing and evaluating fuel management activities. Development of remote sensing and GIS tools will play a key role in enabling land managers to evaluate hazards, monitor changes, and reduce risks to the environment and the public from wildland fires.

Improving estimates of savanna burning emissions for greenhouse accounting in northern Australia: limitations, challenges, applications

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Russell-Smith ◽  
Brett P. Murphy ◽  
C. P. (Mick) Meyer ◽  
Garry D. Cook ◽  
Stefan Maier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Combustion Efficiency ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
Savanna Burning ◽  
In Fire

Although biomass burning of savannas is recognised as a major global source of greenhouse gas emissions, quantification remains problematic with resulting regional emissions estimates often differing markedly. Here we undertake a critical assessment of Australia’s National Greenhouse Gas Inventory (NGGI) savanna burning emissions methodology. We describe the methodology developed for, and results and associated uncertainties derived from, a landscape-scale emissions abatement project in fire-prone western Arnhem Land, northern Australia. The methodology incorporates (i) detailed fire history and vegetation structure and fuels type mapping derived from satellite imagery; (ii) field-based assessments of fuel load accumulation, burning efficiencies (patchiness, combustion efficiency, ash retention) and N : C composition; and (iii) application of standard, regionally derived emission factors. Importantly, this refined methodology differs from the NGGI by incorporation of fire seasonality and severity components, and substantial improvements in baseline data. We consider how the application of a fire management program aimed at shifting the seasonality of burning (from one currently dominated by extensive late dry season wildfires to one where strategic fire management is undertaken earlier in the year) can provide significant project-based emissions abatement. The approach has wider application to fire-prone savanna systems dominated by anthropogenic sources of ignition.

Productivity of Ontario initial-attack fire crews: results of an expert-judgement elicitation study

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 705-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelvin G Hirsch ◽  
Justin J Podur ◽  
Robert F Janser ◽  
Robert S McAlpine ◽  
David L Martell
Keyword(s):  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Probability Distributions ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Expert Judgement ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Initial Attack ◽  
Time Estimates ◽  
Elicitation Study ◽  
Distribution Parameters

A structured expert-judgement elicitation technique was used to develop probability distributions for fireline production rates for Ontario's three- and four-person initial-attack crews for seven common fuel types and two distinct levels of fire intensity (i.e., low, 500 kW/m; moderate, 1500 kW/m). A total of 141 crew leaders provided 900 estimates of the minimum, maximum, and most likely (mode) time to construct 610 m (2000 ft) of fireline. This information was used to estimate parameters for beta probability distributions for each individual and scenario. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the beta-distribution parameters (α and β) and the three time estimates indicated that fuel type, intensity, crew size, and crew-leader experience all have a statistically significant (p < 0.05) influence on estimated crew productivity. The 28 scenario-specific and 7 aggregated distributions and expected values can be used in many operational fire-management activities (e.g., presuppression planning, initial-attack dispatching, initial-fire assessments) and incorporated into initial-attack containment models. These results also provide baseline data on crew productivity that can be used in larger strategic analyses to gauge the benefits of new fire-suppression equipment and techniques for the entire fire-management program.

scholarly journals Valutazione del rischio di incendi boschivi a livello locale: una proposta metodologica | Fire risk assessment on a local scale: a methodological approach

2005 ◽  
Vol 156 (9) ◽  
pp. 331-337
Author(s):  
Marco Conedera ◽  
Patrick Roth ◽  
Gabriele Corti ◽  
Daniele Ryser
Keyword(s):  
Fire Management ◽  
Landscape Planning ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Hazard ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Fire Control ◽  
Fire Risk Analysis ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
In Fire

Fire-services are often unable to obtain a rapid overview of problems connected with wildfire fighting. In the last few decades the ideology for fire fighting has shifted from fire control(basically fire suppression) to fire management (including prevention,planning, and simulating). As a result, fire management is now included in landscape planning processes. The preliminary step in fire management is fire risk analysis, which takes into account fire hazard (probability and expected severity of a fire) and the outcome (total impact on the affected environment). In this contribution we present an approach for assessing fire risk on local levels in southern Switzerland.

Integrating demography and fire management: an example from Florida scrub

2007 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric S. Menges
Keyword(s):  
Life Histories ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Demographic Data ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Population Viability ◽  
Florida Scrub ◽  
Ecological Disturbance ◽  
Population Viability Analyses ◽  
In Fire

In this work, I have used life-history and demographic data to define fire return intervals for several types of Florida scrub, a xeric shrubland where fire is the dominant ecological disturbance but where fire suppression is a major issue. The datasets combine chronosequence and longitudinal approaches at community and population levels. Resprouting shrubs, which dominate most types of Florida scrub, recover rapidly after fires (although their limits under frequent fires are not well known) and also increasingly dominate long-unburned areas. These dominant shrubs can prosper over a range of fire return intervals. Obligate-seeding scrub plants, which often have persistent seed banks, can be eliminated by frequent fire but often decline with infrequent fire. Population viability analyses of habitat specialists offer more precision in suggesting ranges of appropriate fire return intervals. For two types of Florida scrub (rosemary scrub and oak–hickory scrub), plant-population viability analyses narrow the interval and suggest more frequent fires than do previous recommendations, at intervals of 15–30 and 5–12 years, respectively. Variation in fire regimes in time and space (pyrodiversity) is recommended as a bet-hedging fire-management strategy and to allow co-existence of species with disparate life histories.

Comment—A re-examination of the effects of fire suppression in the boreal forest

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 1462-1466 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Miyanishi ◽  
E A Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Frequency ◽  
Stand Age ◽  
Reliable Estimate ◽  
Fire Size ◽  
Fire Cycle ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
In Fire

A report by Ward and Tithecott (P.C. Ward and A.G. Tithecott. 1993. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Aviation, Flood and Fire Management Branch, Publ. 305.) is frequently cited in the literature as providing evidence of the effects of fire suppression on the boreal forest. The study is based on 15 years of fire data and stand age data from Ontario, Canada. A re-examination of this report reveals serious flaws that invalidate the conclusions regarding effects of fire suppression on fire size and fire frequency. The fire-size data from the unprotected zone are censored in the small size classes because of detection resolution, invalidating comparisons of shapes of the distributions between the protected and unprotected zones. Use of different plotting scales gives the false appearance of large differences in the number of large fires between the two zones. Stand age data are used to show a change in fire frequency in the 20th century, and this change is attributed to fire suppression. However, no evidence is presented to conclude that this change in fire frequency is attributable to fire suppression and not to climate change. The estimate of the current fire cycle is based on too short a record to give a reliable estimate given the variation in annual area burned. Therefore, this report does not present sound evidence of fire suppression effects and should not be cited as such.

scholarly journals Community owned solutions for fire management in tropical ecosystems: case studies from Indigenous communities of South America

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1696) ◽  
pp. 20150174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayalaxshmi Mistry ◽  
Bibiana A. Bilbao ◽  
Andrea Berardi
Keyword(s):  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Indigenous Lands ◽  
Indigenous Knowledge Systems ◽  
In Fire ◽  
And Control ◽  
Indigenous Land

Fire plays an increasingly significant role in tropical forest and savanna ecosystems, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and impacting on biodiversity. Emerging research shows the potential role of Indigenous land-use practices for controlling deforestation and reducing CO 2 emissions. Analysis of satellite imagery suggests that Indigenous lands have the lowest incidence of wildfires, significantly contributing to maintaining carbon stocks and enhancing biodiversity. Yet acknowledgement of Indigenous peoples' role in fire management and control is limited, and in many cases dismissed, especially in policy-making circles. In this paper, we review existing data on Indigenous fire management and impact, focusing on examples from tropical forest and savanna ecosystems in Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. We highlight how the complexities of community owned solutions for fire management are being lost as well as undermined by continued efforts on fire suppression and firefighting, and emerging approaches to incorporate Indigenous fire management into market- and incentive-based mechanisms for climate change mitigation. Our aim is to build a case for supporting Indigenous fire practices within all scales of decision-making by strengthening Indigenous knowledge systems to ensure more effective and sustainable fire management. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind’.

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