Fire scars, ground vegetation fuels, and prescribed burning: towards better fire management in Fennoscandia

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.

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Prescribed burning in southern Europe: developing fire management in a dynamic landscape

Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment ◽

10.1890/120298 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 11 (s1) ◽

Cited By ~ 162

Author(s):

Paulo M Fernandes ◽

G Matt Davies ◽

Davide Ascoli ◽

Cristina Fernández ◽

Francisco Moreira ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prescribed Burning ◽

Fire Management ◽

Southern Europe ◽

Dynamic Landscape

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A Computer-Based System for Fire Management in the Mountains of the Cape Province, South-Africa

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf9940017 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 17 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

DM Richardson ◽

BW van Wilgen ◽

DC Le Maitre ◽

KB Higgins ◽

GG Forsyth

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Spatial Data ◽

Prescribed Burning ◽

Fire Management ◽

Fire Hazard ◽

Geographical Information ◽

Water Yield ◽

Catchment Management ◽

Fire Control ◽

Mountain Areas

This paper describes a Catchment Management System (CMS) that provides objective procedures for managing fire. Prescribed burning is carried out in the mountain catchments of the Cape Province, South Africa, to enhance water yield, to rejuvenate the indigenous shrubland vegetation, to reduce fire hazard and to control invasive alien plants. Fire is the only practical tool for achieving these aims in the mountainous terrain. Recent research has improved understanding of the response of these systems to fire, but managing fire to achieve goals is very difficult. The CMS comprises a central geographical information system for managing and processing spatial data, linked to personal computers with DBase IV data-bases and simple rule-based models for decision-making. Current applications are: prioritization of areas for burning, monitoring the success of fire management, mapping fire hazard for fire control planning, and the production of management summaries and statistics. This paper presents examples of these applications from three areas in the Cape Province with different management problems and priorities: the Kammanassie in the southern Cape, and the Kogelberg and Table Mountain areas in the western Cape.

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Efficacy of permanent firebreaks and aerial prescribed burning in western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf06039 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 295 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Owen F. Price ◽

Andrew C. Edwards ◽

Jeremy Russell-Smith

Keyword(s):

Prescribed Burning ◽

Fire Management ◽

Fire Frequency ◽

Northern Territory ◽

Dry Season ◽

Stream Order ◽

Arnhem Land ◽

Linear Modelling ◽

Populated Region ◽

Generalised Linear Modelling

We investigated the efficacy of firebreaks in the prevention of wildfires in the Arnhem Land Plateau, a vast, rugged and sparsely populated region with high biodiversity value and frequent wildfires. A total of 623 events where a fire met a permanent firebreak (cliffs, stream order, tracks and roads) in different fire seasons were compiled. Cliffs were more effective than streams at stopping fires, which were more effective than roads. Larger streams were more effective than small ones. The largest streams stop 75% of early dry season fires, but there are no firebreak types with more than 50% likelihood of stopping a late dry season fire. Geographic Information System (GIS) surfaces of the relative density of the three firebreak features in the landscape were randomly sampled and compared with the total number of fires and late dry season fires using generalised linear modelling. Several of the density variables were weakly but significantly related to fire frequency, and it appears that late dry season fires are influenced by features at a larger scale (16-km radius) than total fires (4 km). The Aerial Prescribed Burning program for 2004 was studied to identify how effective it was at stopping subsequent wildfires by dividing ignition lines into 137 5-km sections. Only 20% of sections achieved a 100% burn and where gaps occurred, a subsequent fire was 88% likely to penetrate the line. Firebreaks are not certain instruments for fire management in this area.

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The Year 2017: Megafires and Management in the Cerrado

Fire ◽

10.3390/fire1030049 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 1 (3) ◽

pp. 49 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Alessandra Fidelis ◽

Swanni Alvarado ◽

Ana Barradas ◽

Vânia Pivello

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

National Park ◽

Fire Management ◽

Fire Regime ◽

Management Tool ◽

Burned Area ◽

Fire Policy ◽

Fire Scars ◽

Biodiversity Preservation ◽

Fire Exclusion

The year 2017 was a megafire year, when huge areas burned on different continents. In Brazil, a great extension of the Cerrado burned, raising once more the discussion about the “zero-fire” policy. Indeed, most protected areas of the Cerrado adopted a policy of fire exclusion and prevention, leading to periodic megafire events. Last year, 78% of the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park burned at the end of the dry season, attracting media attention. Furthermore, 85% of the Reserva Natural Serra do Tombador burned as a result of a large accumulation of fuel caused by the zero-fire policy. In 2014, some protected areas started to implement the Integrate Fire Management (IFM) strategy. During 2017, in contrast to other protected areas, the Estação Ecológica Serra Geral do Tocantins experienced no megafire events, suggesting that a few years of IFM implementation led to changes in its fire regime. Therefore, we intended here to compare the total burned area and number of fire scars between the protected areas where IFM was implemented and those where fire exclusion is the adopted policy. The use of fire as a management tool aimed at wildfire prevention and biodiversity preservation should be reconsidered by local managers and environmental authorities for most Cerrado protected areas, especially those where open savanna physiognomies prevail. Changing the paradigm is a hard task, but last year’s events showed the zero-fire policy would bring more damage than benefits to Cerrado protected areas.

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Fire Management in The Boreal Forest of Swedish Sápmi: Prescribed Burning and Consideration of Sami Reindeer Herding During 1920–1970

Environmental Management ◽

10.1007/s00267-021-01503-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Cogos Sarah ◽

Östlund Lars ◽

Roturier Samuel

Keyword(s):

Boreal Forest ◽

Prescribed Burning ◽

Fire Management ◽

Reindeer Herding

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Traditional and ecological fires and effects of bushfire laws in north Australian savannas

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf05079 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 16 (4) ◽

pp. 378 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Noel Preece

Keyword(s):

Land Management ◽

High Frequency ◽

Prescribed Burning ◽

Fire Management ◽

Management Strategies ◽

Fire Regimes ◽

Ecosystem Dynamics ◽

Traditional Practices ◽

The North ◽

In Fire

Landscape fires are common and frequent across the north Australian savannas, and are arguably an essential component of regional ecosystem dynamics. Seasonal biases in fire regimes and the high frequency of late dry season fires in a large proportion of the region have been presented as an impediment to appropriate land management. Legislation regulating the lighting of fires applies to the whole of the savannas. The legislation seeks to control the lighting of fires, provides for permit systems to operate in each jurisdiction, and is supported by policies and guidance manuals. The present paper argues that the legislation fails to address prescribed burning, the biophysical and social realities of contemporary regimes, and management needs. The policies and legislation are in need of some fundamental changes, including recognition of the concept of prescribed burning, mechanisms to promote regional fire management strategies and plans, and recognition of indigenous traditional practices.

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Contemporary fire regime risks to key ecological assets and processes in north Australian savannas

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf14197 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 24 (6) ◽

pp. 857 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Andrew Edwards ◽

Jeremy Russell-Smith ◽

Mick Meyer

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Prescribed Burning ◽

Fire Management ◽

Fire Regime ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Fire Regimes ◽

Dry Season ◽

Suspended Sediment Transport ◽

Change Models ◽

Positive Effects

Despite the intact appearance of relatively unmodified north Australian savannas, mounting evidence indicates that contemporary fire regimes characterised by frequent, extensive and severe late dry season wildfires are having deleterious effects on a range of regional water, soil erosion, biodiversity conservation and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions values. For the high rainfall (>1000 mm year–1) savannas (426 000 km2), we assessed the spatial effects of contemporary fire regimes within the context of ecosystem response models and three plausible alternative fire management scenarios on ecosystem attributes. Over the 2008–12 assessment period, mean annual fire frequency (0.53) comprised mostly late dry season fires. Although spatially variable, contemporary fire regimes resulted in substantial GHG emissions, hill slope erosion and suspended sediment transport, a slight decline in carbon biomass and slight positive effects on fire-vulnerable vegetation. Based on available climate change models and strategic fire management practice, we show that, relative to business-as-usual, improved fire management involving strategic prescribed burning results in substantial benefits to most ecosystem attributes, including under enhanced climate change conditions, whereas in the absence of improved fire management, climate change results in substantially worse outcomes.

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Prescribed Burning Reduces Large, High-Intensity Wildfires and Emissions in the Brazilian Savanna

Fire ◽

10.3390/fire4030056 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 56

Author(s):

Filippe L.M. Santos ◽

Joana Nogueira ◽

Rodrigo A. F. de Souza ◽

Rodrigo M. Falleiro ◽

Isabel B. Schmidt ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Intensity ◽

Prescribed Burning ◽

Fire Management ◽

Fire Regime ◽

Scientific Evidence ◽

Brazilian Savanna ◽

Fire Season ◽

Fire Intensity ◽

Burned Area ◽

Fire Policy

Brazil has recently (2014) changed from a zero-fire policy to an Integrated Fire Management (IFM) program with the active use of prescribed burning (PB) in federal Protected Areas (PA) and Indigenous Territories (IT) of the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado). PB is commonly applied in the management of fire-prone ecosystems to mitigate large, high-intensity wildfires, the associated emissions, and high fire suppression costs. However, the effectiveness of such fire management in reducing large wildfires and emissions over Brazil remains mostly unevaluated. Here, we aim to fill the gap in the scientific evidence of the PB benefits by relying on the most up-to-date, satellite-derived fire datasets of burned area (BA), fire size, duration, emissions, and intensity from 2003 to 2018. We focused on two Cerrado ITs with different sizes and hydrological regimes, Xerente and Araguaia, where IFM has been in place since 2015. To understand fire regime dynamics, we divided the study period into three phases according to the prevalent fire policy and the individual fire scars into four size classes. We considered two fire seasons: management fire season (MFS, which goes from rainy to mid-dry season, when PBs are undertaken) and wildfires season (WFS, when PBs are not performed and fires tend to grow out of control). Our results show that the implementation of the IFM program was responsible for a decrease of the areas affected by high fire recurrence in Xerente and Araguaia, when compared with the Zero Fire Phase (2008–2013). In both regions, PB effectively reduced the large wildfires occurrence, the number of medium and large scars, fire intensity, and emissions, changing the prevalent fire season from the WFS to the MFS. Such reductions are significant since WFS causes higher negative impacts on biodiversity conservation and higher greenhouse gas emissions. We conclude that the effect on wildfires can still be reduced if effective fire management policies, including PB, continue to be implemented during the coming decades.

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