The DOI matches its Crossref record; 13 of the 13 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Prescribed fire in North American forests and woodlands: history, current practice, and challenges
Abstract
Whether ignited by lightning or by Native Americans, fire once shaped many North American ecosystems. Euro–American settlement and 20th‐century fire suppression practices drastically altered historic fire regimes, leading to excessive fuel accumulation and uncharacteristically severe wildfires in some areas and diminished flammability resulting from shifts to more fire‐sensitive forest species in others. Prescribed fire is a valuable tool for fuel management and ecosystem restoration, but the practice is fraught with controversy and uncertainty. Here, we summarize fire use in the forests and woodlands of North America and the current state of the practice, and explore challenges associated with the use of prescribed fire. Although new scientific knowledge has reduced barriers to prescribed burning, societal aversion to risk often trumps known, long‐term ecological benefits. Broader implementation of prescribed burning and strategic management of wildfires in fire‐dependent ecosystems will require improved integration of science, policy, and management, and greater societal acceptance through education and public involvement in land‐management issues.
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Citations
Cites
Warming and earlier spring increase western U.S. forest wildfire activity.
Westerling, A. L., Hidalgo, H. G., Cayan, D. R., & Swetnam, T. W. (2006) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1128834 · Cited by 5,176 · cited 1×
“Since then, the trend has been toward increasing wildfire activity (Westerling et al. 2006; Littell et al. 2009), despite extensive suppression efforts.”
BackgroundCommunities of Practice and Social Learning Systems
Wenger, E. (2000) · Organization · doi:10.1177/135050840072002 · Cited by 4,274 · cited 1×
“These “communities of practice” (Wenger 2000) have been influential in the legislative process and in the training and education of managers and land owners.”
BackgroundThe Demise of Fire and “Mesophication” of Forests in the Eastern United States
Nowacki, G. J., & Abrams, M. D. (2008) · BioScience · doi:10.1641/b580207 · Cited by 1,316
A Burning Story: The Role of Fire in the History of Life
Pausas, J. G., & Keeley, J. E. (2009) · BioScience · doi:10.1525/bio.2009.59.7.10 · Cited by 1,226
Fire-Southern Oscillation Relations in the Southwestern United States
Swetnam, T. W., & Betancourt, J. L. (1990) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.249.4972.1017 · Cited by 672
Schwilk, D. W., Keeley, J. E., Knapp, E. E., McIver, J., Bailey, J. D., Fettig, C. J., Fiedler, C. E., Harrod, R. J., Moghaddas, J. J., Outcalt, K. W., et al. (2009) · Ecological Applications · doi:10.1890/07-1747.1 · Cited by 291
Self-citationForest fire causes and extent on United States Forest Service lands
Stephens, S. L. (2005) · International Journal of Wildland Fire · doi:10.1071/wf04006 · Cited by 232
Stand- and landscape-level effects of prescribed burning on two Arizona wildfires
Finney, M. A., McHugh, C. W., & Grenfell, I. C. (2005) · Canadian Journal of Forest Research · doi:10.1139/x05-090 · Cited by 230
Estimation of wildfire size and risk changes due to fuels treatments
Cochrane, M. A., Moran, C. J., Wimberly, M. C., Baer, A. D., Finney, M. A., Beckendorf, K. L., Eidenshink, J., & Zhu, Z. (2012) · International Journal of Wildland Fire · doi:10.1071/wf11079 · Cited by 136
The role of fire in the California pine forests
Show, S. B., & Kotok, E. I. (1924) · doi:10.5962/bhl.title.107935 · Cited by 104
Cited by
Adapt to more wildfire in western North American forests as climate changes
Schoennagel, T., Balch, J. K., Brenkert-Smith, H., Dennison, P. E., Harvey, B. J., Krawchuk, M. A., Mietkiewicz, N., Morgan, P., Moritz, M. A., Rasker, R., et al. (2017) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1617464114 · Cited by 774
Fire as a fundamental ecological process: Research advances and frontiers
McLauchlan, K. K., Higuera, P. E., Miesel, J., Rogers, B. M., Schweitzer, J., Shuman, J. K., Tepley, A. J., Varner, J. M., Veblen, T. T., Adalsteinsson, S. A., et al. (2020) · Journal of Ecology · doi:10.1111/1365-2745.13403 · Cited by 729
“First, many fires are planned by people (see ‘prescribed fire’ in Box 1) due to the importance of both maintaining fire-adapted systems and the long history of using fire as a management tool (Ryan, Knapp, & Varner, 2013).”
Self-citationHow risk management can prevent future wildfire disasters in the wildland-urban interface
Calkin, D. E., Cohen, J. D., Finney, M. A., & Thompson, M. P. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1315088111 · Cited by 529
Adapting western North American forests to climate change and wildfires: 10 common questions
Prichard, S. J., Hessburg, P. F., Hagmann, R. K., Povak, N. A., Dobrowski, S. Z., Hurteau, M. D., Kane, V. R., Keane, R. E., Kobziar, L. N., Kolden, C. A., et al. (2021) · Ecological Applications · doi:10.1002/eap.2433 · Cited by 336
Rethinking resilience to wildfire
McWethy, D. B., Schoennagel, T., Higuera, P. E., Krawchuk, M., Harvey, B. J., Metcalf, E. C., Schultz, C., Miller, C., Metcalf, A. L., Buma, B., et al. (2019) · Nature Sustainability · doi:10.1038/s41893-019-0353-8 · Cited by 318
Metadata
- Authors
- Ryan, K. C., Knapp, E. E., & Varner, J. M.
- Venue
- Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2013-08
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- s1
- ISSN
- 1540-9295 (ISSN-L)
- 1540-9309
- OpenAlex
- W2078788385
- Cited by
- 661
- References
- 13
- FWCI
- 24.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
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- Ryan, K. C., Knapp, E. E., & Varner, J. M. (2013). Prescribed fire in North American forests and woodlands: history, current practice, and challenges. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. https://doi.org/10.1890/120329
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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