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Abstract
In fire-suppressed landscapes, managers make difficult decisions about devoting limited resources for prescribed fire. Using GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis, we developed a model assessing ecological need for prescribed fire on Michigan’s state-owned lands, ranging from fire-dependent prairies, savannas, barrens, and oak and pine forests to fire-intolerant mesic forests, and including a diversity of wetlands. The model integrates fine-scale field-collected and broad-scale GIS data to identify where prescribed fire needs are greatest. We describe the model’s development and architecture, present results at multiple scales, introduce the concepts of “fire gaps” and “fire sink”, and rate the fire needs of more than 1.8 million hectares into one of six fire needs classes. Statewide, fire needs increase with decreasing latitude. The highest and lowest needs occur in southwestern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, respectively, but actual fire application rates for these regions are inverted. The model suggests burn rates should be increased 2.2 to 13.4 times to burn all lands with greater than high fire needs. The model identifies regional patterns; highlights specific sites; and illustrates the disparity of fire needs and fire application. The modeling framework is broadly applicable to other geographies and efforts to prioritize stewardship of biodiversity at multiple scales.
Highlights
Using GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis, we developed a robust model for assessing the ecological need for fire at multiple spatial scales in Michigan, USA
Fire needs in Michigan are geographically variable at multiple scales
Within the subsequent discussion we explore the utility of the model framework and its output by acknowledging how understanding the model’s limitations and underlying assumptions is essential for putting it into practice (Section 4.1), demonstrating how the model can inform decision making at multiple scales (Section 4.2), and illustrating broader applications of the prescribed fire needs assessment model and GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis generally (Section 4.3)
Summary
Fire is a key ecological process in many ecosystems worldwide that determines a wide range of ecosystem attributes, from nutrient cycling rates to vegetation structure to patterns of biodiversity at multiple scales [1]. The resources (time, money, and labor) available to conduct prescribed fire are limited Where those resources are directed has profound implications for conservation and may determine the fate of many wildlife species and the ecosystems on which they depend. The goal of developing this prescribed fire needs assessment model is to enhance the application of fire in the ecologically most important landscapes and ecosystems and thereby restore or maintain a critical ecosystem process; increase the integrity of fire-dependent systems; and improve habitat for native biodiversity, including a diverse array of both game and non-game species. While the model is focused on evaluating the ecological need for fire on state lands in Michigan, it is not a comprehensive needs assessment in that it focuses on just one facet natural resource managers must balance while making complicated decisions about land management
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