Fire Management Practices Research Articles

Environmental Factors Driving Seed Hydration Status of Soil Seed Banks and the Implications for Post-fire Recruitment.

Changes in fire regimes due to climate change and fire management practices are affecting the timing, length, and distribution of vegetation fires throughout the year. Plant species responses and tolerances to fire differ from season to season and are influenced by species-specific phenological processes. The ability of seeds to tolerate extreme temperatures associated with fire is one of these processes, with survival linked to seed moisture content at the time of exposure. As fire is more often occurring outside historic dry fire seasons, the probability of fire occurring when seeds are hydrated may also be increasing. In this study, we set out to understand the seasonal dynamics of seed hydration for seeds of Banksia woodland species, and how certain seed traits interact with environmental conditions to influence survival of high temperatures associated with fire. We measured the moisture content of seeds buried to 2 cm in the soil seed bank for four common native species and one invasive species on a weekly basis throughout 2017, along with soil moisture content and environmental correlates. We determined water sorption isotherms at 20°C for seeds of each species and used these functions to model weekly variation in seed water activity and predict when seeds are most sensitive to soil heating. Using Generalised additive models (GAMs), we were able to describe approximately 67% of the weekly variance in seed water activity and explored differences in seed hydration dynamics between species. Seed water activity was sufficiently high (i.e., ≥ 0.85 aw) so as to have created an increased risk of mortality if a fire had occurred during an almost continuous period between May and November in the study period (i.e., 2017). There were brief windows when seeds may have been in a dry state during early winter and late spring, and also when they may have been in a wet state during summer and late autumn. These data, and the associated analyses, provide an opportunity to develop approaches to minimize seed mortality during fire and maximize the seed bank response.

Too much, too late: Fires and Reactive Wildfire Management in Northern Botswana’s Forests and Woodland Savannas

Across much of southern Africa’s savanna wildernesses, wildfires burn unchecked. This is particularly true in the woodland savannas of northern Botswana, where wildfires originate outside of management activities, and are left to burn uncontrolled, because of limited resources and remoteness. There is concern that severe annual wildfires are resulting in the ‘savannisation’ of large tracts of wooded land across forest reserves, protected areas and surrounding wilderness areas. Because the current fire regime is unknown, management interventions are hard to introduce. We examine the recent 20-year (2001–2020) fire history in northern Botswana using MODIS satellitederived fire products to reveal fire frequency and seasonality. Six wildfire hotspots are identified for exploration of fire frequency and possible origins. Annual fire frequencies are far higher than would be expected without anthropogenic ignition. Extensive areas in some hotspots are shown to have burned between 14 and 16 out of the 20-year period. Fires peak in September, several weeks before the onset of the rainy season and associated lightning strikes, and when the fuel load is at its maximum and conditions at their driest. Adaptive fire management practices, such as those being followed in neighbouring South Africa and elsewhere should inform Botswana’s fire management policies.

Woody cover change in relation to fire history and land-use in the savanna-woodlands of north-east Namibia (1996–2019)

Vegetation cover estimates for trees, shrub-grass mosaics, and grassland and bare ground, were quantified in the savanna-woodland of Bwabwata National Park, north-east Namibia. Changes in woody cover were analysed using repeat photographs in combination with aerial photographs and recent satellite imagery taken between 1996 and 2019. Cover estimates for each vegetation type were obtained using object-based classification techniques and a non-parametric random forest classifier algorithm in eCognition Trimble software. Results show that over the two decades under investigation (1996–2019), trees declined (−10.6%), and the shrub-grass mosaic vegetation type increased (8.1%) across the park. The largest decline in trees occurred in the western land use areas (−36%), which also experienced the greatest increase in the shrub-grass mosaic (17%), when compared with areas in the east (11%). Variation of woody cover estimates is attributed to different seasonal fire management practices in the east versus the west of the park. The fire history (2000–2018) revealed that late dry season fires were frequent in the west, whereas in the east, early dry season fires were frequent. The stages of encroachment recorded in this study have consequences for biodiversity, people’s livelihoods, and tourism.

Understanding the Causes, Socio-Economic and Environmental Impacts of 2019 Veld Fires in the Kingdom of Eswatini

Veld fires have become a frequent and devastating phenomenon in the predominantly savanna ecosystems of the Kingdom of Eswatini. While fire damages have become more common and recurrent in recent years, their causes and impacts in the country are less understood, with extremely limited literature. This study aimed at filling up this existing information gap by investigating the causes, socio-economic and environmental impacts of veld fires, as well as highlighting the challenges and/or limitations in fire management and control in Eswatini. It used mixed methods approach to collect both primary and secondary data. These included household questionnaires and face-to-face interviews with key informants. The results showed that the major causes of fires are mainly anthropogenic, and these include arson and conflicts, controlled burning, ignorance of proper fire management practices, collision of electric cables, and acts of negligence, among others. Major impacts of veld fires in Eswatini were found to include disruption of rural (and urban) livelihoods, infrastructure damage, social and psychological wellbeing of affected individuals, loss of biodiversity and destruction of important environmental resources, to mention but a few. The study concluded that fires contribute to biodiversity loss and that fires continue to be a major treat to the country’s economy. Lack of fire management resources is one contributing factor to the widespread fire damage in the country, while quantifying the direct economic loss resulting from fire remains a challenge due to lack of standardized fire damages data collection and reporting tools. The study recommended a development of a standardized tool for reporting fire damages, improvement of fire prevention and management, and development of an early warning system (in addition to capacity assessment of fire emergency operators) to improve fire management and to minimize fire-related damages nationally.

The influence of contrasting fire management practice on bush encroachment: lessons from Bwabwata National Park, Namibia.

The influence of contrasting fire management practice on bush encroachment: lessons from Bwabwata National Park, Namibia.

Fire and vegetation: Introduction to the special issue

Fires are widespread disturbance events with many implications for different aspects of plant persistence and vegetation properties. Changing fire regimes can profoundly affect vegetation dynamics and ecosystem properties. Recent steep increases in the frequency of fires worldwide and the occurrence of megafires have caught the attention of scientists, policymakers, and the media. The FLORA Special Issue on Fire and Vegetation unites five invited Opinion Papers with emphasis on South America and nineteen research papers, including one review, on different aspects of the fire–vegetation interaction. The studies contribute both to the discussion of how to better manage fire in ecosystems and to improve our understanding of fire effects on organisms, communities, and ecosystems. Our expectation is that the Special Issue stimulates further research and, ultimately, helps to inform fire management practice to improve human well-being, to ensure the sustainability of resource use, and perhaps most important, biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.

Key factors determining scales of burned areas in state Victoria (Australia) and province Alberta (Canada) during 1980-2019

Regular wildfire supports balanced development of sclerophyll forests in Victoria (Australia), as well as, boreal forest in Alberta (Canada). Also, they are a major part of local Aboriginal culture in these regions and a means regulating ecological functions of flammable vegetation communities for improvement their productivity. Taking into consideration that burning is used as an effective tool for ecosystem management in Alberta and Victoria, it is relevant to assess impacts of fire practices on the environment and to find connections between fire spread and key factors determining scales and locations of burned areas. Basing on literary materials on fire practices, statistical data on wildfire cases occurring since 1980s, geospatial data on distribution of fire-prone plant communities’ locations, and on results of correlation analysis of fire cases with climatic, environmental, infrastructural, and social factors author reveals the following patterns: fires frequency depends on the landscape features; an increase in number of fire occurrences correlates with increase of dry periods duration (number of days); human settlements, where Aboriginal population reaches 50%, are subject to fires more frequent; the risk to the environment and settlements damage on small populated rural areas is higher, than on densely populated suburban and urban places. Reduction of out-of-control wildfire risk can be achieved through fire management practices directed to wildlife and biodiversity protection, considering these patterns.

Wildfire risk and response in Jasper National Park, Alberta: Application of an adaptation readiness framework

Environmental change associated with warmer temperatures is creating unprecedented conditions in natural regions and ecosystems. In Jasper National Park, Alberta, climate change, historical fire management practices, and the mountain pine beetle infestation are combining to increase the risk of a major wildfire. The intent of this short viewpoint is to provide a primer for decision makers. The application of an adaptation readiness framework highlights areas where the Park's level of preparedness for wildfire adaptation is well developed and areas in need of further attention. Areas where adaptation is well developed include political leadership, decision making, and stakeholder engagement. Further attention is necessary around institutional organizations, funding, and public support.

Warming enabled upslope advance in western US forest fires.

Increases in burned area and large fire occurrence are widely documented over the western United States over the past half century. Here, we focus on the elevational distribution of forest fires in mountainous ecoregions of the western United States and show the largest increase rates in burned area above 2,500 m during 1984 to 2017. Furthermore, we show that high-elevation fires advanced upslope with a median cumulative change of 252 m (-107 to 656 m; 95% CI) in 34 y across studied ecoregions. We also document a strong interannual relationship between high-elevation fires and warm season vapor pressure deficit (VPD). The upslope advance of fires is consistent with observed warming reflected by a median upslope drift of VPD isolines of 295 m (59 to 704 m; 95% CI) during 1984 to 2017. These findings allow us to estimate that recent climate trends reduced the high-elevation flammability barrier and enabled fires in an additional 11% of western forests. Limited influences of fire management practices and longer fire-return intervals in these montane mesic systems suggest these changes are largely a byproduct of climate warming. Further weakening in the high-elevation flammability barrier with continued warming has the potential to transform montane fire regimes with numerous implications for ecosystems and watersheds.

Modeling wildfire drivers in Chinese tropical forest ecosystems using global logistic regression and geographically weighted logistic regression

The tropics is an area with high incidence of wildfire all over the world in recent years, and the forest ecosystem in the tropics is extremely fragile. Thus, it is very important to identify drivers of wildfire in the tropics for developing effective fire management strategy. In this paper, global logistic regression (GLR) and geographically weighted regression (GWLR) models were employed to analyze the spatial distribution and drivers of tropical wildfires in Xishuangbanna and Leizhou Peninsula in tropical China from 2001 to 2018. The results show that the overall distribution of wildfire in Xishuangbanna and Leizhou Peninsula from 2001 to 2018 was spatially aggregated. In these tropical seasonal forest ecosystems, wildfire was mainly driven by meteorological factors, particularly by daily temperature range and precipitation. In Xishuangbanna (inland) peninsula, the impact of driving factors tended to be global, and the GLR model predicted the probability of wildfire occurrence better than the GWLR model. Drivers of wildfire in Leizhou Peninsula (coastal area) had clear spatial variation, and the GWLR model better explained the relationship. Furthermore, wildfire in Leizhou was more driven by human activities, especially management of agricultural lands. Our results demonstrate that effective forest management practice needs to adopt fire management practices with regional characteristics. The forest management strategy and traditional agriculture production system should pay more attention to changes in these driving factors and their relationship with wildfire.

Cultural burning and public sector practice in the Australian Capital Territory

ABSTRACT Aboriginal peoples’ fire management practices captured global attention during the Australian 2019–20 ‘Black Summer’, as a possible method to mitigate bushfire risk; however, these ‘cultural burns’ are no straightforward matter for public sector practice. As the slow, retrospective work to address historical and contemporary discrimination is imperfectly underway, we explore a cultural burning program supported by a government agency in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). In this paper, two co-authors share their experiences helping create a cultural burning program as Aboriginal people but not as Traditional Custodians. We document the steps taken to build support, create opportunities and engage Ngunnawal and Ngambri Traditional Custodians, and identify early positive results and challenging matters being generated. We demonstrate that rather than being restricted by public sector bureaucracy, the ACT cultural burning program has leveraged policy and entwined itself around the machinery of government in a way that accesses resources, creates opportunities and is slowly but surely changing public sector practice. Nonetheless, this is a journey of iteratively learning. It remains that more substantive measures are needed to recognise Traditional Custodianship if the current cultural burning program is to become a more substantial expression of Aboriginal peoples’ cultural land management.

Didactic Analysis Of Active-Passive Fire Safety Measures In Tejuosho Ultra Modern Market Complex, Yaba, Lagos

Fire outbreaks are a leading cause of loss of property and lives in the Nigerian market scene and its neighbouring areas. Although this menace of market fire outbreak has been a recurring index since the early 2000s up till now, a lot of marketplaces still do not have standard fire protection measures in place to prevent fire spread. Neither are they adequately equipped for efficient fire outbreak control. This study investigated the existing active and passive fire safety measures adopted in Tejuosho ultramodern market to create policy guidelines for effective fire safety management practices. This study was carried out in Tejuosho market, Yaba, Lagos because it is one of the most recent market developments where effective fire protection strategies were put in place. Primary data for this research was obtained employing observation and questionnaires. The study revealed that all the active fire protection measures put in place have been well maintained, regularly serviced, highly effective and supported by the passive measures. This study recommended didactic procedures and strategies accessible to the market users and traders whenever an emergency fire outbreak occurs.

A review of fire management practices in African savanna-protected areas

The level of understanding of the ecological effects of fires has improved over the past century, but comprehensive information on the practical application of fire remains restricted to a few well-studied areas, and management information is scattered. This article reviews the goals of fire management practices in African savanna-protected areas, and the approaches that have been adopted to achieve them. We identified 15 distinct fire management practices described in 107 papers from 19 African countries. Fire management has evolved in response to changing ecological understanding, as well as the shifting goals of protected areas. Currently, fire management practices can be divided into those that use fire to achieve specific ecological outcomes, those where fire is applied to promote diverse fire patterns across the landscape without necessarily having a specific ecological outcome in mind, and those that use fire to achieve specific, non-ecological or social goals. In larger, heterogeneous protected areas, fire management practices may vary at different sites in order to achieve a range of goals. We compared the effectiveness of each practice in terms of achieving 10 broad goals. These included ecological goals, for example, reversing woody and social goals (e.g. maintaining community relationships).Conservation implications: Fire management remains an important ecosystem process that can be manipulated to achieve particular goals in protected areas. The choice of a particular approach, or approaches, will depend on the circumstances pertaining to a particular protected area, and we provide examples of situations where each practice could be most appropriate.

Establishing Propagation Nodes as a Basis for Preventing Large Wildfires: The Proposed Methodology

In Spain, traditional forest fire management practices have been conducted for many decades, for both prevention- and extinction-oriented purposes. This management model has been forced to shift as a result of changes in fire behavior and has also been adapted to the use of new technologies. The challenge presented by wildfires is amplified due to socioeconomic changes in the last 40 years and inadequate land management in the context of climate change. The principal objective of this work is to establish the most adequate methodology to define the “propagation nodes” in a territory. To do that, the new simulation modes offered by the WildFire AnalystTM simulator (WFA) have been explored to obtain fire behavior data. Likewise, the behavior of large fires in the area has been extrapolated to future scenarios, according to forecasts of different climate change, analyzing extreme weather conditions that can occur in such scenarios (ONU, 2019). The WFA simulator (Tecnosylva, 2014) works efficiently in simulating fire, proving greatly useful in both real suppression operations and fire prevention analysis. It can very accurately generate large wildfires' main pathways without making any kind of adjustments; this is quite useful when planning operations at the head of a fire. It also allows evacuation time evaluation for a given Wildland Urban Interface zone. The area selected for this study is called Sot de Chera, in the Valencia region (Spain). The methodology employed here uses the simulation with WFA setting extreme meteorological and phenological windows associated with wind-driven fires or convection fires dominated with wind, from different starting points looking for the areas where they are grouped. In other words, it is a matter of identifying on the territory the areas where the heads of these higher-intensity fires will arrive, in order to offer realistic control possibilities to the firefighting teams. The results of the simulation identify the heads of the fires with the greatest rate of spread and intensity, exceeding suppression capabilities and efforts, allowing thus to plan for appropriate fuel management strategies to effectively manage emergency responses to fires in these areas.

Understanding the Causes, Socio-Economic and Environmental Impacts of 2019 Veld Fires in the Kingdom of Eswatini

Veld fires have become a frequent and devastating phenomena in the predominantly savanna ecosystems of the Kingdom of Eswatini. While fire damages have become more common and recurrent in recent years, their causes and impacts in the Kingdom of Eswatini are less understood, with very limited literature. This study aimed at filling up this existing information gap by investigating the causes, socio-economic and environmental impacts of veld fires, as well as highlighting the challenges and/or limitations in fire management and control in the Kingdom of Eswatini. The study used mixed methods approach to collect both primary and secondary data. These included household questionnaires and face-to-face interviews with key informants. The results showed that the major causes of fires are mainly anthropogenic, and these include arson and conflicts, controlled burning, ignorance of proper fire management practices, collision of electric cables, and acts of negligence, among others. Major impacts of veld fires in Eswatini were found to include disruption of rural (and urban) livelihoods, infrastructure damage, loss of biodiversity and destruction of important environmental resources, to mention but a few. The study concluded that fires contribute to biodiversity loss and that fires continue to be a major treat to the country’s economy. Lack of fire management resources is one contributing factor to the widespread fire damage in the country, while quantifying the direct economic loss resulting from fire remains a challenge due to lack of standardized fire damages data collection and reporting tools. The study recommended a development of a standardized tool for reporting fire damages, improvement of fire prevention and management, and development of an early warning system (in addition to capacity assessment of fire emergency operators) in an effort to improve fire management and to minimize fire-related damages in the country.

Breathing Fire into Landscapes that Burn: Wildfire Management in a Time of Alterlife

Across the globe, settler nation-states are being forced to contend with the large-scale ecological and social disruptions caused by settler colonialism. Wildfires are a charismatic example of this: when anthropogenic climate change combines with colonial forest management practices, wildfires act in ever changing ways with often violent and uneven impacts to human and nonhuman life. In a context of environmental change, managers, fire ecologists, and politicians alike are increasingly looking to reintroduce fire as a way of restoring “natural” forest landscapes while reducing fire suppression costs. In this paper, I examine one such policy of fire re-integration, in what is currently the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, the homelands of more than 50,000 Indigenous people (Cree, Dakota, Dene, Métis) who live in the province’s Boreal Forest region. In 2004, the Province implemented a controversial policy that locals colloquially refer to as “Let-it-Burn,” where fires are allowed to burn until they encroach upon something designated of “value” (typically human life, community structures, public infrastructure, and commercial timber). While wildfire managers, scientists, and politicians alike consistently advocate for policies of fire-reintegration as ecologically-sound and financially responsible ways forward with fire management, many locals have argued that “Let-it-Burn” is a direct affront to Indigenous sovereignty, destroying contemporary forest landscapes and rebuilding them through state-sanctioned settler values. Breathing fire back into landscapes that burn is a peculiar solution that at once acknowledges and erases the effects of fire’s removal through policies of restoration that risk ignoring the ongoingness of life in forested areas. Through interviews and archival and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper traces the history of the province’s “Let-it-Burn” policy, asking the question, “how to burn well in compromised lands?” As a way forward with fire reintegration (or not), I highlight the necessity of Indigenous partnership, leadership, and direction within fire management practices on Indigenous territory, which may include fire suppression. This paper adds to STS scholarship on ecological ruination and alterlife, arguing that wildfire management practices are likely to cause harm so long as the effects of settler colonialism are placed in the past and Indigenous rebuilding is erased.

Anthropogenic Fires in West African Landscapes: A Spatially Explicit Model Perspective of Humanized Savannas

Fire regimes are important components of environmental dynamics, but our understanding of them is limited. Despite recent advances in the methodologies used to remotely sense and map fires and burned areas and new case studies that shed light on local fire use and management practices, the scientific community still has much to learn about anthropogenic fire regimes. We identify two areas for improvement: first, the fine-scale heterogeneity of fire dynamics for specific regions is often masked by global-scale approaches, and second, barriers between the disciplines focusing on fire impacts hamper the development of knowledge of the human dimensions of fire regimes. To address the “blind spot” that these limitations create, we present a simple dynamic model of fire ignition in savanna systems. The aim is to connect the local and global scales of fire regimes by focusing on human fire management (anthropogenic fire). Our dynamical model is based on a study area in Western Burkina Faso and integrates biophysical elements (climate and soil data), land cover, and fire management scenarios based on field surveys. The simulation results offer contrasting views of the impact of local fire management practices on regional fire regimes observed in savannas. Fire density and frequency are local variables that clearly change the fire regimes despite a complex and constrained biophysical system. This experience, drawing from fieldwork and modelling, may be a way to integrate some key aspects of anthropogenic fire research in savanna systems.

The relationship between upland hardwood distribution and avian occupancy in fire-maintained longleaf pine forests

Prescribed fire and other forest management practices aimed at restoring longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) communities often focus on the reduction, or removal, of upland hardwoods with the goal of providing habitat for threatened and endangered plant and animal species, including the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (Leuconotopicus borealis), and restoring forests to pre-settlement conditions. Although contemporary restoration and management practices benefit species dependent on the resulting conditions, recent research has called attention to the ecological value of retaining upland hardwoods, especially for mast-dependent wildlife (e.g., fox squirrels [Sciurus niger]). Moreover, retention of indigenous hardwoods in upland longleaf pine communities may benefit a variety of birds. We used fixed-radius, breeding season point counts to sample the presence-absence of 15 avian species and assessed forest composition and structure around each point. We developed single-season single-species occupancy models with an emphasis on the influence of overstory hardwood cover on occupancy. Due to issues with model fit, we were unable to model occupancy for 3 of the 15 focal species. Occupancy probabilities for 6 out of the 12 focal species were positively influenced by overstory hardwood cover or stem density, whereas occupancy probabilities of 4 out of 12 of the focal species was negatively influenced by hardwood cover or stem density. Overstory hardwood cover between 5 and 15% resulted in high occupancy probabilities for the species that were positively influenced but did not result in substantially low occupancy probabilities for the species that were negatively influenced. Longleaf pine uplands with lower and upper bounds of 5% to 15% hardwood overstory cover with hardwood stem densities of ≤250 stems/ha could be targeted to provide habitat for the greatest diversity of birds while avoiding negative impact to species associated with upland longleaf pine communities.

Seasonal influences on bacterial community dynamics in Mediterranean pyrophytic ecosystems

Cistus ladanifer scrublands are one of the most characteristic Mediterranean ecosystems. However, these pyrophytic scrublands, are severely affected by wildfires. To reduce this threat, fire prevention management practices are needed to protect these ecosystems. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of management treatments on bacterial richness, abundance and community composition over the time. Plots were stablished in three different stands with different site histories: (a) an eight-year-old stand regenerated after a wildfire; (b) an eight-year-old stand that developed after the total clearing of the previous stand; and (c) a 20-year-old stand that developed following a wildfire. Considered management treatments were total clearing, 50% clearing and controlled burning. Our results revealed that bacterial richness, abundance and community composition were affected by site history and differed among seasons, whereas fire prevention treatments had only a minor effect and did not significantly affect bacterial richness. An absence the management effects suggest that active management does not affect bacterial communities dramatically, supporting active management to rejuvenate senescent stands and to create clearings in young stands. Thus, these practices could reduce the probability of forest wildfires increasing bacterial richness and abundance and growing habitat heterogeneity.

Agricultural Fire or Arson?

This article focuses on fire management practices in Algeria during the colonial period. Focusing on environmental usages of fires in Algerian rural society, this article shows that these practices were submitted to varied and opposite interpretations resulting in significant and durable conflicts. These conflicts exploded under the French colonial forestry administration, which forcefully imposed new legislation to criminalize existing agricultural practices, including fires. Despite this ban, these practices continued. The administration interpreted this persistence as rebellion and responded with severe sanctions. This only aggravated the situation, resulting in a real war of attrition. On the one hand, this situation does not diverge from the rural violence typical of the nineteenth century. On the other, the responses of the administration in colonial Algeria represent specific digressions compared to the policies carried out in metropolitan areas.