Treesearch

California's foothill counties are the scene of rapid development. All types of construction in former wildlands is creating an intermix of wildland-structures-wildland that is different from the traditional "urban-wildland interface." The fire and structural environment for seven counties is described. Fire statistics are compared with growth patterns from 1970 to 1985. Potentials for the year 2000 are suggested. California planning law is overviewed in relation to development. Local governments and fire services have underutilized existing authorities in describing and mitigating fire...

Futuring Group 5 identified nine trends and their implications to the wildland/urbaninterface fire problem, with specific emphasis on fire suppression equipment and tactics.

Prescribed burning programs have evolved with little concern for the visual impact of burning and the potential prescribed burning can have in managing the forest scene. Recent criticisms by the public of the prescribed burning program at Sequoia National Park resulted in an outside review of the National Park fire management programs in Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite National Parks. This paper evaluates the visual impacts of burning and of not burning in the giant sequoia-mixed conifer forest type. Alternatives to current techniques are suggested which will reduce the negative visual...

Profound changes have taken place in the western wildlands during the 20th century that will have great impact on land management policy and operations. Wildlands are being developed. Reduction of fire has altered plant species relationships in terms of dominance and density. The number of ignitions will continue to increase. The trends unchanged will result in greater resource damages. Little can be done to stem the tide of encroachment into the wildlands and its attendant increase in human caused fires. Land managers can restore the balance of plant spcies [sic] as well as fuel accumulati...

In the County of Los Angeles, critical conditions at the urban-wildland interface range from concentrated development to dispersed development; elevations from sea levelto 5000 feet with diverse ecosystems characterized by coastal sage scrub, Chamise, sumac, Ceanothus, Toyon, oak woodlands, pine forests, and desert sage; air quality impacts; sediment production; public education; and resource allocation.

Demographic and economic growth are pushing deeper into California's forest and range lands, making effective fire protection and traditional industrial uses of the land more difficult. Urban forces that will increase the difficulties in the future include: increasing urban population pressures, selective migration, low-priced housing, adequate infrastructure, decentralized development, and government inadequacies. Some compensating trends that will tend to restrict growth and minimize problems include a near-term weakening of the rural economy, few major planned developments, growth...

Two meanings of human community compete for public attention: (1) community as a sense of belonging to a particular social group within a society, and (2) community as a global ideal consisting of political expression, religious fulfillment, and/or harmony with the world at large. The latter meaning has become increasingly prevalent as we approach the year2000. This idealistic sense of community is represented in the Clementian theory of ecological succession that formed traditional fire suppression practices. Modern fire management, as practiced by the Forest Service, U.S. Department of...

National legislation has mandated the development and use of an ecological data base to improve resource decision making, while State and Federal agencies have agreed to cooperate in standardizing resource classification and inventory data. In the Pacific Southwest Region, which includes nearly 20 million acres (8.3 million ha) in California, the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, has begun a long term project to develop an ecosystem type classification system. It will identify and describe vegetation/soil/ physiographic units called ecological types, which are site-specific...

This directory lists 392 libraries throughout the world. It includes address, phone number, librarian's name, subjects emphasized, services offered, users, name of supporting institution and is arranged by geographical region, and indexed by country and name of librarian.

Among natural resource professionals, California oaks continue to attract considerable attention. This report provides a comprehensive bibliography of the extensive but scattered oak literature. The 768 references are organized into two systems: (a) a topical outline, in which references are displayed under key word headings and subheadings, and author-date entries help to locate items by researcher or date; and (b) a Quercus species index, in which references contain serial numbers for all species and hybrids.