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Abstract
USDA Forest Service management practices have significantly changed. Past practices were predicated on a strong public expectation for commodity production and protection from the forces of nature that were perceived to threaten that goal. Fire suppression, selective logging, intensive grazing, constrained prescribed burning, and a general emphasis on wood fiber production have, in part or collectively, changed many forests. However wellmeaning at the time, in some ecosystems, these changes have adversely affected the health and resiliency of the resource to the point where sustainability may be impeded. Currently the Forest Service has modified its focus and its management practices. These changes have important implications for the agency’s wildland fire managers. This paper describes the role of fire in ecosystem management and it answers these three questions: 1) what is ecosystem management? 2) why should fire be considered in ecosystem management? and 3) what role do fire managers have in ecosystem management?
Parent Publication
Citation
Williams, Jerry T. 1995. The role of fire in ecosystem management. In: Weise, David R.; Martin, Robert E., technical coordinators. The Biswell symposium: fire issues and solutions in urban interface and wildland ecosystems; February 15-17, 1994; Walnut Creek, California. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-158. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; p. 139-140
