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Abstract
Natural fire regimes in the southwestern United States have been significantly altered by past land-use practices and the fire suppression polices of land management agencies. One consequence of this alteration has been to increase the loadings of downed woody fuels. Ecologists and land managers are reintroducing fire into the ecosystems of the Madrean Province to reduce the excessive buildups of fuels that have a high probability of igniting and becoming unnaturally severe wildfire. However, incomplete knowledge of fuel loadings often constrains the successful reintroduction of fire because of the inability to forecast the resulting fire behavior. We have quantified fuel loadings in the pine-oak forests and oak woodlands and savannas of the Madrean Province for a range of site conditions and past land-use histories to facilitate the preparation of effective fire prescriptions.
Parent Publication
Citation
Ffolliott, Peter F.; Gottfried, Gerald J.; DeBano, Leonard F. 2008. Fuel loadings in forests, woodlands, and savannas of the Madrean province. In: Narog, Marcia G., tech. coord. 2008. Proceedings of the 2002 Fire Conference: Managing fire and fuels in the remaining wildlands and open spaces of the Southwestern United States. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-189. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 271-278
