Landscape-level strategies for forest fuel management.

Abstract

As a result largely of human activities during the past 150 years, fires in Sierra Nevada forests occur less frequently and cover much less area than they did historically but are much more likely to be large and severe when they do occur. High-severity wildfires are considered by many to be the greatest single threat to the integrity and sustainability of Sierra Nevada forests. The continuing accumulation of large quantities of forest biomass that fuel wildfires points to a need to develop landscape-level strategies for managing fuels to reduce the area and average size burned by severe fires. Concurrently, more of the ecosystem functions of natural fire regimes—characterized in most areas by frequent low- to moderate-severity fires—need to be restored to Sierran forests. This chapter reviews past and current approaches to managing fuels on a landscape basis and, based on a synthesis of many of these approaches, proposes an outline for a potential fuel-management strategy for Sierra Nevada forests.

Citation

Weatherspoon, C. Phillip; Skinner, Carl N. 1996. Landscape-level strategies for forest fuel management. In: Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project: Final report to Congress. Vol. II. Assessments and Scientific Basis for Management Options. Wildland Resources Center Report No. 37. Centers for Water and Wildland Resources, University of California, Davis.: 1471-1492.