Pacific Northwest Research Station

Title: Benefits of hindsight: reestablishing fire on the landscape.

Author: Duncan, Sally.

Date: 2001

Source: Science Findings. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. August (36): 1-5

Description: Well-intentioned fire suppression efforts during the last 80 to 100 years have altered the structure of low-elevation forests in the interior Northwest. Historically, nondestructive, frequent, low-intensity fires have given way to larger, infrequent, severe, high-intensity fires. Because of altered fire behavior, forests now have increased fuel, and consequently, are more vulnerable to fire.

Fire science and its application in land management are needed to work with—rather than against—nature to develop sustainable forests and restore our technological capability to manage fires in these forested ecosystems. The situation is becoming acute as more people occupy the urban-wild-land interface and resources that are used to protect forest ecosystems and human structures are stretched to the breaking point.

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Citation

Duncan, Sally.  2001.  Benefits of hindsight: reestablishing fire on the landscape..   Science Findings. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. August (36): 1-5.