Interactions among wildland fires in the Sierra Nevada
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 9:12PM Collins, B., J. Miller, M. Kelly, J.W. van Wagtendonk, and S. L. Stephens. 2009. Interactions among wildland fires in a long-established Sierra Nevada natural fire area. Ecosystems 12(1): 114-128. DOI: 10.1007/s10021-008-9211-7
We investigate interactions between successive naturally occurring fires, and assess to what extent the environments in which fires burn influence these interactions. Using mapped fire perimeters and satellite-based estimates of post-fire effects (referred to hereafter as fire severity) for 19 fires burning relatively freely over a 31-year period, we demonstrate that fire as a landscape process can exhibit self-limiting characteristics in an upper elevation Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest. Pdf download. Journal link.
Key words: Wildland fire use; WFU; Prescribed natural fire; Fire management; Fire ecology; Fire severity; Self-limiting; Fire policy
fire, forests, spatial analysis