People Fire And Forests

Years of drought and decades of aggressive fire exclusion have left North American forests at high risk for future catastrophic fires. Forest settings are a magnet for recreational opportunities and for rapidly growing residential developmentputting an increasing number of citizens and their property into the path of wildfires. Recordsetting wildfires initiated the twentyfirst century and motivated the rise to prominence of wildfire on the political agenda, prompting important and farreaching new public policy initiatives. To be effective, these policies must be informed by sciencebut that requires more than just improved knowledge about the physical and biological dynamics of fire and forest ecosystems. Social values, socioeconomic factors, demographic trends, institutional arrangements, and human behavior must also be taken into consideration by the agencies and individuals responsible for wildland fire decision making. The first book to integrate the social science literature on the human dimensions of wildfire, People, Fire, and Forests reviews current studies from this broad, interdisciplinary field and synthesizes them into a rich body of knowledge with practical management implications. Chapters in the book highlight principal findings and common threads in the existing research and identify strengths and gaps. They cover such topics as public perception of wildfire risk, acceptability of fire management policies, and community impacts of wildfire. Designed to make relevant social science information more available and useful to wildfire risk managers and policy makers, People, Fire, and Forests is also intended to encourage and guide further research into wildfire. By exploringthe theoretical and methodological issues surrounding human interactions with wildfire and describing the practical implications of this research, this volume provides an essential resource for students, scholars, and professionals.

The Wildfire Reader presents, in an affordable paperback edition, the essays included in Wildfire, offering a concise overview of fire landscapes and the past century of forest policy that has affected them.

"Frightening...Firestorm comes alive when Struzik discusses the work of offbeat scientists." --New York Times Book Review "Comprehensive and compelling." --Booklist "A powerful message." --Kirkus "Should be required reading." --Library Journal In the spring of 2016, the world watched as wildfire ravaged the Canadian town of Fort McMurray. Firefighters named the fire "the Beast." It seemed to be alive with destructive energy, and they hoped never to see anything like it again. Yet it's not a stretch to imagine we will all soon live in a world in which fires like the Beast are commonplace. In Firestorm, Edward Struzik confronts this new reality, offering a deftly woven tale of science, economics, politics, and human determination. It's possible for us to flourish in the coming age of megafires--but it will take a radical new approach that requires acknowledging that fires are no longer avoidable. Living with fire also means, Struzik reveals, that we must better understand how the surprising, far-reaching impacts of these massive fires will linger long after the smoke eventually clears.

Forests throughout the world are undergoing rapid, far-reaching change as a result of natural and anthropogenic disturbances. The challenge is to manage these forests in ways that avoid formulaic approaches to complex issues. This book takes on the challenge of balancing local economies, wood products, and biodiversity by proposing diverse new approaches to forest management using new research from the moist coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest. --

The catastrophic runaway wildfires advancing through North America and other parts of the world are not unprecedented. Fires loomed large once human activity began to warm the climate in the 1820s, leading to an aggressive firefighting strategy that has left many of the continent’s forests too old and vulnerable to the fires that many tree species need to regenerate. Dark Days at Noon provides a broad history of wildfire in North America, from before European contact to the present, in the hopes that we may learn from how we managed fire in the past, and apply those lessons in the future. As people continue to move into forested landscapes to work, play, live, and ignite fires – intentionally or unintentionally – fire has begun to take its toll, burning entire towns, knocking out utilities, closing roads, and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people. Fire management in North America requires attention and cooperation from both sides of the border, and many of the most significant fires have taken place at the boundary line. Despite a clear lack of urgency among political leaders, Edward Struzik argues that wildfire science needs to guide the future of fire management, and that those same leaders need to shape public perception accordingly. By explaining how society’s misguided response to fire has led to our current situation, Dark Days at Noon warns of what may happen in the future if we do not learn to live with fire as the continent’s Indigenous Peoples once did.

Forests for the People tells one of the most extraordinary stories of environmental protection in our nation’s history: how a diverse coalition of citizens, organizations, and business and political leaders worked to create a system of national forests in the Eastern United States. It offers an insightful and wide-ranging look at the actions leading to the passage of the Weeks Act in 1911—landmark legislation that established a system of well-managed forests in the East, the South, and the Great Lakes region—along with case studies that consider some of the key challenges facing eastern forests today. The book begins by looking at destructive practices widely used by the timber industry in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including extensive clearcutting followed by forest fire that devastated entire landscapes. The authors explain how this led to the birth of a new conservation movement that began simultaneously in the Southern Appalachians and New England, and describe the subsequent protection of forests in New England (New Hampshire and the White Mountains); the Great Lakes region (Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota), and the Southern Appalachians. Following this historical background, the authors offer eight case studies that examine critical issues facing the eastern national forests today, including timber harvesting, the use of fire, wilderness protection, endangered wildlife, oil shale drilling, invasive species, and development surrounding national park borders. Forests for the People is the only book to fully describe the history of the Weeks Act and the creation of the eastern national forests and to use case studies to illustrate current management issues facing these treasured landscapes. It is an important new work for anyone interested in the past or future of forests and forestry in the United States.

Even before the myth of Prometheus, fire played a crucial ecological role around the world. Numerous plant communities depend on fire to generate species diversity in both time and space. Without fire such ecosystems would become sterile monocultures. Recent efforts to prohibit fire in fire dependent communities have contributed to more intense and more damaging fires. For these reasons, foresters, ecologists, land managers, geographers, and environmental scientists are interested in the behavior and ecological effects of fires. This book will be the first to focus on the chemistry and physics of fire as it relates to the ways in which fire behaves and the impacts it has on ecosystem function. Leading international contributors have been recruited by the editors to prepare a didactic text/reference that will appeal to both advanced students and practicing professionals.

Fire is a defining element in Canadian land and life. With few exceptions, Canada's forests and prairies have evolved with fire. Its peoples have exploited fire and sought to protect themselves from its excesses, and since Confederation, the country has devised various institutions to connect fire and society. The choices Canadians have made says a great deal about their national character. Awful Splendour narrates the history of this grand saga. It will interest geographers, historians, and members of the fire community.