The Wilderness Society

About: The Wilderness Society is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Biodiversity & Wilderness. The organization has 51 authors who have published 138 publications receiving 5019 citations.

Reform forest fire management

Abstract: Globally, wildfire size, severity, and frequency have been increasing, as have related fatalities and taxpayer-funded firefighting costs ( 1 ). In most accessible forests, wildfire response prioritizes suppression because fires are easier and cheaper to contain when small ( 2 ). In the United States, for example, 98% of wildfires are suppressed before reaching 120 ha in size ( 3 ). But the 2% of wildfires that escape containment often burn under extreme weather conditions in fuel-loaded forests and account for 97% of fire-fighting costs and total area burned ( 3 ). Changing climate and decades of fuel accumulation make efforts to suppress every fire dangerous, expensive, and ill advised ( 4 ). These trends are attracting congressional scrutiny for a new approach to wildfire management ( 5 ). The recent release of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (NCWFMS) ( 6 ) and the U.S. Forest Service's (USFS's) current effort to revise national forest (NF) plans provide openings to incentivize change. Although we largely focus on the USFS, which incurs 70% of national firefighting costs ( 7 ), similar wildfire policies and needed management reforms are relevant throughout the United States and fire-prone areas worldwide.

Historical Range of Variability: A Useful Tool for Evaluating Ecosystem Change

Abstract: The concept of historical range of variability in ecosystem structure or process is valuable in understanding and illustrating the dynamic nature of ecosystems; the processes that sustain and change ecosystems, especially disturbances; the current state of the system in relationship to the past; and the possible ranges of conditions that are feasible to maintain. Because ecosystems are structured hierarchically, historical range of variability must be characterized at multiple spatial scales and relevant time scales. Historical range of variability is a useful reference for determining a range of desired future conditions, and for establishing the limits of acceptable change for ecosystem components and processes.

Restoring fire-prone Inland Pacific landscapes: seven core principles

Abstract: More than a century of forest and fire management of Inland Pacific landscapes has transformed their successional and disturbance dynamics. Regional connectivity of many terrestrial and aquatic habitats is fragmented, flows of some ecological and physical processes have been altered in space and time, and the frequency, size and intensity of many disturbances that configure these habitats have been altered. Current efforts to address these impacts yield a small footprint in comparison to wildfires and insect outbreaks. Moreover, many current projects emphasize thinning and fuels reduction within individual forest stands, while overlooking large-scale habitat connectivity and disturbance flow issues. We provide a framework for landscape restoration, offering seven principles. We discuss their implication for management, and illustrate their application with examples. Historical forests were spatially heterogeneous at multiple scales. Heterogeneity was the result of variability and interactions among native ecological patterns and processes, including successional and disturbance processes regulated by climatic and topographic drivers. Native flora and fauna were adapted to these conditions, which conferred a measure of resilience to variability in climate and recurrent contagious disturbances. To restore key characteristics of this resilience to current landscapes, planning and management are needed at ecoregion, local landscape, successional patch, and tree neighborhood scales. Restoration that works effectively across ownerships and allocations will require active thinking about landscapes as socio-ecological systems that provide services to people within the finite capacities of ecosystems. We focus attention on landscape-level prescriptions as foundational to restoration planning and execution.

Charcoal and carbon storage in forest soils of the Rocky Mountain West

Abstract: Charcoal represents a super-passive form of carbon (C) that is generated during fire events and is one of the few legacies of fire recorded in the soil profile; however, the importance of this material as a form of C storage has received only limited scientific attention. Here, we review the formation of charcoal in temperate and boreal forest ecosystems, discuss some of its desirable properties, and estimate the potential contribution charcoal to long-term C sequestration in forest ecosystems. Charcoal deposition over the course of several mil lennia probably accounts for a substantial proportion of the total soil C pool in fire-maintained forest ecosystems. Forest management processes that interfere with natural fire processes eliminate the formation of this passive form of C. We recommend that charcoal be considered in C storage budgets and modeling of forest ecosystems, especially in light of climate change and increasing occurrence of wildfire.