To Burn or Not to Burn

Wildfire• Wildfire" is the term applied to any unwanted,

unplanned, damaging fire burning in forest, shrub or grass and is one of the most powerful natural forces known to people.

US Fire Policy

focused on suppressing all fires on national forests.

The goal was to protect timber resources and rural communities, but this policy ignored the ecological importance of fire.

1905

• US Forest Service established to manage America’s forest

1970-1978

• Forest Service publicly acknowledged the ecological importance of fire, allowing some fires to burn under accepted weather conditions.

• In 1978, the Forest Service officially abandoned its policy that required all fires to be extinguished as quickly as possible. The Forest Fires Emergency Act was repealed the same year

Politics and Fire

• Fire suppression policy has backfired because of the political nature of public land management.

• Public ownership of forests results in management decisions based on politics, rather than on local, professional, or scientific knowledge.

Air Quality

Nature’s Housekeeper

• http://www.smokeybear.com/with-fire.asp

• Without fire• http://www.smokeybear.com/without-fire.asp

Anatomy of a Prescribed Burn

Fire Dependent Ecosystems

High Burn Rate…

• Many factors are involved and include:

• Past fire suppression policies which allowed for the accumulation of fuel in the form of fallen leaves, branches, and excessive plant overgrowth in forest and wildland areas.

• Increasingly dry, hot weather. • Changing weather patterns across the US. • Increased residential development in the

wildland/urban interface.

Yellowstone Fire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIxyUcb2wqI&feature=related

Forest Fire Fighters

Known as GroundPounders or YellowShirts these fire fightersare the front line workers

Smoke Jumpers

Air Support

Real Time Forest Fires in US

• http://www.smokeybear.com/wildfire-map.asp

Only You….