Open AccessInterannual to decadal drought and wildfire in the western United States
Author(s) -
Westerling Anthony L.,
Swetnam Thomas W.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2003eo490001
Subject(s) - climate change , fire regime , ecosystem , environmental science , fire protection , natural (archaeology) , fire ecology , disturbance (geology) , geography , environmental resource management , physical geography , ecology , geology , archaeology , paleontology , biology , medicine , emergency medicine
Twentieth‐century wildfire suppression and land management policies have promoted biomass accumulations in some ecosystems in the western United States where wildfire is a natural and necessary element. These changes have fueled large, stand‐replacing crown fires in southwestern ponderosa pine forests, where they were rare under natural fire regimes [ Allen et al. , 2002]. Current policy contemplates massive ecosystem restoration involving prescribed fires and mechanical fuel reductions on millions of hectares and the subsequent re‐introduction of pre‐suppression fire regimes [ USDA and USDI , 2002]. Success critically depends on understanding past and present fire regimes. The current western drought and the potential for climatic change to increase the frequency and magnitude of the region's droughts [ Smith et al. , 2001] further emphasize the need to understand short‐ and long‐term climate‐fire relations.