MadSci Network: Environment
Query:

Re: What type of scientist are involved in helping us prepare for forest fires?

Date: Wed Jun 1 10:58:51 2005
Posted By: Susan Letcher, Grad student, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut
Area of science: Environment
ID: 1117065486.En
Message:

Many scientists are involved in understanding forest fires, helping us 
predict and prepare for them, and fighting them where appropriate. 
Community ecologists and foresters study the complex interactions 
of life forms in forests (e.g., Johnson and Miyanishi 2001). 
Theoretical ecologists model the effects of fires on communities and 
ecosystems (e.g., He and Mladenhoff 1999), and physicists and 
mathematicians model the behaviors of the fires themselves (e.g., 
Scott and Reinhardt 2001). Chemists evaluate the effectiveness of 
different fire-fighting chemicals (e.g., Blakely 1988). Even social 
scientists are involved: economists (e.g., Mills and Bratten 1982) 
calculate the costs of forest fires for industry and for nearby 
homeowners.
Here in the U.S., most of the work on forest fires is done by the Forest 
Service. They have an informative, useful website at: 
http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/index.html 
Any library which serves as a depository for federal 
records (e.g., the libraries of most universities 
and some colleges) will have papers from the Forest Service on file, 
probably on microfilm. It’s well worth taking a look at them. 
For many years, the Forest Service worked to suppress all fires. Early 
workers (e.g., Folweiler 1937) considered forest fires to be disasters 
that should be avoided. In the second half of the 20th century, 
scientists began to understand that forest fires are a natural part of 
the landscape (USDA 1998). They return nutrients to the soil and 
open up space where pioneer plants can grow 
(Johnson and Miyanishi 2001), maintaining diversity across the 
landscape. Also, some 
plants will not release their seeds without the heat of a fire (see a 
useful web page from the Michigan Department of Natural 
Resources: http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_22664-60
337--,00.html
In 2000, the Forest Service established a National Fire Plan 
(www.fireplan.gov/index.html), which focuses on the balance 
between the importance of fire in healthy forests, and the importance 
of keeping human settlements safe from fires.

Literature Cited:

Blakely, A.D. 1988. Flammability reduction comparisons of four forest 
fire retardants. Ogden, Utah: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, 
Intermountain Research Station.

Foweiler, A.D. 1937. Theory and practice of forest fire protection in the 
United States. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University 
Press.

He, H.S., and D.J. Mladenhof. 1999. Spatially explicit and stochastic 
simulation of forest fire disturbance and succession. Ecology 80: 
81-99.

Johnson, E.A., and K. Miyanishi. 2001. Forest fires: behavior and 
ecological effects. San Diego, California: Academic Press.

Mills, T.J., and F.W. Bratten. 1982. FEES : design of a Fire Economics 
Evaluation System. Berkeley, California: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 
Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment 
Station.

Scott, J.H. and E.D. Reinhardt. 2001. Assessing crown fire potential 
by linking models of surface and crown fire. Fort Collins, Colorado: 
U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research 
Station.

 USDA [United States Department of Agriculture], 1998. Faces of fire : 
prevention, suppression, prescribed fires. Washington, D.C.: U.S. 
Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Management.





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