Wildfire

Climate change is increasing the frequency and extent of high-severity disturbance, with potential to alter vegetation community composition and structure in environments sensitive to tipping points between alternative states. Shrub species display a range of characteristics that promote resistance and resilience to disturbance, and which yield differential post-disturbance outcomes. We investigated differences in shrub patch size and stem density in response to variations in fire severity, vegetation community, and post-disturbance reproductive strategies in Sky Island forested ecosystems in the southwestern United States. Patterns in shrub structure reflect the effects of fire severity as well as differences among species with alternate post-fire reproductive strategies. Increased fire severity correlates with larger patch sizes and greater stem densities; these patterns are observed across multiple fire events, indicating that disturbance legacies can persist for decades. High severity fire produces the largest shrub patches, and variance in shrub patch size increases with severity. High severity fire is likely to promote expansion of shrub species on the landscape, with implications for future community structure. Resprouting species have the greatest variability in patch structure, while seeding species show a strong response to disturbance: resprouting species dominate at low disturbance severities, and obligate seeders dominate high severity areas. Differential post-fire reproductive strategies are likely to generate distinct patterns of vegetation distribution following disturbance, with implications for community composition at various scales. Shrub species demonstrate flexible responses to wildfire disturbance severity that are reflected in shrub patch dynamics at small and intermediate scales.

Integral to the reproductive processes of the biota of several forest, shrub, and grassland biome-types, wildfire ignites some 3,400,000km2 of Earth’s vegetated surface annually. Though a highly complex phenomena coupled with not one, but several Earth systems, human actions are both directly and indirectly changing wildfire frequencies, intensities, severities, and behaviours, and to the detriment of both environment and society. Nowhere is this felt more so than the wildland urban interface, which home to roughly 1/3 of the nation’s populous and 40% of its housing stock, is the fastest-growing land-use type in the conterminous United States. A place where fire-averse architectures meet increasingly fire-prone lands, loss of lives, properties, and livelihoods to a series of wildfire complexes of proportions unprecedented in living memory have rendered there an urgent need to reconsider the challenge of living with wildfire as a vital landscape process. The product of a transdisciplinary study which converged state-of-the-knowledge from fields as diverse as the fire, ecological, and wider Earth sciences; information, communication, computing, and related technologies, both digital and biological; evolutionary, smart and living materials, architectures, and urban systems; philosophy, anthropology, psychology, and policymaking, this thesis presents a new wildland urban interface paradigm modelled on the biochemistries, behaviours, and systems of fire-adapted flora and the fire regimes they form. Migrating biomimetics from the level of species to systems, relying not on generic notions of nature and its workings, nor assumptions more generally, but on rigorous interrogation of the interplay between biotic and abiotic processes from the molecular to landscape to planetary scale, and across both human and geological timescales, several original theoretical and technical architectural and urban concepts are discussed, together with their possible applications and implications both within and beyond the wildland urban interface. Integrating insights from local and global indigenous and ancient fire cultures, the findings conclude that not merely is a reconciliation of human and non-human systems at the interface of fire-prone wild and urban lands possible, but therein resides potent ecological, social, and technical potentialities that merit further research in the years ahead.

Chapter Overview: Transcending the boundaries of space and time, whereas the 5-part case studies series is exclusively focused on recent western U.S. wildfire complexes and the future WUI insights as can be gleaned therefrom, this triangulated case study extends across continents and centuries to discuss parallels between events that have historically been considered as mutually exclusive, therein studied in silos. Traversing transdisciplinary information as relates to both wildland and urban fires, a system of systems approach is employed by means of illuminating how, at the level of biochemistry, physics, and the wider sciences, fire behaviours as are witnessed in wildlands have become manifest in cities past and present, and why the matter thereof it pertinent to architectural and urban design futures. While informing the new WUI paradigm this thesis puts forth, the purpose of this chapter is that of highlighting the wider applicability of the findings of this research programme, and of critiquing construction, and other built environment concepts as evidence vulnerability to fire.

Forest fire is of both local and global concern. Large scale fires are not part of the natural disturbance of tropical rain forests but this threat has increased in the last few decades. Under global warming, Indonesia is projected to have higher temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns. Southern Indonesia is predicted to be drier whereas the north is likely to become wetter. Inter-annual climate variability associated with phenomena such as the El Niño Southern Oscillation may cause big decreases in rainfall. This paper reviews the nature and extent of fire problem and the effectiveness of the current policy and institutional provisions in Indonesia in addressing forest fires under projected future climate change. We then consider possible strategies for improving their effectiveness. The review results indicate that first, Indonesia has enacted a number of regulations and established various institutions to tackle forest and other wildfires, but these have proved ineffective. Second, under future climate change scenarios and current fire management practices, Indonesia's tropical rain forests could be more susceptible to fire. Third, effectiveness could be improved by addressing the underlying causes of fires, involving a wide range of stakeholders in formulating the regulations and enhancing law enforcement.► 2-methoxyestradiol as inhibitor of arthritis and osteoporosis.

This study explores the preparedness of residents living in a rural community in Victoria, Australia, for wildfires, and the factors influencing their preparedness. Overall, participants were well aware of wildfire risks and appeared well prepared for the event of a fire. However, residents involved in agriculture and with a long-standing association with the area appeared better prepared than were those on small properties and newcomers. Their social networks, previous experiences with wildfires and grassfires, and involvement with the local fire brigade influenced preparedness of long-term residents. Characteristics of agricultural communities, including a culture of self-reliance, experience with fires as part of farming, and social cohesion, appeared to contribute to wildfire preparedness within this community. Included are recommendations encouraging preparedness for wildfires.

In remote areas, wild-fires often must be controlled by applying fire-retardants and suppressants dropped from small aircraft. However, impacts of these chemicals on natural stream ecosystems are poorly known. Unintentional aerial application of fire-fighting chemicals (Phos-Chek WD-881 and ForExspan S) onto two small streams during a natural wildfire on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, provided an opportunity to study the short-term

This study reports on Climate Assessment Project for the Southwest (CLIMAS) research on climate and nature-based tourism and recreation. Three case studies - of the ski industry, national park recreation, and wildfire management - illustrate different ways of using climate data for tourism research.

Little is known concerning the effects of wildfires on tree radial growth and their climatic response under contrasting regimes of fog water inputs on oceanic islands. On Tenerife, Canary Islands, windward slopes are humid with high-fog frequency due to influence of wet trade winds, while climate on leeward slopes is more arid. We used tree-ring records of Pinus canariensis Sweet ex Spreng. to quantify the effects of a fire of known date on radial growth and determine the main limiting climatic factors for growth. Radial growth patterns and their responsiveness to fire severity and climatic variation differed between windward and leeward slopes. Surface fire did not significantly impact growth, while crown fire caused short-term growth reduction, and even cessation, more pronounced on the windward slope. Growth rates, tree-ring common signal, and climate sensitivity were smaller on the windward slope, with cold winters, and summer water stress limiting growth. On the leeward slope, climate explained a greater amount of growth variation mainly due to negative effects of high October–December sea-level pressures causing dry winter conditions. Contrasting growth dynamics on both slopes may result from diverging physiological effects of water inputs and reduced radiation caused by fog drip. Our findings suggest that dating growth suppressions and absent rings are useful to date past high-severity crown fires in P. canariensis forests, in addition to ordinary fire scars dating indicative of low-severity surface fires.

The postmodern world is still struggling to blossom and flower. Organizations and their leaders often seem to be locked into Newtonian-Cartesian mechanistic worldviews, first wave behaviorism, and positivism. The theory and practice of servant-leadership, resilient leadership and adaptive leadership informed by psychology provide a way to address increasing levels of complexity in a postmodern world. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce is perhaps the greatest exemplar of servant-leadership in American history. The essential characteristics of resilient leadership are captured in the story of the battle of the Big Hole in the Nez Perce War of 1877. Adaptive work entails a change in values, beliefs, or behavior and requires diagnosis and action. As part of the diagnostic process, a model of human performance focused on resilience and adaptation is presented. Prescribed burning offers a practice field for developing adaptive and resilient leaders. Leadership is responsible for creating an engaging climate conducive to the growth and development of their people; the key ingredient to high performance. While improving policy, planning, and risk management are all necessary, perhaps the most important actions are emphasizing and devoting more resources to reflection, learning to develop expertise; and taking care of people. While we need to develop the capability to learn from all unexpected outcomes (the good, bad, ugly, and near miss), how we deal with tragedy is critical. Compassion is the cornerstone. The basic premise of this paper is that leadership is forged through experience (trial by fire), particularly experience responding to traumatic events.

Forest fires and burnt area in Portugal have been increasing in the last decades, contrarily to other southern European countries, although more resources are being allocated to prevention, detection and fire fighting. To minimize the probability of wildfires occurrence, it is crucial to assure the effectiveness of the prevention, vigilance and first attack operations. When fire prevention fails, fire fighting steps must be initiated, but this can only happen following detection. In Portugal the National Lookout Towers Network (NLTN) is the principal organized fire detection system, working together with some ground and aerial mobile units. However very few studies evaluated these systems effectiveness or contributed to know the lookout areas covered and which are the problematic areas not covered. In last years we characterized and evaluated the NLTN system in Portugal and produced several national cartography including visibility and vigilance priority maps. Using this cartography...

What happens to property values after a catastrophic climate event such as flood, or wildfire? This study examines how North American Real Estate markets respond after catastrophic events. The study explores the present and future risks to property valuation and insuranability. The study concludes with a recommendation for the creation of a Real Estate Climate Risk Index, as an intervention for creating market stability in the face of increasing frequency and scale of property damage from climate events.