The Wildfire Climate Relationship in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness: Using Management Strategies to Return Wildfire to Wilderness Landscapes

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The Wildfire Climate Relationship in the
Selway-Bitterroot WildernessUsing Management
Strategies to Return Wildfire to Wilderness
Landscapes
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• When you think of wilderness.What do you
  imagine?

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The Wilderness ACT of 1964
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(No Transcript)
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The Wilderness Act of 1964

• Wilderness is to be untrammeled by man.
• Who knew a reference to a horse could be so
  important to wilderness legislation.

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BUT.

• Fire has and is successfully suppressed across
  wilderness landscapes.
• Effectively, 99 of all wildfire is suppressed

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Wildfire Suppression

• Alters fire occurrence changing
• Natural plant communities
• Succession
• Vegetation mosaic
• Accumulations of fuel
• Wildlife habitat
• Nutrient cycles
• Energy flows
• The interplay between fire, insects and disease
• Ecosystem productivity, diversity and stability
• Water quantity and quality
• Direct Conflict to Wilderness Legislation!

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Understanding the Variables

• Fire Extent, Frequency and Severity
• Influenced By
• Topography (elevation, aspect, slope and geology)
• Vegetation types
• Climate

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Climate and Fire

• Palmer Drought Severity Indices (PDSI)
• Superposed Epoch Analysis (SEA)
• Fire Atlases/National Interagency Fire Management
  Integrated Database (NIFMID)

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So, What do the Pros Say?

• Fire atlas data
• 70 of the SBW has burned
• Between 1880 and 1996
• 524 fires
• 75 of this total is attributed to the 6 largest
  fire years.
• 1889, 1910, 1919, 1929, 1934 1988
• WHY IS THIS?

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Generally.
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300 Year Perspective
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Similarly
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Local/Global

• La Nina and El Nino Phases are important
• Variance in precip. Occurs at 40 degrees N.
• So

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Wilderness and Fire

• Wilderness fire, in its purest form, should be
  wild fire unfettered by the constraints of
  humans. We have never prescribed a let-it-blow
  policy for tornadoes and hurricanes, a
  let-it-erupt policy for volcanoes or a
  let-it-grind policy for glaciers. Why, then,
  did we need a let-it-burn policy for
  fires.-Agee
• Fire is a natural disturbance that humans can
  sometimes manipulate.
• Social stigmas, politics and economics all
  influence the human response to wildfire.
• Fire suppression has previously been viewed as a
  way to protect forest resources for future
  harvest.

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Fire The Future

• A natural disturbance
• Wilderness and its future ecological health
• Scientific Knowledge and Current Conditions
• Provide land managers with tools for
  re-establishment of fire in wilderness
  ecosystems..WFUs and AMR

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Associated Costs Benefits

• Standard Suppression 150-250/Acres
• Fuels Treatment 1200/acre at an estimated 90-200
  million acres
• WFUs 43/Acre

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Conclusion

• Natural interaction exists between climate and
  wildfire in the SBW
• Larger scales of interest also are important to
  consider
• Suppression has altered wildfire frequency,
  extent and severity normally influenced by
  climate, topography and vegetation

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References