Federal Fire Policy
Federal policy documents that are key to understanding the basis for how fires are currently managed on national public lands
Stephens, S. and Ruth, L. 2005. Federal Forest-Fire Policy in the United States. Ecological Applications 15(2):532-542.
USDI, USDA, DOE, DOD, EPA, NOAA, et al. 2001. Review and Update of the 1995 Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy. National Interagency Fire Center, Boise, ID.
USDI, USDA, National Association of State Foresters, et al. 2008. Quadrennial Fire Review. National Interagency Fire Center, Boise, ID.
USDA and USDI. 2009. Guidance for Implementation of Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy.
USDA and USDI. 2014. The National Strategy: The Final Phase Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (The National Strategy).
California State Fire Policy
State fire policy on private lands is by necessity focused on protection of life and property. The release in March, 2022, of the Strategic Plan for Expanding the Use of Beneficial Fire, represents an expanding awareness of the powerful benefits of using prescribed fire to achieve goals for resource protection as well as improved cultural and ecological benefits.
California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force. 2022. California’s Strategic Plan for Expanding the Use of Beneficial Fire.
California Forest Management Taskforce. 2021. Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan.
Pyrodiversity
Bowman, D.M.J.S, Perry, G.L.W., Higgins, S.I., Johnson, C.N., Fuhlendorf, S.D., and B.P. Murphy. Pyrodiversity is the coupling of biodiversity and fire regimes in food webs. 2016. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 371:20150169
Koontz, M.J., North, M.P., Werner, C.M., Fick, S.E., and A.M. Latimer. 2020. Local forest structure variability increases resilience to wildfire in dry western U.S. coniferous forests. Ecology Letters doi: 10.1111/ele.13447.
Martin, R.E., and D.B. Sapsis. 1991. Fires and Agents of Biodiversity: Pyrodiversity Promotes Biodiversity. Proceedings of the Symposium on Biodiversity of Northwestern California, October 28-30, 1991, Santa Rosa, California.
Pyrodiversity in Sierra Nevada Mixed Conifer Forest. Jamie Lydersen, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Fire and Resource Assessment ProgramPresentation, April 4, 2019 Fire MOU Partnership meeting.
Tingley, M.W., Ruiz-Gutiérrez, V., Wilkerson, R.L., Howell, C.A., and R.B. Siegel. 2016. Pyrodiversity promotes avian diversity over the decade following forest fire. Proc. R. Soc. B. 283: 20161703.
Webster, K.M. and .B. Halpern. 2010. Long-term vegetation responses to reintroduction and repeated use of fire in mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada. Ecosphere. 1(5):1-27.
Fire Science and Management
Black, A. et al. 2004. Wildland Fire Use: The "Other" Treatment Option. Environmental Consequences Fact Sheet #6, from Fuels Planning: Science Synthesis and Integration. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Research Note RMRS-RN-23-6-WWW.
Black, A., Williamson, M., and Doane, D. 2008. Wildland Fire Use Barriers and Facilitators. Fire Management Today. 68(1):10-14.
Calkin, D.E., Thompson, M.P., and M.S. Finney. 2015. Negative consequences of positive feedbacks in US wildfire management. Ecosystems. 2(9): 1-10.
Collins, B. M., Everett, R. G., & Stephens, S. L. 2011. Impacts of fire exclusion and recent managed fire on forest structure in old growth Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forests. Ecosphere, 2(4), Article 5, 1-14.
Downing, W.M., Dunn, C.J., Thompson, M.P., Caggiano, M.D., and K.C. Short. 2022. Human ignitions on private lands drive USFS cross‑boundary wildfire transmission and community impacts in the western US. Scientific Reports. 12:2624.
North, M., Stine, P., O’Hara, K., Zielinski, W., and Stephens, S. 2009. An Ecosystem Management Strategy for Sierran Mixed-Conifer Forests. Gen. Tech. Rep. PWS-GTR-220. Albany, California: U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station.
North, Malcolm, ed. 2012. Managing Sierra Nevada Forests. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-237. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 184 p.
North, M., Collins, M., and Stephens, S. 2012. Using fire to increase the scale, benefits, and future maintenance of fuels treatments. J. For. 110(7):392–401 (302 KB PDF).
North, M., et al. Tamm Review: Reforestation for resilience in dry western U.S. forests. 2019. Forest Ecology and Management 432:209-224.
Schoennagel, T., Balch, J.K., Brenkert-Smith, H., Dennison, P.E., Harvey, B.J., Krawchuk, M.A., Mietkiewicz, N., Morgan, P., Mortiz, M.A., Rasker, R., Turner, M.G., and C. Whitlock. Adapt to more wildfire in western North American forests as climate changes. PNAS. Released for early edition. doi:10.1073/pnas. 16174641114.
Silvas-Bellanca, Karina. 2011. Ecological Burning in the Sierra Nevada: Actions to Achieve Restoration. White Paper produced by Sierra Forest Legacy.
Stephens, S. and Ruth, L. 2005. Federal Forest-Fire Policy in the United States. Ecological Applications 15(2):532-542.
Stephens, S. L., Martin, R. E., and Clinton, N. E. 2007. Prehistoric fire area and emissions from California’s forests, woodlands, shurblands, and grasslands. Forest Ecology and Management 251(3): 205-216.
Stephens, S.L. et al. 2014. Temperate and boreal forest mega-fires: characteristics and challenges. Front Ecol Environ 2014; 12(2): 115–122.
Webster, K. M., & Halpern, C. B. 2010. Long-term vegetation responses to reintroduction and repeated use of fire in mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada. Ecosphere, 1(5), Article 9.
Air Quality Science and Policy
Cisneros, R., Schweizer, D., Preisler, H., Bennett, D.H., Shaw, G., Bytnerowicz, A. 2014. Spatial and seasonal patterns of particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. Atmospheric Pollution Research 5 (2014) 581-590.
Engel, K.H. 2013. Perverse incentives: the case of wildfire smoke regulation. Ecology Law Currents. 40(623):623-671.
Long, J.W., Tarnay, L.W., and M.P.North. 2017, in press. Aligning Smoke Management with Ecological and Public Health Goals. J. Forestry 115:000-000. Published online January 19, 2017.
Schweizer, D. and R. Cisneros. 2014. Wildland fire management and air quality in the Southern Sierra Nevada: Using the Lion Fire as a case study with a multi-year perspective on PM 2.5 impacts and fire policy. J. of Environ. Mgmt. 144:265-278.
Schweizer, D.W., and R. Cisneros. 2017. Forest fire policy: Change conventional thinking of smoke management to prioritize long-term air quality and public health. Air Quality and Atmospheric Health. 10(1):33-36.
Schweizer, D. et al. 2017. Using National Ambient Air Quality Standards for fine particulate matter to assess regional wildland fire smoke and air quallity management. J. Env. Mgmt. 201 (2017) 345-356.
Forests and Climate Science
California Forest Carbon Plan 2018
Harmon, M, W. Ferrell, and J.F. Franklin. 1990. Effects on carbon storage of conversion of old-growth forests to young forests. Science, 247, 699–702.
Hurteau, M.D., A. L. Westerling, C. Wiedinmyer, and B.P. Bryant. 2014. Projected effects of climate and development on California wildfire emissions through 2100. Environ. Sci. Technol. 48:(2298-2304).
Meyer, M.D. 2015. Resource objective wildfires benefit resource. Research Brief for Research Managers, California Fire Science Consortium.
Luyssaert, S. et al. 2008. Old-growth forests as global carbon sinks. Nature 455:213-215 doi:10.1038/nature07276.
Meyer, M.D. 2015. Resource objective wildfires benefit resource. Research Brief for Research Managers, California Fire Science Consortium.
North, M., Collins, M., and Stephens, S. 2012. Using fire to increase the scale, benefits, and future maintenance of fuels treatments. J. Forestry 110(7):392–401.
Stephens, S.L., R.E. Martin, and N.E. Clinton. 2007. Prehistoric Fire Area and Emissions from California’s Forests, Woodlands, Shrublands, and Grasslands. Forest Ecology and Management 251(3):205-216.
Thompson, I., Mackey, B., McNulty, S., Mosseler, A. 2009. Forest Resilience, Biodiversity, and Climate Change. A synthesis of the biodiversity/resilience/stability relationship in forest ecosystems. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal. Technical Series no. 43, 67 pages.
van Mantgem, P. J. et al. 2009. Widespread increase of tree mortality rates in the Western United States. Science 23 January 2009: Vol. 323. no. 5913, pp. 521 - 524 DOI: 10.1126/science.1165000.
Westerling, A. L. et al. 2006. Warming and earlier spring increase Western U.S. forest wildfire activity. Science. 313:940, DOI: 10.1126/science.1128834.
Fire MOU Partnership
Fire MOU Partnership Signed October, 2015
Fire MOU Partnership Slide Presentation, May 2017
Current members Fire Partnership Members Poster
Letters and Other Media
June 2020: Fire Primer for Journalists. Stephen Pyne.
2016 group scientists' letter re: The fire challenge: Increasing fire use for natural resource benefits, carbon stability and protection of public health. Jan. 22, 2016. Sent to USDA, US EPA, USDI, and CEQ.
Additional Bibliography
Agee, J.K. 1993. Fire Ecology of Pacific Northwest Forests. Island Press. 493 pp.
Anderson, M. K. 2005. Tending the Wild: Native American Knowledge and the Management of California's Natural Resources. University of California Press. 526 pp.
Biswell, H. 1989. Prescribed Burning in California Wildlands Vegetation Management. University of California Press. 255 pp.
Blackburn, T.C. and K. Andersen. 1993. Before the Wilderness: Environmental Management by Native Californians. Ballena Press. 476 pp.
Lindenmayer, D.B. and J.F. Franklin. 2002. Conserving Forest Biodiversity: A Comprehensive Multiscaled Approach. Island Press. 351 pp.
Lindenmayer, D.B., Burton, P.J., and J.F. Franklin. 2008. Salvage Logging and Its Ecological Consequences. Island Press. 227 pp.
Mount, J.R. 2010. Torching Conventional Forestry: The Artful Application of Science. Auberry Press. 278 pp.
Sugihara, N.G, Van Wagtendonk, J. W., Shaffner, K.E., Kaufman, J.F., and A. Thode. 2006. Fire in California's Ecosystems. University of California Press. 596 pp.
Wuerthner, G. 2006. Wildfire: A Century of Failed Forest Policy. Island Press. 322 pp.
