Historical Fire Regimes and Their Application to Forest Management

Module Description: The Fire Ecology and Management Series is provided by the Northwest Center for Sustainable Resources and includes six modules. The series “is designed to address both the general role of fire in ecosystems as well as specific wildfire management issues in forest ecosystems.” The six modules include Ecological Role of Fire, Historical Fire Regimes and their Application to Forest Management, Anatomy of a Wildfire – the B&B Complex Fires, Pre-Fire Intervention – Thinning and Prescribed Burning, Post-Wildfire (Salvage) Logging – the Controversy, and An Evaluation of Media Coverage of Wilderness Issues.

The Historical Fire Regimes and Their Application to Forest Management is the second of six modules and is intended for courses that support disciplines such as Forestry, Wildlife, and Environmental Sciences. This module “introduces the concept of historical fire regimes and describes how they are applied to modern forest management.” The module can be taught independently or as part of the series. 

Module Contents: The PowerPoint presentation includes lecture notes and covers “how fire histories are determined and provides maps of fire regimes across the United States.” The causes of altered fire regimes and the health risks they pose are also discussed.

The 49-page document provides information about the module and includes six sections: Module Description, Historical Fire Regimes and their Application to Forest Management, General Lecture Outline, PowerPoint Slides with Instructor’s Notes, Supplemental Lecture Support, and Resources.