Pyrocene Flashcards
When is it thought that fires first occurred on Earth? Why/how so?
About 400 million years ago, via charcoal records.
Give a brief rundown of Earth History in relation to fire…
1st land plant macrofossils around 425Ma; charcoal rising.
First forests around 390-350 Ma; charcoal higher than before.
Oscillating charcoal record, but peaks ~300 Ma with evolution and spread of conifers.
Another peak spike ~150-100 Ma with evolution and spread of angiosperms. Decreases with forest spread. Slight increase with the spread of grasslands ~8 Ma.
What role did early humans play in fire regimes?
Natural ecosystem-fire feedbacks. But then humans changed these relationships through burning.
Large tree decline coincident with Maori arrival to New Zealand.
Have cleared fire-intolerant forests, but increased their vulnerability through encouraging grassland expansion, especially for cropland.
What is ‘The Pyric Transition’?
Humans developing society, intolerant to fire, so when it occurs, it is considered unnatural, harmful, wrong -> ‘demonized’.
The transition to a society that fears fire, believes it unnatural, and demands inapporpriate modes of management.
What was the US Forest Service’s approach in the early 1900s?
1905: 65M acres of forest reserves created nder Roosevelt.
Protection from fire encouraged as part of conservation.
1910: devasting 3 M acre fire killing 80, resulted in total suppression approach.
FS put out ~95% of wildfires every year!
rule any fire had to be contained and suppressed by 10a next day.
What was the fire regime like in the US before the 1900s?
Using dendrochronology (scars in rings); found evidence of common fires since 1600s up to 1900s, then huge reduction, almost non-existent post-1920.
Paul Hessburg (TED) Photograph from 150 yrs ago shows how PATCHY forests were; mosaic-like, grassy open and closed forest. Natural mechanism.
How did it become clear that fire suppression is in fact a ‘monster’?
1988 Yellowstone: 800k acres burned compared to 18k the last time. All trees around 250 yrs old. Thick understoreys. Dry summer -> too many fires to control.
= MEGAFIRES
More trees than forest can support; dense and continuous, no firebreaks, more fuel
What are the new rules regarding wildfire in the US and when were plans updated?
2004 - natural fires allowed if non-threatening to homes. But man-made fire is suppressed.
What is meant by ‘Smokey’s Legacy’?
Continuous forest cover for as far as the eye can see e.g. Lolo National Forest, Montana or St Joe NF, Idaho.
Who is Smokey Bear and how did “he” influence ecosystems and fire occurrence in the US?
Ad campaign device
Total suppression - fear tactics
Now more about being safe and sensible…
What is the WUI? Give three case studies regarding interactions and implications.
Wildland Urban Interface - man living in fire-prone areas.
- Gatlinburg, 2016: town within forested valley; no boundary or defensible space. In 2016 wildfire killed 14, injured 190, destroyed 2460 homes, $500M.
- Paris, California, 2018: poor housing policy, same houses with poor defensible space. Catastrophc fires, killed ~80, affected 50k.
- UK; Stubble Burning Ban, 1993: old technique to prepare soils but was banned by DEFRA so we’ve lost our skills and comfort with fire. Don’t know what to do when fields catch fire.
What is meant by fire being a ‘wicked problem’ (Rittel and Webber, 1973)?
A multi-layered problem termed ‘wicked’ when it meets the four following criteria:
- Contradictory knowledge: no 1 size fits all solution; socio-ecological
- Scale: global, transcends generations; all levels of society and authorities
- Economic burden: where to spend money i.e. suppression, infrastructure, insurance, research, prediction systems?
- Interconnectivity: climate change, WUI, politics, agriculture, insurance
What is meant by ‘pyropolitics’?
The fact that fire managemenet in the 21st century has been influenced greatly by politics.
Election cycles = short-term thinking -> hard to think about future fire risks.
Climate change debates -> real or not, relative influence of fire.
Lack of organisational/agent diversity.
No country can stand alone in this problem - must engage all voices for solutions.
What is The Chicheley Declaration? Outline the three overall aims and overall conclusion.
30 scholars across disciplines and countries in 2015 signed to this declaration for a new ‘Vision for Wildfire Research in 2050’. This included the encouragement of:
- development of national and internat funding, multi-disciplinary
- scientific, public, media and political discussion -> informed decisions
- the means of further high quality multidisc. research; holistic study across space and time
Concluded that:
“with demographic, economic and climatic change certain but unpredictable, human fire relationships must retain sufficient social and ecosystem diversity to provide adaptive capability and resilience in the face of such changes”
