Using fire to manage fire-prone regions around the world

Using fire to manage fire-prone regions around the world
This image shows a low intensity prescribed burn in open forest in Australia. Credit: N. Burrows

The Ecological Society of America's first online-only Special Issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment showcases prescribed burns around the globe, some of them drawing on historical practices to manage forests and grasslands in fire-prone regions.

The Online Special Issue looks at fire practices in the United States, Australia, southern Europe, South Africa and South America. One review article focuses on the cooperative efforts of US ranchers in the Great Plains using fire to beat back juniper encroachment on .

Another features traditional Aboriginal approaches to minimize greenhouse-gas emissions from savanna fires in northern Australia. In South America, traditional Mayan practices to produce "forest gardens" are applied to create spaces within the forest for different kinds of crops while contributing to and sustaining wildlife. And in southern Europe, a significant challenge is contending with stringent laws that create obstacles for using managed burns to decrease wildfire risk and manage habitats for grazing and wildlife.

Using fire to manage fire-prone regions around the world
This image shows a prescribed burn in Klamath National Forest, CA. Credit: E. Knapp

More information: www.esajournals.org/toc/fron/11/s1

Citation: Using fire to manage fire-prone regions around the world (2013, August 14) retrieved 19 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2013-08-fire-prone-regions-world.html
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