Using fire to manage fire-prone regions around the world
Inaugural online-only Special Issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
Media Advisory
For immediate release 14 August 2013
Contact: Nadine Lymn, (202) 833-8773, ext. 205; gro.asenull@enidan
Prescribed burn in Klamath National Forest CA. Credit: E. Knapp
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 native grasslands. 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 soil fertility 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.
The August online-only issue of Frontiers is open access, as are all Frontiers Special Issues. Access Prescribed burning in fire-prone landscapes here or click on the titles below to go directly to an article.
Prescribed burning in southern Europe: developing fire management in a dynamic landscape
Prescribed fire in North American forests and woodlands: history, current practice, and challenges
Prescribed burning in southwestern Australian forests
Fire management in species-rich Cape fynbos shrublands
The Maya milpa: fire and the legacy of living soil
The rising Great Plains fire campaign: citizens’ response to woody plant encroachment