Living with Fire

by Jensen, Sara E.

• ISBN13: 9780520255890
• ISBN10: 0520255895
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-08-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

Fire, both inevitable and ubiquitous, plays a crucial role in North American ecosystems. But as necessary as fire is to maintaining healthy ecosystems, it threatens human lives and livelihoods in unacceptable ways. This volume explores the rich yet largely uncharted terrain at the intersection of fire policy, fire science, and fire management in order to find better ways of addressing this pressing dilemma. Written in clear language, it will help scientists, policy makers, and the general public, especially residents of fire-prone areas, better understand where we are today in regard to coping with wildfires, how we got here, and where we need to go. Drawing on abundant historical and analytic information to shed new light on current controversies,Living with Fireoffers a dynamic new paradigm for coping with fire that recognizes its critical environmental role. The book also tells how we can rebuild the important ecological and political processes that are necessary for finding better ways to cope with fire and with other complex policy dilemmas.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
Acknowledgments	p. ix
Introduction: Uncertainty and Change	p. 1
Wildland Fire in the West: The Big Picture	p. 9
Fanning the Flames: Human Influences on Fire Regimes	p. 35
The Failed State of Fire Suppression	p. 61
Logging the Forests to Save Them	p. 75
Tools for Living with Fire	p. 103
Policy Solutions	p. 119
Notes	p. 137
Index	p. 169
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