Abstract
An El Niño winter in 1998-99, followed by a strong La Niña winter in 1999- 2000, set the stage for potentially large wildfires in the southwestern, southeastern, and northwestern forests of the United States. Researchers at the University of Arizona organized a three-day workshop to discuss the relationship between synoptic scale climate conditions and wildland fire probability. Over the three days, fire managers, fuels managers, fire ecologists, climatologists, and other experts began the task of not only learning from each other, but also figuring out how to talk to each other. The workshop exceeded the organizers’ expectations and has led to the institutionalization of annual fire-climate workshops. The initial workshop also provided the foundations for a subsequent project, completed in July 2004, to build a GIS model that integrates fire, climate, and societal values in a manner that specifically supports strategic planning in wildland fire management. This paper describes the two parallel paths that emerged from the 2000 fire-climate workshop and discusses the benefits and challenges of interdisciplinary, collaborative research projects for building regional and local-scale sustainability in the face of multiple societal and natural stressors.
Parent Publication
Keywords
monitoring,
assessment,
sustainability,
Western Hemisphere,
sustainable management,
ecosystem resources,
strategic planning,
wildland fire management,
El Niño
Citation
Morehouse, Barbara J.; Garfin, Gregg; Brown, Timothy; Swetnam, Thomas W. 2006. Integrating Fire, Climate, and Societal Factors into Decision Support for Strategic Planning in Wildland Fire Management. In: Aguirre-Bravo, C.; Pellicane, Patrick J.; Burns, Denver P.; and Draggan, Sidney, Eds. 2006. Monitoring Science and Technology Symposium: Unifying Knowledge for Sustainability in the Western Hemisphere Proceedings RMRS-P-42CD. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 699-705
