Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Land management

Forests, fires and climate

Nature volume 432, pages 28–29 (2004)Cite this article

A new analysis of the effect of climatic variation on forest fires goes back several thousand years. One take-home message is that a one-size-fits-all forest management strategy is, literally, short-sighted.

Seemingly unprecedented events in human lifetimes can be business-as-usual when viewed on longer time-frames. But that's not always recognized. For example, management strategies in the United States that seek to restore landscapes to the conditions that prevailed at the time of first European contact often fail to consider the events that created those conditions. This short-sightedness is particularly evident in the area of wildfire management.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Slide show.

G. A. MEYER

References

  1. Pierce, J. L., Meyer, G. A. & Jull, A. J. T. Nature 432, 87–90 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. DellaSala, D. A., Williams, J. E., Williams, C. D. & Franklin, J. F. Conserv. Biol. 18, 980–986 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. National Interagency Fire Center http://www.nifc.gov (2004).

  4. Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003 http://www.healthyforests.gov/initiative/legislation.html (2003).

  5. Westerling, A. L., Gershunov, A., Brown, T. J., Cayan, D. R. & Dettinger, M. D. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 84, 595–604 (2003).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. McKenzie, D., Gedalof, Z., Peterson, D. L. & Mote, P. Conserv. Biol. 18, 890–902 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Agee, J. K. Fire Ecology of Pacific Northwest Forests (Island Press, Washington DC, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Whitlock, C. & Bartlein, P. J. in The Quaternary Period in the United States (eds Gillespie, A. R., Porter, S. C. & Atwater, B. F.) 479–490 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2004).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Cannon, S. H., Bigio, E. R. & Mine, E. Hydrol. Processes 15, 3011–3023 (2003).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Pyne, S. J., Andrews, P. L. & Laven, R. D. Introduction to Wildland Fire (Wiley, New York, 1996).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Grissano-Mayer, H. D. & Swetnam, T. W. Holocene 10, 213–220 (2000).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Veblen, T. T., Kitzberger, T. & Donnegan, J. Ecol. Appl. 10, 1178–1195 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Brown, P. M., Kaufmann, M. R. & Shepperd, W. D. Landscape Ecol. 14, 513–532 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Earth Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, 59717, Montana, USA

    Cathy Whitlock

Authors
  1. Cathy Whitlock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Whitlock, C. Forests, fires and climate. Nature 432, 28–29 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/432028a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/432028a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing