The way to a healthy future for National Forest ecosystems in the West : what role can silviculture and prescribed fire play?
The way to a healthy future for National Forest ecosystems in the West : what role can silviculture and prescribed fire play?
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西方国家森林生态系统的健康未来之路：造林和规定用火可以发挥什么作用？
DOI：
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发表时间：
1995
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
D. MacCleery
中科院分区：
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作者：
D. MacCleery
1994 年美国西部的野火凸显了数十年来不断加剧的森林健康和燃料堆积问题。在许多西方森林生态系统中，自 20 世纪 40 年代以来，每英亩的森林生物量大幅上升，许多森林拥有茂密且易发生火灾的林下植被。如果目前的趋势持续下去，将会出现：1) 昆虫、疾病和火灾事件对国家森林生态系统造成的风险不断增加，2) 异常强烈的野火导致流域价值和野生动物栖息地的损失和退化不断增加，以及历史上以频繁、低强度火灾为特征的植被类型的生物多样性持续丧失，3) 位于森林地区的人类社区和被派去保护他们的消防员面临的风险增加，4) 严重且不断增加纳税人在灭火成本和资源价值方面的损失。采取有效解决森林生态系统健康所需的管理行动的主要障碍包括：1）公众对欧洲殖民之前美洲森林的性质有错误的认识，2）联邦环境法的实施零碎且不协调，3）注重项目的短期环境影响，而忽视了未能采取必要行动恢复森林健康的长期风险，以及4）缺乏关于森林健康问题的具体程度以及解决所需的治疗措施的一致、可靠的信息他们。
The 1994 wildfires in the U.S. West have highlighted a problem of forest health and fuel buildups that has been increasing for decades. In many Western forest ecosystems, forest biomass per acre has risen substantially since the 1940s and many forests have dense, fire-prone understories. If current trends continue, there will be: 1) increasing risks to National Forest ecosystems from insects, disease, and conflagration events, 2) a rising toll of loss and degradation of watershed values and wildlife habitats from abnormally intense wildfires, as well as continued losses in the biological diversity of vegetation types that were historically characterized by frequent, low intensity, fires, 3) increased risks to the human communities located in forested areas and to the fire fighters sent in to protect them, and 4) significant and increasing losses to taxpayers in fire suppression costs and resource values. Major barriers to taking the management actions needed to effectively address forest ecosystem health include: 1) erroneous public perceptions about the nature of American forests prior to European settlement, 2) piecemeal and uncoordinated implementation of federal environmental laws, 3) focusing on the shortterm environmental impacts of projects, while ignoring the long-term risks of failure to take the actions necessary to restore forest health, and 4) lack of consistent, reliable information on the specific extent of forest health problems, and on the treatment measures needed to address them.