The efficacy of fire and fuels reduction treatments in a Sierra Nevada pine plantation
The efficacy of fire and fuels reduction treatments in a Sierra Nevada pine plantation
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内华达山脉松树种植园的火灾和燃料减少处理的效果
DOI：
10.1071/wf06097
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发表时间：
2009
影响因子：
3.1
通讯作者：
S. Stephens
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
L. Kobziar;J. McBride;S. Stephens
在森林大火之后，种植园是最常见的重新造林手段。由于灭火或气候变化，野火的规模和严重性不断增加，种植园的建立可能也会增加。种植园的结构特点，包括密集、均匀的间距和丰富的梯子燃料，构成了重大的野火危险。为了减少种植园的潜在火灾行为和保护周围的森林，大规模的燃料减少技术可能是必要的。在本研究中，比较了四种不同的操作方法，旨在减少内华达山脉松林潜在的火灾行为。这些治疗包括：机械粉碎或咀嚼落叶植物和小树；咀嚼后再用规定的火；单独用火；以及控制。火灾行为模拟表明，咀嚼是有害的，而规定的火在中等到极端天气条件下有效地减少潜在的火灾行为。将预测的火灾行为与规定燃烧的实际值进行比较，以努力探索火灾模拟的局限性。在结构更均匀的林分中，火灾行为预测与现场观测相似，但在咀嚼作用造成森林开口和燃料分布参差不齐的情况下，预测结果有很大差异。与天然林分相比，松树种植园的同质性使本工作的结果适用于其他地区，如美国东南部，在那里使用类似的燃料减少技术来提高耐火性和林分弹性。
Plantations are the most common means of reforestation following stand-replacing wildfires. As wildfires continue to increase in size and severity as a result of fire suppression or climate change, establishment of plantations will likely also increase. Plantations’ structural characteristics, including dense, uniform spacing and abundant ladder fuels, present significant wildfire hazards. Large-scale fuels reduction techniques may be necessary to reduce potential fire behavior in plantations and to protect surrounding forests. In the present study, four different manipulations aimed at reducing potential fire behavior in a Sierra Nevada pine plantation are compared. The treatments include: mechanical shredding, or mastication, of understorey vegetation and small trees; mastication followed by prescribed fire; fire alone; and controls. Fire behavior modeling shows that mastication is detrimental whereas prescribed fire is effective in reducing potential fire behavior at moderate to extreme weather conditions. Predicted fire behavior was compared with actual values from the prescribed burns in an effort to explore the limitations of fire modeling. Fire behavior predictions were similar to field observations in the more structurally homogeneous stands, but differed greatly where mastication created forest openings and patchy fuels distributions. In contrast to natural stands, the homogeneity of pine plantations make the results of the present work applicable to other regions such as the south-eastern US, where similar fuels reduction techniques are used to increase fire-resistance and stand resilience.