The History and Evolution of Wildland Fire Use
The History and Evolution of Wildland Fire Use
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荒地用火的历史和演变
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发表时间：
2007
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影响因子：
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通讯作者：
J. W. Wagtendonk
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文献类型：
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作者：
J. W. Wagtendonk
作为一个概念，荒野火的使用起源于人类第一次获得灭火的能力。基于人类的价值观和目标，一些大火被扑灭，另一些被允许燃烧。美洲原住民和欧美定居者扑灭了那些威胁到他们村庄和定居点的大火，但其他人却有增无减。即使在19世纪80年代末出现了灭火能力，控制努力也集中在人类发展领域，而偏远地区的火灾基本上被忽视了。当林业局在1905年成立时，灭火成为其存在的理由，尽管一些林学家质疑扑灭所有火灾的经济逻辑。灭火是所有联邦土地管理机构的唯一火灾政策，直到20世纪60年代末，国家公园管理局正式承认火灾是一个自然过程。允许在公园特别管理区内点燃的雷电火灾在规定的条件下自行蔓延。1974年，林业局效仿，将其政策从消防改为火灾管理，允许雷击大火在荒野地区燃烧。随着管理人员逐渐习惯于允许火灾在受控条件下燃烧，这两个机构的项目增长缓慢。不同的术语被用来描述这些计划，包括“让燃烧”，“规定的自然之火”，以及现在的“荒野之火的使用”。1988年的黄石公园火灾和2000年的Cerro Grande火灾等挫折导致了对联邦火灾管理政策的审查和更新。20世纪90年代末和21世纪初，鱼类和野生动物服务局、土地管理局和印第安人事务局加入了另外两个机构的行列，实施了火灾使用计划。今天，野地火灾的使用是每个联邦土地管理机构的火灾和燃料计划中至关重要的一环，每年有近6000起火灾燃烧超过140万公顷(350万交流)。未来恢复易起火的生态系统的火将不得不依赖于增加对野地火的使用。
Wildland fire use as a concept had its origin when humans first gained the ability to suppress fires. Some fires were suppressed and others were allowed to burn based on human values and objectives. Native Americans and Euro-American settlers fought those fires that threatened their villages and settlements but left others to burn unabated. Even with the advent of a fire suppression capability in the late 1880s, control efforts were focused on areas of human development while fires in remote areas were largely ignored. When the Forest Service was established in 1905, fire suppression became its reason for being, although some foresters questioned the economic logic of suppressing all fires. Fire suppression was the only fire policy for all federal land management agencies until the late 1960s when the National Park Service officially recognized fire as a natural process. Lightning fires ignited in special management zones in parks were allowed to run their course under prescribed conditions. The Forest Service followed suit in 1974 and changed its policy from fire control to fire management, allowing lightning fires to burn in wilderness areas. The programs in both agencies grew slowly as managers became comfortable with allowing fires to burn under controlled conditions. Various terms were used to describe these programs including “Let Burn,” “Prescribed Natural Fire,” and now “Wildland Fire Use.” Setbacks such as the Yellowstone fires in 1988 and the Cerro Grande fire in 2000 resulted in reviews and updates of federal fire management policies. The Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Bureau of Indian Affairs joined the other two agencies by implementing fire use programs in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Today wildland fire use is a vital link in the fire and fuels programs of each of the federal land management agencies with nearly 6,000 fires burning over 1,400,000 ha (3,500,000 ac) annually. The future of restoring fire to fire-prone ecosystems will have to rely on increasing the use of wildland fire.