Prioritizing fuel management in urban interfaces threatened by wildfires |
| |
| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Bari, Bari, Italy;2. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK;3. CGCEO/Geography, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA;1. Department of Natural Resources and Society, University of Idaho, United States;2. Department of Environmental Science and Management, Portland State University, Portland, OR, United States;3. Ecosystem Workforce Program, Institute for a Sustainable Environment, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, United States;1. University of Washington, Box 352100, Seattle, WA 98195-2511, USA;2. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, 400 N 34th Street Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98103, USA;1. National Research Council, Institute for Biometeorology (CNR-IBMET), Sassari, Italy;2. Department of Mechanical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy;3. Department of Architecture, Planning and Design, University of Sassari, Alghero, Italy;1. School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, P.O. Box 15018, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA;2. Environmental Science, Policy and Management Department, UC Berkeley, 130 Mulford Hall #3114, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114, USA;3. Rocky Mountain Research Station, 2500 S. Pine Knoll Dr., Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA;4. College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho, P.O. Box 441133, Moscow, ID 83844, USA;1. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, 5775 US Highway 10W, Missoula, MT 59808 USA;2. Oregon State University, College of Forestry, Forest Engineering, Resources & Management, 280 Peavy Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA;3. Oregon State University, College of Agricultural Science, Crop and Soil Science, 109 Crop Science Building, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA;4. USDA Forest Service International Visitor Program, Oregon State University, Department of Forest Engineering, Resources and Management, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA |
| |
| Abstract: | Rapid growth of many cities in Europe in recent decades has resulted in the expansion of human settlements spreading into fire-prone landscapes. Wildfires are increasingly impinging upon human populations because of anthropogenic changes to the global fire cycle. Large investments are therefore required to prevent fires from spreading into urban areas to protect human life and reduce property damage. Naturally, prioritizing fuel management by identifying sites where the greatest number of people are exposed to wildfires is often a challenge for governments because of limited resources. Herein, we offer an approach to quantify management priorities and allocate interventions (i.e., fuel removals from forests) in interfaces between urban and wildland areas threatened by wildfires. For this purpose, an indicator for prioritizing management interventions was developed by integrating social, economic, and ecological factors. This indicator was applied to southern Italy as a case example, where fires have been increasing in both magnitude and frequency. Our results highlight the need to prioritize fuel removals in densely populated landscapes in terms of maximizing the number of people exposed to wildfire suppression per dollar spent on fuel removal. More broadly, we suggest that this approach form the basis for wildfire suppression in urban regions across the globe and be readily applied toward allocating any type of management intervention in landscape management. |
| |
| Keywords: | Urban interfaces Management priority indicator Forest fuel management Population density |
| 本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录！ |
|
