Geomatics for informed decisions (GEOIDE): A case study of forest fire boundaries under a low severity fire regime
نویسندگان
چکیده
The natural disturbances paradigm in forestry management emphasizes understanding and emulating natural variation in forest ecosystems processes and patterns. Using dendrochronological data in two study areas in the Stein River valley, British Columbia, we provide empirical models of the spatial-temporal variation in boundaries of low-severity fires. With geographic information systems, database management tools and local statistics, we analyze the fire scar data to extract information of fire boundary persistence and local "hot spots". When coupling this information with topographic variables, a clear influence of the physical landscape on the local fire regime emerges. We found that the fire regime in the Stein Valley is characterized by fire boundary persistence, showing significant relationships to fluvial breaks in both the middle and lower valley study areas. By extracting such boundary information from spatio-temporal fire evidence databases, we are able to make more informed forestry management recommendations for fuel load treatment with respect to low severity fires under the natural disturbance paradigm. Natural disturbance; boundary; spatial analysis
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