Difference between revisions of "Fire issues in California's Central Coast Region"

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== Summary ==
 
== Summary ==
This page gives a brief history of the major wildfires that affected the Central Coast Region in the 20th and 21st centuries. The various ecosystems that comprise the central California landscape have adapted to fire over time.<ref>[http://nature.berkeley.edu/stephenslab/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Stephens_Fry_Redwood_2005.pdf Stephens SL, Fry DL. 2005. Fire history in coast redwood stands in the northeastern Santa Cruz Mountains, California. Fire Ecology,1(1):2-19.]</ref><ref>(USFS)Fried JS, Bollinger CL, Beardsley D. 2004. Chaparral in southern and central coastal California in the mid-1990s: area, ownership, condition, and change. PNW-RB-240. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 86 p.</ref> As California's population grows, urban expansion into natural areas is becoming more commonplace, creating a higher risk to human life and infrastructure in the event of wildfire. Historically, lightning fires and purposeful ignitions by indigenous tribes ensured rather frequent fires of low to moderate severity.<ref>[http://www.jstor.org/stable/827540 Keeley JE. 2002. Native American impacts on fire regimes of the California coastal ranges. Journal of Biogeography, 29(3):303-320.]</ref> Years of fire suppression, coupled with prolonged drought conditions, however, have changed the fire regime on the [[California's Central Coast Region|Central Coast]],<ref> Greenlee JM, Langenheim JH.  1990. Historic fire regimes and their relation to vegetation patterns in the Monterey Bay Area of California. The American Midland Naturalist 124(2):239-53. doi:10.2307/2426173.</ref> yielding a greater challenge when it comes to mitigating fire damage to both ecosystems and human infrastructure.
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This page gives a brief history of the major wildfires that affected the Central Coast Region in the 20th and 21st centuries. The various ecosystems that comprise the central California landscape have adapted to fire over time.<ref>[http://nature.berkeley.edu/stephenslab/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Stephens_Fry_Redwood_2005.pdf Stephens SL, Fry DL. 2005. Fire history in coast redwood stands in the northeastern Santa Cruz Mountains, California. Fire Ecology,1(1):2-19.]</ref><ref>(USFS)Fried JS, Bollinger CL, Beardsley D. 2004. Chaparral in southern and central coastal California in the mid-1990s: area, ownership, condition, and change. PNW-RB-240. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 86 p.</ref> As California's population grows, urban expansion into natural areas is becoming more commonplace, creating a higher risk to human life and infrastructure in the event of wildfire. Historically, lightning fires and purposeful ignitions by indigenous tribes ensured rather frequent fires of low to moderate severity.<ref>[http://www.jstor.org/stable/827540 Keeley JE. 2002. Native American impacts on fire regimes of the California coastal ranges. Journal of Biogeography, 29(3):303-320.]</ref> Years of fire suppression, coupled with prolonged drought conditions, however, have changed the fire regime on the [[California's Central Coast Region|Central Coast]],<ref>[www.jstor.org/stable/2426173 Greenlee JM, Langenheim JH.  1990. Historic fire regimes and their relation to vegetation patterns in the Monterey Bay Area of California. The American Midland Naturalist 124(2):239-53. doi:10.2307/2426173.]</ref> yielding a greater challenge when it comes to mitigating fire damage to both ecosystems and human infrastructure.
  
 
== Location ==
 
== Location ==

Revision as of 19:31, 4 April 2017

Note: This page is currently under construction (4/3/17)

A watershed-related topic examined by the ENVS 560/L Watershed Systems class at CSUMB.


Summary

This page gives a brief history of the major wildfires that affected the Central Coast Region in the 20th and 21st centuries. The various ecosystems that comprise the central California landscape have adapted to fire over time.[1][2] As California's population grows, urban expansion into natural areas is becoming more commonplace, creating a higher risk to human life and infrastructure in the event of wildfire. Historically, lightning fires and purposeful ignitions by indigenous tribes ensured rather frequent fires of low to moderate severity.[3] Years of fire suppression, coupled with prolonged drought conditions, however, have changed the fire regime on the Central Coast,[4] yielding a greater challenge when it comes to mitigating fire damage to both ecosystems and human infrastructure.

Location

Image 1. Public land distribution in Central California. Copyright Interactive Outdoors, Inc.[1]

Wildfires in the Central Coast Region burn a mixture of private and public land. The land subject to the most frequent burns in the last century has been the Los Padres National Forest (Image 1).

Ecological Benefits of Fire

Resources at stake

Ecological: Human:

Stakeholders

CalFire USFS BLM State Parks Volunteer Fire Brigades Landowners Toursits

Past Fires and their Impacts on the Region

Laws, policies, & regulations

...What laws, policies, and/or regulations are involved?...

Systems

... What elements of the biophysical system are/were involved?...

Science

...What scientific studies are or would be relevant / already completed?...

Tools

...What analytical (e.g. modeling) tools were or could be used?...

Future research

...What knowledge gaps remain?...

...Suggest a CWSP MS thesis topic that could contribute to the issue...

...Suggest a topic for a hypothetical study that had unlimited resources...

References

  1. Stephens SL, Fry DL. 2005. Fire history in coast redwood stands in the northeastern Santa Cruz Mountains, California. Fire Ecology,1(1):2-19.
  2. (USFS)Fried JS, Bollinger CL, Beardsley D. 2004. Chaparral in southern and central coastal California in the mid-1990s: area, ownership, condition, and change. PNW-RB-240. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 86 p.
  3. Keeley JE. 2002. Native American impacts on fire regimes of the California coastal ranges. Journal of Biogeography, 29(3):303-320.
  4. [www.jstor.org/stable/2426173 Greenlee JM, Langenheim JH. 1990. Historic fire regimes and their relation to vegetation patterns in the Monterey Bay Area of California. The American Midland Naturalist 124(2):239-53. doi:10.2307/2426173.]

Disclaimer

This page may contain student work completed as part of assigned coursework. It may not be accurate. It does not necessary reflect the opinion or policy of CSUMB, its staff, or students.