Key factors determining scales of burned areas in state Victoria (Australia) and province Alberta (Canada) during 1980-2019
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6570576Keywords:
Aboriginals, environmental hazards, flammable landscapes management, indigenous peoples, prescribed burningAbstract
Regular wildfire supports balanced development of sclerophyll forests in Victoria (Australia), as well as, boreal forest in Alberta (Canada). Also, they are a major part of local Aboriginal culture in these regions and a means regulating ecological functions of flammable vegetation communities for improvement their productivity. Taking into consideration that burning is used as an effective tool for ecosystem management in Alberta and Victoria, it is relevant to assess impacts of fire practices on the environment and to find connections between fire spread and key factors determining scales and locations of burned areas. Basing on literary materials on fire practices, statistical data on wildfire cases occurring since 1980s, geospatial data on distribution of fire-prone plant communities’ locations, and on results of correlation analysis of fire cases with climatic, environmental, infrastructural, and social factors author reveals the following patterns: fires frequency depends on the landscape features; an increase in number of fire occurrences correlates with increase of dry periods duration (number of days); human settlements, where Aboriginal population reaches 50%, are subject to fires more frequent; the risk to the environment and settlements damage on small populated rural areas is higher, than on densely populated suburban and urban places. Reduction of out-of-control wildfire risk can be achieved through fire management practices directed to wildlife and biodiversity protection, considering these patterns.
References
Abbott, I. (2003). Aboriginal fire regimes in southwest Western Australia: evidence from historical documents. In I. Abbott & N. Burrows (Eds.), Fire in ecosystems of south-west Western Australia: impacts and management (pp. 119-146). Backhuys Publishers.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016). Australian Bureau of Statistics: 2016 Census. http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/2016
Beadle, N. C. W. (1981). The vegetation of Australia. Stuttgart – New-York Press.
Bradstock, R. A., Bedward M., Kenny B. J. & Scott J. (1998). Spatially explicit simulation of the effect of prescribed burning on fire regimes and plant extinctions in shrublands typical of south-eastern Australia. Biological Conservation, 86, 83–95.
Bureau of Meteorology (2020). Rainfall Surface Data. Temperature Data. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/data/index.shtml? bookmark=136
Cawson, J. G., Duff, T. J., Swan, M. H., & Penman, T.D. (2018). Wildfire in wet sclerophyll forests: the interplay between disturbances and fuel dynamics. Ecosphere, 9(5), e02211, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2211
Cheney, N. P. (1981). Fire behavior. In A.M. Gill, R. H. Groves & I.R. Noble (Eds.), Fire and the Australian biota (pp. 151–176). Australian Academy of Science Press.
Christian, C.S. (1966). Pastures. In L. W. Leeper (Ed.), The Australian environment (pp. 85–104). Halstead Press.
Christianson, A. (2014). Social science research on Indigenous wildfire management in the 21st century and future research needs. International Journal of Wildland Fire, 24(2), 190–200. https://doi.org/10.1071/WF13048
Christianson, A., McGee, T. K., & L᾽hirondelle, L. (2012). Community support for wildfire mitigation at Peavine Metis Settlement, Alberta, Canada. Environmental Hazards-Human and Policy Dimensions, 11(3), 177–193. https://doi.org/10.1080/17477891.2011.649710
Christianson, A., McGee, T. K., & L᾽hirondelle, L. (2014). The influence of culture on wildfire mitigation at Peavine Metis Settlement, Alberta, Canada. Society and Natural Resources, 27(9), 931–948. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2014.905886
Clode, D., & Elgar, M. E. (2014). Fighting fire with fire: does a policy of broad-scale prescribed burning to improve community safety. Society and Natural Resources, 27(11), 1192–1199. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2014.905894
Commonwealth of Australia (2016). Report on government services. Volume D: emergency management. https://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2016/ emergency-management/rogs-2016-volumed-emergency-management.pdf
Council of Australian Governments (2009). National integrated strategy for closing the gap in Indigenous disadvantage. http://www. federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/ content/npa/health/_archive/indigenous-reform/national-agreement_sept_12.pdf
Eriksen, C., & Hankins, D. L. (2014). The Retention, revival, and subjugation of indigenous fire knowledge thought Agency Fire Fighting in Eastern Australia and California. Society and Natural Resources, 27(11), 1288–1303. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2014.918226
Francos, M., & Ubeda, X. (2021). Prescribed fire management. Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health, 21, 100250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coesh.2021.100250
Government of Australia (1992). National forest policy statement. A new focus for Australia's forests. Australian Government Publishing Service Press.
Hurditch, W. E., & Hurditch, W. J. (1994). The politics of bushfires: can we learn from past mistakes? In P. M Attiwill (Ed.), The burning continent. Forest ecosystems and fire management in Australia (pp. 37–50). Institute of Public Affairs Press.
IUSS Working Group WRB (2015). World Reference Base for Soil Resources 2014, update 2015. International soil classification system for naming soils and creating legends for soil maps (Report No. 106). FAO Press.
Jurskis, V., & Underwood, R. (2013). Human fires and wildfires on Sydney sandstones: history informs management. Fire ecology, 9(3), 8–24. https://doi.org/10.4996/fireecology.0903008
Learmonth, A. M. (1971). Regional landscapes of Australia: form, function and change. Angus and Robertson Press.
National Exposure Information System (2020). https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/community-safety/risk-and-impact/nexis
Nekrich, A. S. (2017). Ecosystem’s role of fires in Australia and Canada. Problems of Regional Ecology, 2, 27–31.
Nekrich, A. S. (2020). Development of present-day landscapes in South-Eastern Australia (Victoria). Problems of regional ecology, 5, 53–57. https://doi.org/10.24411/1728-323X-2020-5-053-057
Ogureeva, G. N. (1989). Successes of large-scale and medium-scale vegetation mapping of Australia. Bulletin of Moscow University. Series 5: Geography, 3, 88–94.
Shea, S. R., Peet, G. B., & Cheney, N. P. (1981). The кole of аire in forest management. In A. M. Gill, R. H. Groves & I. R. Noble (Eds), Fire and the Australian biota (pp. 443–470). Australian Academy of Science Press.
Taylor, J. K. (1966). Soils. In L. W. Leeper (Ed.), The Australian environment (pp. 29–44). Halstead Press.
The Canadian Forest Service (2020). https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/forests-forestry/about-canadian-forest-service/17545
The National Dynamic Land Cover Dataset (2020). https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/71071
Wood, J. G. (1966). Vegetation. In L. W. Leeper (Ed.), The Australian environment (pp. 67–84). Halstead Press.
Wotton, B. M., Flannigan, M. D., & Marshall, G. A. (2017). Potential climate change impacts on fire intensity and key wildfire suppression thresholds in Canada. Environment Research Letters, 12, 095003. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7e6e
JWB applies the 