Resource Catalog
Document
In this study, we explored application of expert system methodology to design of fire prescriptions. Prescribed fire is used to manipulate forest ecosystems to accomplish a variety of resource management objectives. To develop prescriptions that successfully achieve these objectives, managers use information from a variety of sources, including results of scientific research and their own experience. We modeled the prescription development process as an expert system that uses rule-based inference and frame-based inheritance to integrate technical and heuristic information and interpret it for application. Site data and the manager's objectives for treating the site with prescribed fire are inputs to the expert system. The system develops and documents a fire prescription that describes ranges of acceptable fire effects, the desired fire treatment, and a range of conditions under which to burn to achieve the desired treatments and effects. The system was validated using data from research burns in a variety of forest types throughout the interior western United States.
Cataloging Information
- ecosystem dynamics
- fire hazard reduction
- forest management
- forest types
- grasslands
- land management
- land management
- Montana
- Pinus contorta
- Pinus ponderosa
- plant diseases
- plant species diversity
- Pseudotsuga menziesii
- regeneration
- shrublands
- wildfires
- wildlife habitat management
- woody fuels
This bibliographic record was either created or modified by Tall Timbers and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of Tall Timbers.