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Findings from fire history studies have increasingly indicated that many forest ecosystems in the northern Rocky Mountains were shaped by mixed-severity fire regimes, characterized by fires of variable severities at intervals averaging between about 30 and 100 years. Perhaps because mixed-severity fire regimes and their resulting vegetational patterns are difficult to characterize, these regimes have received limited recognition in wilderness fire management. This paper presents examples of mixed-severity fire regimes in Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex and the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness and discusses how suppression and fire management policies have affected them. It suggests possible management actions to return a semblance of the historical mixed-severity fire regimes to these and other natural areas.
Cataloging Information
- fire exclusion
- fire frequency
- fire intensity
- fire management
- fire regimes
- fire suppression
- histories
- lightning caused fires
- Montana
- mountains
- national parks
- Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Areas
- suppression
- wilderness fire management
- wildfires
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