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Fire Research » Fire & Forest Management
 Fire
and Forest Management
General Overview
Status and Description
Fire research in the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) began in the mid-1920s
and has significantly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of fire
management in Canada; however, specific research aimed at understanding
the interrelationship between forest management and fire management activities
has been conducted only in the past few years. The advent of geographic
information systems and other computer technologies, plus the influential
factors of improved efficiency and effectiveness of fire management, have
created an environment where research in this field is required and readily
supported by the forest industry and operational fire agencies. A small
team of 4 or 5 individuals from the Northern Forestry Centre and the Pacific
Forestry Centre are working directly in this field. However, the integrated
nature of this project and of fire research in general means that numerous
other individuals are working on related topics essential to this project,
but their work has been previously classified under one of the other Science
and Technology networks (e.g., Synthesis of Knowledge and Information,
Climate Change and Fire, Ecosystem Processes). The CFS group has also
established an extensive network of collaborators working on integrating
fire and forest management issues, including individuals from various
universities, the Sustainable Forest Management Network, model forests,
provincial governments, and the private sector.
This project has three main objectives:
- To develop techniques to assess the spatial and temporal variation
in fire regimes and wildfire threat at the landscape level.
- To develop strategic-level decision support tools that can be used
to minimize the socioeconomic impacts of wildfire (e.g., on timber supply
and human health) and maximize its ecological benefits (e.g., on biodiversity
and forest health).
- To develop and evaluate landscape-level fuel management techniques
that may reduce the potential for catastrophic wildfire and the risk
associated with the use of prescribed fire.
These activities are aimed at developing pragmatic approaches to sustainable
forest management in Canada's fire-dominated ecosystems under current
and future conditions.
The focus of the CFS effort to date in this field has been primarily
in 5 areas:
- Development of concepts and models for fire growth modeling.
- Development of procedures and models for the fire occurrence prediction
modeling of human-caused and lightning-caused fires.
- Development of procedures and a system for assessing wildfire threat
both spatially and temporally.
- Creation of strategies and techniques that will allow landscape-level
fuel treatments (e.g., fuel conversion, reduction, and isolation) aimed
at reducing area burned to be incorporated into forest management planning
and timber supply modeling.
- Synthesis and distribution of information on assessing and mitigating
the threat of wildfire to homes and communities in Canada's wildland–urban
interface areas.
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