1. Fire management

2. Surface fire

3. Benefits Surface Fires
• usually only burns undergrowth & leaf litter-very flammable, helps to prevent more destructive fires
• kill seedlings & small trees but spare mature trees & allow most wildlife to escape
• release valuable mineral nutrients
• stimulate germination of certain tree seeds (giant sequoia & jack pine)
• help control pathogens & insects
• deer, moose, elk, muskrat, woodcock & quail depend on them to maintain habitat and provide food in form of vegetation that sprouts after surface fires.

4. Crown fire

5. Crown Fires
• May start on the ground but eventually burn whole trees and leap from treetop to treetop.
• Usually occur in forests where surface fires have not occurred for several decades. Dead wood, leaves, and other flammable ground litter to build up.
• Rapidly burning fires can destroy most vegetation, kill wildlife, increase soil erosions, and burn or damage human structures in their paths.

6. Strategies to reduce harm from fires
• require burning permits
• close all or parts of a forest to travel & camping during periods of drought & hire fire danger
• educate the public about the ecological effects of fire on forests
• prescribed burning - prevents buildup of flammable material
• some places in California using goats to clear underbrush

7. Healthy Forest Initiative-2003
• timber companies are allowed to cut down economically valuable medium & large trees in most national forests for 10 years in return for clearing away smaller, more fire-prone trees & underbrush.
• law also exempts most thinning projects from environmental reviews& appeals currently required by forest protection laws