Special Issue: Future Climate and Fire Interactions in the SE Region of the United States

Chelcy Ford Miniat, a project leader with the Forest Service Southern Research Station and a collaborator with the SE Climate Science Center, is one of three editors for a special section in the September issue of Forest Ecology and Management.
Articles in the special section review the interactions between climate and fire in five different regions of the U.S — the Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Rocky Mountains, mid-Atlantic, and Southeast. Each article follows the same general structure, providing a description of the region and its forest types; discussion of projected changes in climate and how they will likely impact fire and forests; and a synthesis of what is known about the effects of fire on forest ecosystem services such as water quantity and quality, air quality, and biodiversity.
Highlights from the Southeast Chapter:
•We explore impacts of projected climate change on wildland fire in the SE U.S.
•Regional climate change will likely increase wildfire frequency and severity.
•Climate change will likely make the application of prescribed fire more difficult.
•Increases in wildfire frequency and severity will have a variety of negative impacts.
•Easing negative impacts of climate change requires flexible fire management.Read the report.