Introduction to Fire in California: Second EditionAn up-to-date, essential guide to California's long relationship with fire, for the climate-change generation. What is fire? How are wildfires ignited? How do California's weather and topography influence fire? How did Indigenous people use fire on the land we now call California? David Carle's clearly written, dramatically illustrated first edition of Introduction to Fire in California helped Californians, including the millions who live near naturally flammable wildlands, better understand their own place in the state's landscape. In this revised edition, Carle covers the basics of fire ecology; looks at the effects of fire on people, wildlife, soil, water, and air; discusses fire-fighting organizations and land-management agencies; and explains how to prepare for an emergency and what to do when one occurs. This second edition brings the wildfire story up to the year 2020, with information about recent extreme and deadly fire events and the evidence that climate change is swiftly changing the wildfire story in California. This update reflects current debates about California's future as a climate-crisis leader facing massive, annual natural disasters; the future of California development and housing; and the critically necessary alternatives to traditional energy options. Features:
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Contents
| 1 | |
Fire Food | 8 |
Fire Behavior | 20 |
Lay of the Land | 26 |
Seeds Sprouts and All of the Above | 36 |
Vegetation Types and Fire | 41 |
Conifer Forests | 53 |
Oak Woodlands and Savannas | 79 |
Extremes after 2010 | 129 |
Burning Issues | 137 |
Restoring Fire | 143 |
The Chaparral Dilemma | 149 |
Fire Policy and Plans | 158 |
Life on the Edge | 164 |
During the Fire | 179 |
Kindling Change | 186 |
Deserts | 87 |
Wildlife | 95 |
The Climate Crisis | 105 |
The Big Ones | 122 |
Glossary | 193 |
Art Credits | 205 |
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Common terms and phrases
acres adaptations to fire bark burned areas CAL FIRE Cedar fire chaparral chaparral shrubs climate coast redwood cones conifer conifer forests County crews crown fires defensible space desert Douglas-fir ecosystems embers energy evacuation extreme fire FIGURE fire behavior fire burned fire ecology fire exclusion Fire in California fire regimes fire season fire suppression fire-resistant fire-return interval firefighters flammable forest fires Forest Service Forestry fuel moisture giant sequoias grasses grassland Gray pine heat homes ignited increase intense Inyo National Forest Jeffrey pine killed landscape light burning live miles million mountain National Forest National Park oxygen percent PG&E pinyon pines plants ponderosa pine prescribed burning rain range reduce released resprout root sagebrush Santa Ana winds seedlings seeds serotinous shrublands shrubs Sierra Nevada smoke soil Southern California species sprout stand-replacing structures surface fires tanoak temperature thinning tion understory vegetation types Wagtendonk wildfire wildland fire Yosemite zones