FIRE IN NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
FOR 3622C (2 credits)
Spring 2005

Instructor:

Dr. Long's Home Page

Class Hours:
Lecture: Friday, Period 4 (222 N-Z)
Lab: Periods 5-8 (222 N-Z)
Various afternoons, as opportunities offer

Office Hours:
Thursday, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm (or any other time I am in the office)

Focus:
Develop a thorough understanding of the function of wildland fire in natural resource systems and the role of prescribed burning to simulate those functions. Planning, management, and conducting of prescribed burning will be required.

Objectives:

1. Understand the role and effects of fire in resource ecology and natural ecosystems;
2. Evaluate critical factors in fire behavior and their importance in fire control, use and management;
3. Understand wildland fire control administration and operations;
4. Prepare prescribed burning plans for a variety of ecosystems and goals, and participate in several prescribed burns.

Textbook:

• A Guide for Prescribed Fire in Southern Forests. (Required)
• Pyne, Andrews and Laven. 1996. Introduction to Wildland Fire (2nd Edition), John Wiley and Sons. (Recommended).
• Selected readings in manual, distributed in class, or located in the library or on the web.

Class Format:
Combined lecture/lab to allow time for lecture and discussion of course material, as well as field trips to observe fire behavior, conduct prescribed burns, and evaluate fire results as weather permits; various non-class afternoons may be arranged to take advantage of good burning weather.

Field Activities:

1. Participation in several prescribed burns planned by others during winter and early spring (weather and landowners permitting).
2. Field observations and planning for class burns.
3. Conduct at least two prescribed burns at Austin Cary Memorial Forest, the Ordway Preserve (or other properties).
4. Field boots, long pants, long sleeved shirts and hard hats are required for field activities; pants and shirts should be 100% cotton fabric; gloves and eye protection are recommended.

Assignments:

1. 1–page summaries of all lab activities: fire behavior, what you learned, etc. (this is your monitoring activity for new knowledge).
2. 1–page summaries of species responses to fire from the Fire Effects Information System (or other sources).
3. Others as listed or described.

Evaluation of Student Performance:

Grading:

Other Information:

• All assignments must be in by the beginning of class on their due date for full credit. Papers lose 10% of their total possible score for every 24 hours past the due date/time.

• I expect student participation and interest in the class to be at least as high as the instructor’s, and therefore anticipate that you will always want to be in class. Nonetheless, class attendance will be regularly monitored as a basis for assigning the 10% of the course grade for attendance.

Academic Honesty:

In 1995 the UF student body enacted a new honor code and voluntarily committed itself to the highest standards of honesty and integrity. By enrolling at the University, and in this course, you commit yourself to that standard. The honor code, in part, states “On all work submitted for credit by students at the university, the following pledge is either required or implied: ‘On my honor, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid in doing this assignment.’” Failure to comply with this commitment may result in disciplinary actions up to and including failing this course and expulsion from the University.

UF Counseling Services:

Resources are available on campus for students having personal problems or lacking clear career and academic goals that interfere with their academic performance. These resources include: University Counseling Center (301 Peabody Hall 392 1575) for personal and career counseling; Student Mental Health (Student Health Care Center 392 1171) for personal counseling; Sexual Assault Recovery Services (Student Health Care Center 392 1161 x 6) for sexual counseling; and Career Resource Center (Reitz Union 392 1601) for career development assistance and counseling.
Software use

All faculty, staff and students of the University are required and expected to obey the laws and legal agreements governing software use. Failure to do so can lead to monetary damages and/or criminal penalties for the individual violator. Because such violations are also against University policies and rules, disciplinary action will be taken as appropriate.

Web Sites:

Fire Effects Information System
Fire Management Software
Fire News
FIREWISE
Florida Division of Forestry (weather, drought index, etc)
National Interagency Fire Center
Tall Timbers Research Center
USFS – Fire
USFS – Southern Research Station, Interface South
USFS – Southern Appalachian Forest Ecosystems
University of California Forest Products Lab

Important Literature Sources:

International Journal of Wildland Fire
Journal of Forest Ecology and Management
Journal of Forestry
Southern, Western, Northern Journals of Applied Forestry
Proceedings of Tall Timber Fire Ecology Conferences
Proceedings of other relevant symposia

Agee, J.K. 1993. Fire ecology of Pacific Northwest forests. Island Press, Washington, D.C. 493 p.

Arno, S.F. and S. Allison-Bunnell. 2002. Flames in our forest: Disaster or renewal? Island Press, Washington. 227 p.

Biswell, H.H. 1989. Prescribed burning in California wildlands vegetation management. University of California Press, Berkeley. 255 p.

Bond, W.J. and B.W. van Wilgen. 1996. Fire and plants. Chapman and Hall, London. 263 p.

DeBano, L.F., D.G. Neary, P.F. Ffolliott. 1998. Fire's effects on ecosystems. J. Wiley, NY.

Johnson, E.A. and K. Miyanishi (eds.). 2001. Forest fires: Behavior and ecological effects. Academic Press, San Diego, CA. 594 p.

Walstad, J.D., S.R. Radosevich and D.V. Sandberg (eds.). 1990. Natural and prescribed fire in Pacific Northwest forests. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis. 317 p.

Whelan, R.J. 1995. The ecology of fire. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 346 p.

Course Outline:

Weekly Schedule:

Updated 10/3/05