The Federal government manages a variety of ecosystems across the United States, including deserts, grasslands, tundra, shrublands, forestlands, estuaries, and riparian zones. These ecosystems range from arid to humid, warm to cold, and sea level to over 10,000 feet elevation. Fires naturally occur in almost all of these ecosystems, with fire characteristics determined by climate, vegetation, and terrain. The purposes of this Guide are to summarize available information on fire effects principles and processes, provide references for additional information, and provide guidelines for the collection, analysis, and evaluation of wild and prescribed fire effects data. Basic mechanisms of fire effects are described so that the reader will be able to understand and interpret fire effects literature, and evaluate observed results that conflict with those presented in published reports. The goal is to improve fire management by improving our ability to manage fire effects. The Guide was written as an aid for resource managers and fire managers. It can be used for managing and evaluating wildfires; developing and implementing emergency fire rehabilitation plans; planning, monitoring, and evaluating prescribed fires; developing activity plans such as timber management plans, allotment management plans, and threatened and endangered species recovery plans; and providing fire management input for land use plans. The chapters of this Guide discuss different elements that relate to our management of fire effects and specific responses of different ecosystem components to fire. This Handbook recognizes that separate discussions of fire effects on fuels, soils, watershed, plants, and wildlife are artificial, because fire effects are an integration of the responses of all of these components to fire. Despite the fact that fire effects occur holistically, ecosystem components are discussed individually as a means of organizing the information. Chapters describe basic principles and processes that regulate fire effects, including fire behavior and characteristics, fuels, air quality, soils and watershed, plants, wildlife, and cultural values. Considerations for management of fire effects on these resources, and a discussion of appropriate techniques for monitoring fire effects, are contained in each of these chapters. Monitoring is included in this Handbook because techniques that accurately describe long-term trends in plant community condition, for example, are not adequate to detect significant and sudden changes caused by burning. Because an understanding of prefire and postfire grazing management, data analysis, and documentation and evaluation procedures is critical to sound management and monitoring of fire effects, chapters on each of these topics are also included. Resource management is goal oriented. The first chapter in this Guide is a discussion of goals and objectives and how they fit into planning for the use and management of fire. Preface * Chapter 1: Development of Objectives * Chapter 2: Fire Behavior and Characteristics * Chapter 3: Fuels * Chapter 4: Air Quality * Chapter 5: Soils, Water, and Watersheds * Chapter 6: Plants * Chapter 7: Terrestrial Wildlife and Habitat * Chapter 8: Cultural Resources * Chapter 9: Prefire and Postfire Grazing Management * Chapter 10: Evaluation * Chapter 11: Data Management * Chapter 12: Computer Software

This state-of-knowledge review about the effects of fire on flora and fuels can assist land managers with ecosystem and fire management planning and in their efforts to inform others about the ecological role of fire. Chapter topics include fire regime classification, autecological effects of fire, fire regime characteristics and postfire plant community developments in ecosystems throughout the United States and Canada, global climate change, ecological principles of fire regimes, and practical considerations for managing fire in an ecosystem context. Keywords: ecosystem, fire effects, fire management, fire regime, fire severity, fuels, habitat, plant response, plants, succession, vegetation In 1978, a national workshop on fire effects in Denver, Colorado, provided the impetus for the "Effects of Wildland Fire on Ecosystems" series. Recognizing that knowledge of fire was needed for land management planning, state-of-the-knowledge reviews were produced that became known as the "Rainbow Series." The series consisted of six publications, each with a different colored cover, describing the effects of fire on soil, water, air, flora, fauna, and fuels. The Rainbow Series proved popular in providing fire effects information for professionals, students, and others. Printed supplies eventually ran out, but knowledge of fire effects continued to grow. To meet the continuing demand for summaries of fire effects knowledge, the interagency National Wildfire Coordinating Group asked Forest Service research leaders to update and revise the series. To fulfill this request, a meeting for organizing the revision was held January 4-6, 1993, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The series name was then changed to "The Rainbow Series." The five-volume series covers air, soil and water, fauna, flora and fuels, and cultural resources. The Rainbow Series emphasizes principles and processes rather than serving as a summary of all that is known. The five volumes, taken together, provide a wealth of information and examples to advance understanding of basic concepts regarding fire effects in the United States and Canada. As conceptual background, they provide technical support to fire and resource managers for carrying out interdisciplinary planning, which is essential to managing wildlands in an ecosystem context. Planners and managers will find the series helpful in many aspects of ecosystem-based management, but they will also need to seek out and synthesize more detailed information to resolve specific management questions. Chapter 1 - Introduction and Fire Regimes * Chapter 2 - Fire Autecology * Chapter 3 - Fire in Northern Ecosystems * Chapter 4 - Fire in Eastern Ecosystems * Chapter 5 - Fire in Western Forest Ecosystems * Chapter 6 - Fire in Western Shrubland, Woodland, and Grassland Ecosystems * Chapter 7 - Fire in Tropical and Subtropical Ecosystems * Chapter 8 - Global Change and Wildland Fire * Chapter 9 - Ecological Principles, Shifting Fire Regimes and Management Considerations

A comprehensive exploration of the effects of fires--in forests and other environments--on soils, watersheds, vegetation, air and cultural resources.

Wildland fire is an integral part of ecosystem mgmt. and is essential in maintaining functional ecosystems, but air pollutants emitted from those fires can be harmful to human health and welfare. This review of what is known about the effects of fire on air quality will assist those in the fire and air quality mgmt. communities. Contents: (1) Intro.; Scope; Framework; Prior Work; Changes in Fire Policy; (2) Air Quality Regulations and Fire; (3) Overview of Air Pollution from Fire; (4) Characterization of Emissions from Fires; (5) Transport, Dispersion, and Modeling of Fire Emissions; (6) Atmospheric and Plume Chemistry; (7) Estimating the Air Quality Impacts of Fire; (8) Consequences of Fire on Air Quality; (9) Recommend. for Future Research. Illus.