Fule vs. Baker

Baker (2006) criticizes the method of using fire scars to find fire intervals in order to reconstruct past fire regimes. He states that this method far underestimates the mean fire interval and the length of fire rotation. Additionally, he claims that high-severity fires near Grand Canyon National Park were actually not unusual and challenges using that information to build resconstructed fire regimes for the area.

Since the information provided by Fule et al. (2003) was the scientific information being used to rebuild fire regimes for the Grand Canyon National Park region, there is significant room for error in terms of proper fire management for the future. Either way, it is clear much more investigation into the history of this area is needed prior to making any claims regarding past fire behavior.


Sources:

Baker, William L. 2006. Resconstructing fire regimes in SW ponderosa pine. International Journal of Wildland Fire 15:433-437.

Fule et al. 2003. Assessing fire-regimes on Grand Canyon landscapes with fire-scar and fire-record data. International Journal of Wildland Fire 12:129-145.