88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond Conference Proceedings
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THE ’88 FIRES: YELLOWSTONE AND BEYOND, CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS The ’88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond Conference Proceedings Edited by Ronald E. Masters, Krista E.M. Galley, and Don G. Despain Misc. No. 16 Misc. No. 2009 Tall Timbers Research Station, Miscellaneous Publication No. 16 The ’88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond Conference gratefully acknowledges the support of the following agencies and organizations that have contributed to this event: PRESENTED BY National Park Service 9th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem SPONSORS PARTNERS Th e ’88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond Conference Proceedings Edited by Ronald E. Masters, Krista E.M. Galley, and Don G. Despain Meeting held 22–27 September 2008 Jackson Hole, Wyoming Presented by Th e International Association of Wildland Fire and Th e National Park Service 9th Biennial Scientifi c Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, with the support of a consortium of partners Sponsors AMK Ranch/University of Wyoming National Park Service Research Center Big Sky Institute, Montana State University | Canon U.S.A. | Grand Teton Association Haub School & Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources | Joint Fire Science Program National Park Service, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks | University of Wyoming, NPS Research Center University of Wyoming, Offi ce of Research | Wildland Firefi ghter Foundation Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center | Yellowstone Association | Yellowstone Park Foundation Partners Th e Association for Fire Ecology | Humboldt State University Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation | Tall Timbers Research Station Th e Nature Conservancy | University of Idaho | University of Alberta Th e University of Montana, Continuing Education, Community & Professional Services USDA Forest Service | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service | Wyoming State Forestry Division Tall Timbers Research Station, Miscellaneous Publication No. 16 RECOMMENDED CITATION FORMATS Entire volume: Masters, R.E., K.E.M. Galley, and D.G. Despain (eds.). 2009. Ā e ’88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond, Conference Proceedings. Tall Timbers Miscellaneous Publication No. 16, Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, Florida, USA. Individual extended abstract: Alexander, M.E. 2009. Opening remarks: Ā e 1988 Yellowstone fi res as a fi re behavior case history [abstract]. Page 8 in R.E. Masters, K.E.M. Galley, and D.G. Despain (eds.). Ā e ’88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond, Conference Proceedings. Tall Timbers Miscellaneous Publication No. 16, Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, Florida, USA. ISSN 0496-764X Published by: Tall Timbers Research Station 13093 Henry Beadel Drive Tallahassee, FL 32312-0918, USA www.talltimbers.org © 2009, Tall Timbers Research, Inc. Printed by Allen Press, Inc. Lawrence, Kansas, USA Ā e FSC Trademark identifi es products that contain wood from well-managed forests certifi ed in accordance with the rules of Ā e Forest Stewardship Council. CONTENTS FOREWORD .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................xv Paul Schullery PREFACE .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... xvi Don G. Despain ACKN0WLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................................................................................................... xvii PLENARY I Was Ā e re ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Bob Barbee PLENARY I Was Ā e re ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Orville Daniels PLENARY Mexico Fire Program: Partnering With Local Communities ............................................................................................................................. 1 AlĀ edo Nolasco-Morales PLENARY “It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times, It Was the Age of Wisdom, It Was the Age of Foolishness…” —Charles Dickens, 1812–1870 ................................................................................................................................................................................ 2 John D. Varley PLENARY Ecological Eff ects of the ’88 Fires: A Story of Surprise, Constancy, and Change ........................................................................................... 2 Monica G. Turner PLENARY Why (Fire) History Matters ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 Cathy Whitlock PLENARY Climate Change and Wildfi re in the Western U.S. ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Anthony L. Westerling PLENARY Changing Fire Regimes in the Face of Global Change: A Canadian Perspective ........................................................................................... 3 Mike Flannigan PLENARY Changes in Large Fire Management since the 1988 Yellowstone Fires, From an Incident Commander’s Perspective ........................... 4 Steve Frye PLENARY Past Change in Ecological and Human Communities as a Context for Fire Management .......................................................................... 4 Andrew J. Hansen PLENARY Moving from Fire Management to Learning How to Live With Fire ............................................................................................................... 5 George Weldon PLENARY Wildland Fire Management Policy—Learning from the Past and Present and Responding to Future Challenges ................................ 6 Th omas Zimmerman PLENARY Future Forests, Future Fires, Future Fire Management ......................................................................................................................................... 7 Norman L. Christensen Tall Timbers Misc. Publ. No. 16 | iii CASE STUDY OF YELLOWSTONE’S 1988 FIRES Opening Remarks: Ā e 1988 Yellowstone Fires as a Fire Behavior Case History .......................................................................................... 8 Martin E. Alexander Ā e 1988 Fire Season in the U.S. Northern Rocky Mountains ........................................................................................................................... 9 C.L. Bushey What Fuel Types Burned during the 1988 Yellowstone Fires? ........................................................................................................................ 10 Don G. Despain Ā e Chronology of the 1988 Greater Yellowstone Area Fires ......................................................................................................................... 11 Robert W. Mutch Synoptic Weather Patterns and Conditions during the 1988 Fire Season in the Greater Yellowstone Area ......................................... 12 Rick Ochoa Trends in Fire Weather and Fire Danger in the Greater Yellowstone Area ................................................................................................... 13 Charles W. McHugh Ā e Old Faithful Fire Run of September 7, 1988: I Never Saw It Coming ................................................................................................... 14 David A. Th oma s Observations and ReЀ ections on Predicting Fire Behavior during the 1988 Yellowstone Fires ............................................................... 15 Richard C. Rothermel Burn Mapping Comparisons on Yellowstone 1988 Fires .................................................................................................................................. 16 Donald O. Ohlen and Don G. Despain Wildland Fire Legacies: Temporal and Spatial Constraints of Historic Fires to Current Fire Behavior ................................................ 17 Roy Renkin, Don Despain, and Carrie Guiles Ā e 1988 Yellowstone Fires and Crown Fire Modeling in BehavePlus .......................................................................................................... 18 P.L. Andrews and T.M. Kelley Recent Advances in Modeling the Onset of Crowning and Crown Fire Rate of Spread ........................................................................... 19 Martin E. Alexander and Miguel G. Cruz Assessing Discontinuous Fire Behavior and Uncertainty Associated with the Onset of Crowning ........................................................ 20 Miguel G. Cruz and Martin E. Alexander Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Atmospheric Boundary-Layer Turbulence during the 1988 Yellowstone Fires ............................ 21 Warren E. Heilman and Xindi Bian Yellowstone and Beyond: Pyrocumulonimbus Storms Sent Smoke to the Stratosphere and around the Globe .................................. 22 M. Fromm, D. Lindsey, B. Stocks, R. Servranckx, and D. Quintilio Predicting Yellowstone: Decision Support of the Past, Present, and Future ................................................................................................