Wildland Fuel Fundamentals and Applications

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xi

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2. Fuel Fundamentals

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Introduction

      • Robert E. Keane

      Pages 3-14

   3. Fundamentals

      • Robert E. Keane

      Pages 15-37

   4. Surface and Ground Fuels

      • Robert E. Keane

      Pages 39-56

   5. Canopy Fuels

      • Robert E. Keane

      Pages 57-70

   6. Fuel Moisture

      • Robert E. Keane

      Pages 71-82

   7. Ecology

      • Robert E. Keane

      Pages 83-107

3. Fuel Applications

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 109-109

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   2. Fuel Classifications

      • Robert E. Keane

      Pages 111-124

   3. Fuel Sampling

      • Robert E. Keane

      Pages 125-151

   4. Fuel Mapping

      • Robert E. Keane

      Pages 153-174

   5. Fuel Concepts

      • Robert E. Keane

      Pages 175-184

4. Back Matter

   Pages 185-191

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A new era in wildland fuel sciences is now evolving in such a way that fire scientists and managers need a comprehensive understanding of fuels ecology and science to fully understand fire effects and behavior on diverse ecosystem and landscape characteristics. This is a reference book on wildland fuel science; a book that describes fuels and their application in land management.  There has never been a comprehensive book on wildland fuels; most wildland fuel information was put into wildland fire science and management books as separate chapters and sections.  This book is the first to highlight wildland fuels and treat them as a natural resource rather than a fire behavior input. Moreover, there has never been a comprehensive description of fuels and their ecology, measurement, and description under one reference; most wildland fuel information is scattered across diverse and unrelated venues from combustion science to fire ecology to carbon dynamics.  The literature and data for wildland fuel science has never been synthesized into one reference; most studies were done for diverse and unique objectives.  This book is the first to link the disparate fields of ecology, wildland fire, and carbon to describe fuel science. This just deals with the science and ecology of wildland fuels, not fuels management. However, since expensive fuel treatments are being planned in fire dominated landscapes across the world to minimize fire damage to people, property and ecosystems, it is incredibly important that people understand wildland fuels to develop more effective fuel management activities.

• Fire ecology
• Fire management
• Fuel deposition
• Land management
• Necromass
• Surface and canopy fuels

“Keane (USDA Forest Service) covers the whats and whys of fuels—the biomass consumed by wildland fire. … The clear, comprehensive text is liberally illustrated with line drawings and photos, tables, and charts. Destined to be a classic. Summing Up: Essential. Lower-division undergraduates and above.” (E. J. Delaney, Choice, Vol. 52 (10), June, 2015)

• Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula, USA

  Robert E. Keane

Robert E. Keane is a Research Ecologist with the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory.

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