Description
Explore the many dimensions of wildfires and wildfire prevention in the United States, including fire and forest management policies, wildlife conservation considerations, economic implications, and heightened vulnerabilities stemming from climate change. How have agricultural and public land policies, past and present, responded to the threat of wildfires? What is it like to be a firefighter in the American West, where most of the nation's most devastating wildfires are concentrated? How many thousands of acres are burned up by wildfires every year? Is climate change increasing the severity and frequency of wildfires? This one-stop resource answers all these questions and many more about wildfire and its impacts on American lands and livelihoods.
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Table of Contents
1. BACKGROUND AND HISTORY
Introduction: The “Ancient Alliance” between Fire and Humanity
Indigenous Peoples' Beliefs and Use of Fire
The Light Burning Debate
Types of Wildfires
Wildfires by the Numbers
Fire Weather and Drought
Human-Caused Wildfires
Natural Causes of Wildfires
Approaches to Wildfire Management
Wildfire Agencies and Organizations
Further Reading
2. PROBLEMS, CONTROVERSIES, AND SOLUTIONS
Introduction
The Impacts of Wildfires
Potentially Compensable Losses: Who Pays?
The Cost of Fighting a Fire
Accounting for Impacts
Wildfire Politics and Policy
Wildfire Mitigation
What Else Does the Future Hold?
Further Reading
3. PERSPECTIVES
Building Resiliency with a Community Wildfire Protection Plan, Cathy Barta
The Interface between Wildland Fire Science and Decision Making, Tim Brown
Ocean on Fire: How Wildfires Both Nourish and Threaten Marine Life, Julie Dinasquet and Douglas S. Hamilton
Expectations and Reality: Wildfire in the Wildland Urban Interface, Dirch Foreman
Hot Mess, Jeff Shelton
4. PROFILES
Stephen F. Arno (1943–2022)
Robert Douglas Barbee (1935–2016)
Harold Hubert Biswell (1905–1992)
Coert DuBois (1881–1960)
Harry Thomas Gisborne (1893–1949)
William Buckhout Greeley (1879–1955)
Weldon Heyburn (1852–1912)
Susan J. Husari (1953– )
Abigail R. Kimbell (1953– )
Edwin Vaclaw Komarek, Jr. (1909–1995)
The Nature Conservancy
Gifford Pinchot (1865–1946)
Edward Crockett Pulaski (1866–1931)
Stephen J. Pyne (1949– )
Jan Willem van Wagtendonk (1940–2022)
Further Reading
5. DATA AND DOCUMENTS
Data
Table 5.1: Top Ten Costliest US Wildfires, by Dollar Loss 2024 Value (1993–2024)
Table 5.2: Top Ten Deadliest US Wildfires, by Human Lives Lost (1871–2024)
Table 5.3: Top Ten Largest US Wildfires, by Acres Burned (1898–2024)
Table 5.4: Total US Wildland Fires and Acres Burned (1984–2024)
Documents
“The Relation of Forests and Forest Fires,” Gifford Pinchot (1899)
Weeks Act (1911)
Fire Suppression, Roy Headley (1916)
The Uncontrollable Fire, Roy Headley (1919)
“Wildlife Management in the National Parks,” The Leopold Report (1963)
Fergus County, Montana, Community Wildfire Protection Plan (2024)
Executive Order N-1-25, California Governor Gavin Newsom (2025)
Hawai'i Supreme Court Order: Maui Fire Cases (2025)
6. RESOURCES
Books
Articles
Government Documents and Other Monographs
Electronic Media
Other Sources
7. CHRONOLOGY
GLOSSARY
INDEX
Product details
| Published | 19 Feb 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 248 |
| ISBN | 9798765131381 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 7 bw |
| Series | Contemporary World Issues |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
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