Last updated: February 11, 2021
Article
Fire in Ecosystems: Forests
NPS
Forests cover a wide range of environments, from tropical to temperate to boreal. There may be one or two tree species in a forested system to dozens of tree species. A lot depends on the environmental and soil conditions, and/or natural disturbances, such as fire, insect outbreaks, and blowdown. In many forest systems, time between fires, their intensity, and season in which they burn, influence tree species that grow and their arrangement on the landscape.
In some forested areas, fires burn fairly often, and and at low intensity. The fires in these areas usually thin out and reduce the number of small trees and burn dead and down material on the ground in the forest, while the larger trees survive. Areas that once burned often, but later had fires suppressed or excluded, require active management to restore and maintain their health.
In other forested areas, fires occurred much less frequently and are often higher severity when they did occur, for example in lodgepole pine forests. The fires in these areas generally affect all trees in an area and change the system. It takes a number of years for the forest to grow back. Areas like these are altered less by past fire suppression, but are at risk of change due to changing climate conditions, allowing fires to burn more frequently than in the past.
The National Park Service studies forests to understand forest health. We use the information to develop plans to manage fires in each forest system. The goal is to restore and maintain a sustainable forest for the future where possible.
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- Locations: Denali National Park & Preserve, Gates Of The Arctic National Park & Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Lake Clark National Park & Preserve, Noatak National Preserve, more »
- Offices: Visitor and Resource Protection Directorate, Wildland Fire Program
The boreal forest, also called taiga, is the largest forested habitat in the world, making up one third of the earth’s total forested area. In North America, the boreal forest spreads from Alaska, across Canada, and into the Great Lakes region of the United States. Boreal forests have burned naturally for thousands of years creating a variety of landscapes, or mosaic, with young and old trees living on the landscape.
- Wildland Fire Program
Fire in Ecosystems: Forests
- Offices: Wildland Fire Program
Forests cover a wide range of environments, from tropical to temperate to boreal. In some forested areas, fires burn fairly often, and are often low intensity. In other forested areas, fires occur much less frequently and are often higher severity when they did occur.
- Locations: Big Hole National Battlefield, Crater Lake National Park, Glacier National Park, Grand Teton National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park, more »
- Offices: Wildland Fire Program
The bark of lodgepoles is thin, which does not protect the trunks from scorching by fire. They die easily when a fire passes through. However, the serotinous cones give lodgepole pine a special advantage for spreading seeds for the next generation.
- Locations: Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Voyageurs National Park
- Offices: Wildland Fire Program
The red pine and white pine forest inhabits the cooler climates of the upper Midwest. They once covered large areas of northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. Red and white pine forests owe their presence and persistence in large part to fire. Although both types of trees can live in areas without fire, especially on very sandy soils, frequent fires are necessary for healthy forests.
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fire in ecosystems forests