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fire on the selway riverAs some of the most pristine areas of the country---undeveloped, untrammeled, and managed to maintain native ecosystems--wilderness areas have played an invaluable role in the development of wildland fire science. Although the practice of fire suppression has excluded wildland fire from many western forests, some wilderness areas have more closely maintained their natural fire regimes. The Northern Rockies, for example, has several national parks and wilderness areas in which lightning caused fires are often allowed to freely burn with little human interference. These areas provide a tremendous opportunity for understanding the complexity of wildland fire as natural ecosystem process, and for appreciating the social factors that influence the management of wildfire for its beneficial effects. The resources listed here reflect the range of this knowledge.

This hot topic was developed in partnership with the Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute.

Conference Proceedings

Publications

2024

Untrammeling the wilderness: Restoring natural conditions through the return of human‑ignited fire
Clare E. Boerigter et al.

2023

The scientific value of fire in wilderness
Mark R. Kreider et al.

2022

Managed Wildfire: A Strategy Facilitated by Civil Society Partnerships and Interagency Cooperation
Emily Jane Davis et al.

2021

A Mixed Methods Literature Review and Framework for Decision Factors That May Influence the Utilization of Managed Wildfire on Federal Lands, USA
Stephen D. Fillmore et al.

2020

Structural diversity and development in active fire regime mixed-conifer forests
Julia Berkey et al.

2018

Potentials and limitations of remote fire monitoring in protected areas
João Flávio Costa dos Santos et al.

2017

Temporal trends in burn severity in Selway Bitterroot Wilderness 1880-2012
Penelope Morgan et al.
Effects of accelerated wildfire on future fire regimes and implications for the United States federal fire policy
Alan A. Ager et al.

2016

Progress in wilderness fire science: Embracing complexity
Carol Miller et al.
Wilderness in the 21st Century: A framework for testing assumptions about ecological intervention in wilderness using a case study of fire ecology in the Rocky Mountains
Cameron Naficy et al.
Using risk analysis to reveal opportunities for the management of unplanned ignitions in wilderness
Kevin M. Barnett et al.
Introduction to the article by Elers Koch: the passing of the Lolo Trail
Elers Koch
Time shows wisdom of letting some wilderness fires roam freely
Dave Campbell et al.

2015

Wildland fire as a self‐regulating mechanism: the role of previous burns and weather in limiting fire progression
Sean A. Parks et al.

2014

The contribution of natural fire management to wilderness fire science
Carol Miller
From research to policy: The White Cap Wilderness Fire Study
Diane M. Smith
Northern Rockies pyrogeography: an example of fire atlas utility
Penelope Morgan et al.
Forest Fire Severity Patterns of Resource Objective Wildfires in the Southern Sierra Nevada
Marc D. Meyer

2013

Wilderness shapes contemporary fire size distributions across landscapes of the western United States
Sandra L. Haire et al.
Latent resilience in ponderosa pine forest: effects of resumed frequent fire
Andrew J. Larson et al.

2012

Quantifying the threat of unsuppressed wildfires reaching the adjacent wildland-urban interface on the Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming, USA
Joe H. Scott et al.

2011

Wilderness fire management in a changing environment
Carol Miller et al.

2008

Recreation visitor attitudes towards management-ignited prescribed fires in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, Montana
Katie Knotek et al.
Wildland fire use barriers and facilitators
Anne E. Black et al.
Visitor preferences for managing wilderness recreation after wildfire
Ryan N.K. Brown et al.

2007

CCE fire regimes and their management
Robert E. Keane et al.
Factors in United States Forest Service district rangers' decision to manage a fire for resource benefit
Martha A. Williamson

2006

Effects of fire exclusion on forest structure and composition in unlogged ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir forests
Eric G. Keeling et al.
The complexity of managing fire-dependent ecosystems in wilderness: relict ponderosa pine in the Bob Marshall Wilderness
Robert E. Keane et al.
Understanding place meanings on the Bitterroot National Forest - A landscape-level assessment of personal and community values
Kari Gunderson et al.
Understanding social influences on wilderness fire stewardship decisions
Katie Knotek
Barriers to wildland fire use: a preliminary problem analysis
Dustin Doane et al.
Frequent fire alters nitrogen transformations in ponderosa pine stands of the inland Northwest
Thomas H. DeLuca et al.

1973

Fire-dependent forests in the Northern Rocky Mountains
James R. Habeck et al.