Number: 2001-04
WHEREAS, many aspects of fire effects have been studied in an effort to learn to efficiently use the tool of prescribed burning and to prescribe fires that mimic the natural characteristics of intensity, season of burn, spatial scale, and frequency for each ecosystem; and
WHEREAS, studies that determine the historic and pre-historic vegetation would help determine natural fire regimes; and
WHEREAS, management of native plant and wildlife communities could be greatly benefitted by increased and more comprehensive research and monitoring, on the effects of prescribed fire on the diversity and abundance of native plant and wildlife species by the U.S. Forest Service and other federal and state agencies; and
WHEREAS, a number of scientific studies have indicated the ecological benefits to native plant and animal communities from prescribed burning that replicates or simulates natural fire regimes; and
WHEREAS, recent scientific studies have indicated that burning impacts local abundance of native invertebrates and other species; and
WHEREAS, some species of animals and birds depend on these invertebrate species and on affected plant species for a major percentage of their diet and survival;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation at its Annual Meeting assembled April 4-6, 2001 in Washington, DC, urges the U.S. Forest Service and other federal and state agencies to cooperate with independent academic researchers and institutions to conduct and publish replicate studies of natural fire frequency, seasonality, spatial scale and intensity on native communities, including monitoring of plant and wildlife resources on control plots, and to use those studies as a principal basis for objective-based prescribed burning; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation supports inventory and monitoring of forest resources to enhance scientific knowledge of the effects of prescribed burning on species composition and abundance; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation urges Congress to fund studies and monitoring as described above.