Fire ecology and management in Argentina: Lessons learned and future challenges

DEFOSSÉ, G. E.

Jackson Hole

Conferencia; The 88 Fires: Yellowstone and Beyond; 2008

International Association of Wildland Fire - 9th Biennial Scientific Conference on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem

In this conference, we presented an historical perspective of fire management and fire research in Argentina.  It starts with its use in ancestral times by aboriginals, later by settlers and farmers in an empirical way, up to the professional use and management of fire in Argentina in recent times. From early 1900 and up to 1948, fire management in public lands only involved suppression activities.  Since then and up to late ?70s, only the Argentine National Parks Service had an organized service to combat forest fires. In 1980-1990, Patagonian provinces started to organize suppression services in response to severe wildfires and other provinces followed later.  National Fire Management System was created in 1996, aimed at mantainig essential ecological processes, preserve the genetic diversity, and guarantee the sustainable use of species and ecosystems.  Concomitantly, research projects started in the early ?80s, carried out by researchers trained in fire science in th USA and Canada. These programs, which continued up to the present will be explained in this presentation.