Temporal Patterns of Wildfire Activity in Areas of Contrasting Human Influence in the Canadian Boreal Forest

Human influence in the Canadian boreal forest significantly alters wildfire activity patterns, particularly by increasing fire ignitions while reducing area burned, contrary to trends seen in less impacted regions. A study comparing Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) and the Lower Athabasca Plains (LAP) found that human presence dampens or reverses fire activity trends linked to climate change, shifts peak fire activity from summer to spring, weakens the association between fire activity and climate, and introduces shorter cyclical patterns (<8 years) compared to WBNP (>9 years). The research used Singular Spectrum Analysis on wildfire data (1970–2015) to identify these trends. These findings highlight the complex interplay between human activities and natural fire regimes in boreal ecosystems.

Campos-Ruiz, R., Parisien, M.-A., & Flannigan, M. (2018). Temporal Patterns of Wildfire Activity in Areas of Contrasting Human Influence in the Canadian Boreal Forest. Forests, 9(4), 159. https://doi.org/10.3390/f9040159