Vulnerability and adaptation to climate-related fire impacts in rural and urban interior Alaska

Polar research

Mary Kwart¹  A. David McGuire²  Orville Huntington³  David Natcher⁴  Monika Calef⁵  Amy Lauren Lovecraft⁶  F. Stuart Chapin Iii⁷  La’Ona DeWilde⁷  Sarah F. Trainor⁸  T. Scott Rupp⁹  Nancy Fresco⁹  Paul Duffy⁹ 

[1] 7014 Fairweather Park Loop, Anchorage, AK 99518, USA;Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, 209 Irving 1, P.O. Box 757020, AK 99775-7020, USA;Alaska Native Science Commission, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508, USA;Department of Bioresource Policy, Business and Economics, University of Saskatchewan, 51 Campus Drive, Saskatchewan S7N 5A8, Canada;Department of Geography and Planning, University at Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12222, USA;Department of Political Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 756420, AK 99775-6420, USA;Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 757000, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7000, USA;Institute of Northern Engineering, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 755960, Fairbanks, AK 99775-5960, USACorrespondence;School of Natural Resource and Agricultural Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 757140, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA

关键词: Climate change;    interior Alaska;    rural;    urban;    vulnerability;    wildfire.;   

DOI  :  10.1111/j.1751-8369.2009.00101.x

学科分类：自然科学（综合）

来源: Co-Action Publishing

【 摘 要 】

This paper explores whether fundamental differences exist between urban and rural vulnerability to climate-induced changes in the fire regime of interior Alaska. We further examine how communities and fire managers have responded to these changes and what additional adaptations could be put in place. We engage a variety of social science methods, including demographic analysis, semi-structured interviews, surveys, workshops and observations of public meetings. This work is part of an interdisciplinary study of feedback and interactions between climate, vegetation, fire and human components of the Boreal forest social–ecological system of interior Alaska. We have learned that although urban and rural communities in interior Alaska face similar increased exposure to wildfire as a result of climate change, important differences exist in their sensitivity to these biophysical, climate-induced changes. In particular, reliance on wild foods, delayed suppression response, financial resources and institutional co...

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC