TY - JOUR
T1 - Contextualizing recent increases in Canadian boreal wildfire activity
T2 - decadal burn rates still within historical variability of the two past centuries
AU - Danneyrolles, Victor
AU - Chavardès, Raphaël D.
AU - Girardin, Martin P.
AU - Ali, Adam A.
AU - Arseneault, Dominique
AU - Asselin, Hugo
AU - Bélisle, Annie Claude
AU - Boucher, Yan
AU - Cyr, Dominic
AU - Drobyshev, Igor
AU - Erni, Sandy
AU - Gaboriau, Dorian M.
AU - Gauthier, Sylvie
AU - Gennaretti, Fabio
AU - Johnson, Edward A.
AU - Larsen, Chris P.S.
AU - Leduc, Alain
AU - Parisien, Marc André
AU - Portier, Jeanne
AU - Shakeri, Zackary
AU - Wallenius, Tuomo H.
AU - Bergeron, Yves
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Authors Danneyrolles, Arseneault, Ali, Bélisle, Asselin, Boucher, Drobyshev, Gaboriau, Gennaretti, Johnson, Larsen, Leduc, Portier, Shakeri,Wallenius, and Bergeron; and HisMajesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Ministry of Natural Resources.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - With approximately 15 million ha burned, the 2023 wildfire season in Canada was exceptional. However, it remains unclear whether such recent increases in burned areas exceed the range of variability observed over past centuries. The objective of this study was to leverage available dendrochronological reconstructions of decadal burn rates to contextualize their recent increase within their historical variability over the past two centuries. We compared decadal burn rate reconstructions based on dendrochronological data (1800–2023) for five large eastern and western Canadian boreal forest zones to those of recent decades up to 2023. The area burned in 2023 ranged from 0.76% to 32.5% among the five zones, which is unprecedented compared to the proportion recorded since 1972 for four of the five zones analyzed. In contrast, the burn rates of the decade ending in 2023 (i.e., 2014–2023) generally remained within the natural range of variability of the last two centuries. However, burn rates in two zones were close to the highest decadal burn rates observed since the 1800s and exceeded historical variability in one zone in western Canada. We discuss the historical and current trends in burn rates, their drivers and implications.
AB - With approximately 15 million ha burned, the 2023 wildfire season in Canada was exceptional. However, it remains unclear whether such recent increases in burned areas exceed the range of variability observed over past centuries. The objective of this study was to leverage available dendrochronological reconstructions of decadal burn rates to contextualize their recent increase within their historical variability over the past two centuries. We compared decadal burn rate reconstructions based on dendrochronological data (1800–2023) for five large eastern and western Canadian boreal forest zones to those of recent decades up to 2023. The area burned in 2023 ranged from 0.76% to 32.5% among the five zones, which is unprecedented compared to the proportion recorded since 1972 for four of the five zones analyzed. In contrast, the burn rates of the decade ending in 2023 (i.e., 2014–2023) generally remained within the natural range of variability of the last two centuries. However, burn rates in two zones were close to the highest decadal burn rates observed since the 1800s and exceeded historical variability in one zone in western Canada. We discuss the historical and current trends in burn rates, their drivers and implications.
KW - Pyrocene
KW - climate change
KW - environmental history
KW - fire history
KW - paleoecology
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105016388142
U2 - 10.1139/cjfr-2024-0216
DO - 10.1139/cjfr-2024-0216
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105016388142
SN - 0045-5067
VL - 55
JO - Canadian Journal of Forest Research
JF - Canadian Journal of Forest Research
ER -