Improving the assessment of the natural fire hazard in nature reserves

The need to improve the assessment of the wildfire hazard in nature reserves is considered. It is suggested that the natural vegetation fuel map compiled by using a specially developed determinant of the types of main conductors of burning having regard to the period of a fire-hazardous season should be used for such purposes. The types of prime conductors of burning constitute the major group of vegetation fuels which determines the possibility of the spread of burning across the territory covered by vegetation. A classification of this group was carried out on the basis of long-term pyrological investigations in different regions of the RF. The vegetation fuel maps are presented for the Stolby nature reserve, separately for the spring (autumn) and summer seasons, because the southern-taiga forests are characterized by a predominance of the grass forest types with the involvement of gramineous species. The map of the current wildfire hazard is compiled and presented as an example, on the basis of the vegetation fuel map for the spring (autumn) periods of the season for drought class II according to the weather conditions. This map is representative of the possibility or impossibility of the spread of burning for each area in the nature reserve in the event that the source of fire (of anthropogenic or natural origins) appears. It is shown that vegetation fuel map can be compiled for any nature reserve by using the determinant of the types of prime conductors of burning.