Since the dawn of humanity, fire has been both a savior and scourge. Globally, natural fire has shaped our landscape, our communities and our culture. Ecosystems depend on fire to clear away dead materials and brush, and certain species have evolved that thrive in an ecosystem where natural fires occur. Natural fires often impinge upon human-settled areas, and can cause catastrophic damage. In this regard, fire is truly the double-edged sword of nature.

During the later half of the 19 th century, thousands of acres of the American West burned in a period referred to as "The Great Barbecue" by Pyne is his book America's Fires: Management on Wildlands and Forests . These fires were not due to a natural fire regime. They were the result of human interaction and shifting land practices; a consequence of the migration west during the post Civil War period.

The United States Forest Service was founded at the turn of the century with the ideology "suppression at all costs" (Pyne 1997). This ideology was not exclusive to the control of fires, and could be found in other management areas such as the control of pests and floodwaters. Man was to be the master of nature. The result was an instant decrease in natural fires. Supression efforts were targeted at all fires, not just raging infernos, but also low buring fires that would keep brushland clear and forests open. During the 1930's, land managers began to realize that forests were becoming overgrown due to a lack of natural fire and began to formulate plans that would allow for the return of natural fire regimes in areas that they could be controlled rather than suppressed completely (Pyne 1997).

This paper is targeted at the mapping of vegetation and wildland fire fule. Fire is a process-oriented event. In the mid 18th century, James Hutton, who many refer to as the father of modern geology, coined the phrase "the present is the key to the past." Correct interpretation of the strata in a mountain range can give insight into the processes that formed a mountain range millions of years ago. In the wildland fire environment, correct interpretation of the present fuel dynamics of a stand can give insight into what process that stand will undergo if set ablaze. In this aspect, understanding of present forest fuel conditions is the key to understanding how that stand will react to fire in the future.

Vegetation mapping efforts in the United States extend as far back as 1935, when over 6 million ha of the Rocky Mountains were mapped using over 90 Civillian Conservation Corps workers who assigned values of fuel conditions to polygons which they colored in with crayons (Keane 2001). The approach applied in the 1935 mapping effort was remarkable not only in the spatial scale onver which mapping occurred, but for the fact that fuel characteristics were linked to expected fire behavior.

With the advent of aerial reconnisance after WWII, mapping of vegetation using aircraft and aerial photography became more commonplace. However, numerical models for the prediction of fire behavior did not come into existence until 1972 when Rothermel released his landmark paper A mathematical model for predicting fire spread in wildland fuels (Rothermel 1972). The advent of mathematical models to predict fire behavior, allowed land managers and fire suppression crews to act in unison. Predicting wildland fire behavior was not only important for the logistical reasons of provisioning crews and heavy machinery but also provided increased safety. For the first time, tangible (although not always accurate) numbers for fireline behavior could be output.

The future holds more promise for fuels mapping. Landsat ETM+ imagery is available globally on a 30m spatial scale. This data can be linked with ground reference data as is currently taking place in the USGS LANDFIRE project that will one day provide seamless coverage for fire fuels throughout the entire United States (Keane et al. 2002).

As more people build their homes in forested areas to seek and privacy and serenity, land managers face an ever growing challenge. They strive to maintain natural fire regimes to prevent large buildups of potentially dangerous fuels, while keeping the safety of those who have chosen to build their homes in forested areas as top priority. The remoteness and ruged beauty of forested areas that makes these lands so attractive to build on may indeed turn out to be the Sword of Damocles that dangles over the heads, and homes of those to build on beautiful, rugged and fire-prone landscapes.