Print version ISSN 0075-6458 FORSYTH, Greg G. and VAN WILGEN,
Brian W.. The recent fire history of the Table Mountain National
Park and implications for fire management. Koedoe [online].
2008, vol.50, n.1, pp. 3-9. ISSN 0075-6458. This paper provides
an assessment of fire regimes in the Table Mountain National
Park over the past four decades. We compiled a GIS database of
all fires between 1970 and 2007 and analysed the fire regime in
terms of the frequency, season and size of fires and the
relationship between fire occurrence and fire weather. Most
fires (90.5% of area burnt) occurred in summer and autumn, the
ecologically acceptable season for fires. However, mean fire
return intervals declined by 18.1 years, from 31.6 to 13.5
years, between the first and last decades of the record
respectively. The area subjected to short (< six years)
intervals between fires covered > 16% of the park in the last
two decades of the record, compared to ~ 4% in the first two
decades. A relatively small number of large fires