Contains an introductory paper by the editors, and, in addition to papers separately noticed [see the next three abstracts], the following: Fire in the virgin forests of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, Minnesota (M.L. Heinselman, 99 ref.); The importance of fire as a natural ecological factor in Itasca State Park, Minnesota (S.S. Frissell, Jr., 14 ref.); Fire-dependent forests in the northern Rocky Mountains (J.R. Habeck and R.W. Mutch, 33 ref.); and The ecological role of fire in Sierran conifer forests: its application to national park management (B.M. Kilgore, 75 ref.).