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Climate change may affect temperature, precipitation, snowpack, and fire in the Sierra Nevada, and the effects on various park resources may range from moderate to extreme. But any level of change has ramifications for the day-to-day work of park managers. One technique used by climate scientists and ecologists is dissecting interannual variability into normal and extreme components (i.e., warmer/cooler and wetter/drier) years and comparing differences between those categories. Because the natural range of variability of climate parameters in the Sierra Nevada is larger than recent trends, recent historical highs and lows give us insight into future conditions. Timing of snowpack melt is a key attribute that varies between hot and cool years, and interannual differences in the timing of snowmelt have been shown to have a significant association with fire activity as well as the amount of vegetation converted to smoke and greenhouse gases by fire. This article reviews the implications of these changes for fire management in the context of our current understanding of climate, historical fire suppression, fire frequency, fire severity, and the effects of climate and fire on air quality. We explore positive feedbacks among climate, fire, and air quality that may threaten forests and forest carbon stocks in the Sierra Nevada. We also discuss the potential importance of fire management as a part of an integrated NPS climate response strategy for mitigating threats to air quality, fire ecology, and carbon stock stability as the projected climate changes become manifest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]