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The Fire Effects Information System: How A Superhero Database Comes To Save The Day, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
The Fire Effects Information System: How A Superhero Database Comes To Save The Day, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Land managers must make fi re management decisions considering place, history, and species, an undertaking that requires a vast amount of information that tends to be spread through many publications. The Fire Effects Information System ([FEIS] at www.fs.fed.us/database/feis) provides a single source for managers, where knowledge available in the scientifi c literature has been analyzed, discussed, and synthesized into reviews of plant and animal species. As managers formulate plans for prescribed fi res, fuel management, and post-fi re revegetation, they can see at a glance, without having to perform their own literature search, what the results of past research have …
Chipping, Burning, And The Care Of Southeastern Pine Woodlands, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Chipping, Burning, And The Care Of Southeastern Pine Woodlands, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Chipping as a land management tool is increasing in popularity to treat lands where burning presents problems, such as areas with ever growing population along the wildland-urban interface. Escaped fi re, and health and nuisance hazards from smoke have caused many managers to avoid burning altogether. The researchers found chipping by itself is likely not an adequate surrogate for fi re, either for restoring ecosystems to desired plant communities, or for limiting fuels, changing fi re behavior, and reducing smoke as a safeguard for future wildfi res. However, chipping in conjunction with fi re demonstrates mostly positive benefi ts for …
Saltcedar: Is Burning An Option?, Jake Delwiche
Saltcedar: Is Burning An Option?, Jake Delwiche
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Saltcedar, an invasive plant genus, is diffi cult to eliminate. A 2001–2002 research project, partially funded by the Joint Fire Science Program, investigated burning as a tool to combat the growth and spread of saltcedar in Western riparian environments. It also evaluated the subsequent survival characteristics of saltcedar after the prescribed burn. The research was performed by a team from Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas. Researchers concluded that fi re behavior in saltcedar-dominated communities is largely dependent on whether the areas have burned in the recent past. Decadent stands of saltcedar carry fi res through the crowns with extreme fl …
In Plantations Or Natural Stands: Ponderosa Is Programmed To Partner With Fire, Marjie Brown
In Plantations Or Natural Stands: Ponderosa Is Programmed To Partner With Fire, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Ponderosa pine plantation forests cover nearly 400,000 acres of California’s National Forests. Fire hazard is extreme both within and adjacent to many of these areas which has led to extensive fuel reduction plans for plantations and other forests on federal public lands. Although fuels treatments have been implemented on a limited basis in California’s plantations, the effectiveness of varying methods has only recently received scientifi c attention. This project analyzed the effectiveness of individual and combination treatments to provide science-based guidance for fi re hazard reduction in these areas. Prescribed understory fi re, both alone and combined with pre-burn mastication, …
Blackbrush Shrublands: Fire Conditions And Solutions In The Mojave Desert, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Blackbrush Shrublands: Fire Conditions And Solutions In The Mojave Desert, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
While mature stands of blackbrush present an almost continuous cover that appears to suppress other species, this ecosystem supports a greater array of different plant species than was previously thought. Fire can completely remove blackbrush cover, but it also results in reduced numbers of other native species, and increased dominance of non-native species such as annual grasses that can promote recurrent fi re and alter the fi re regime. Where blackbrush shrublands historically experienced intense fi res with a long fi re return interval, the non-native fi ne fuels that are now prevalent in many stands promote a greater rate …
Fuels Treatment Demonstration Sites In The Boreal Forests Of Interior Alaska, Marjie Brown
Fuels Treatment Demonstration Sites In The Boreal Forests Of Interior Alaska, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Wildland fi re is the dominant disturbance force in the boreal forests of Alaska which cover about 114 million acres of the south-central and interior regions of the state. Fire in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) is an exceptionally daunting concern as a high percentage of Alaskans live in outlying rural areas and settlements. Fire hazard is growing as communities continue to expand into isolated locations surrounded by highly fl ammable black spruce. To address this concern, researchers developed the fi rst shaded fuel break demonstration sites specifi cally designed for use in the WUI. They compared the effectiveness, environmental impacts …
Low-Intensity Fire In Eastern White Pine A Supporting Role In Understory Diversity, Marjie Brown
Low-Intensity Fire In Eastern White Pine A Supporting Role In Understory Diversity, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Although high-intensity fire has been studied extensively in the forests of the Great Lakes region, the role of low-intensity fi re in stands of eastern white pine has received almost no study. For this project, scientists and mangers teamed up in northern Wisconsin to fi nd out what low-intensity fire means for white pine regeneration and fuels reduction. Surprisingly, there was no white pine regeneration in the burn units even fi ve years after fi re. But low-intensity prescribed fi re triggered a very strong understory response in terms of cover and richness, and can likely be used to support …
The Indefatigable Hand: Cutting, Funding, Studying Treatments, Federal Timber And Market Impacts, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
The Indefatigable Hand: Cutting, Funding, Studying Treatments, Federal Timber And Market Impacts, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Though fuel specialists, scientists and managers have developed treatment tools to reduce fuel hazards, such as mechanical thinning by removing trees, costs to treat lands at risk can be prohibitively high. Harvesting timber and woody materials that can then be sold reduces costs, but only about 20 to 30 percent. Treatment costs average over $1,000 per acre in some areas. Spending $300 million per year in treating government lands would take over twelve decades to treat all high and moderate risk stands; $900 million per year would reduce this to four decades. Treating only wildland-urban interface areas or high risk …
Wildfire, Prescribed Fire, And Peak Stream Flow: Understanding Effects On Stream Habitats And Communities, Joy Drohan
Wildfire, Prescribed Fire, And Peak Stream Flow: Understanding Effects On Stream Habitats And Communities, Joy Drohan
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Much of the previous research on wildfire’s effects on stream communities has examined biotic responses in burned versus unburned watersheds (catchments). But we know that fires burn in a mosaic pattern of differing severities across the landscape, depending on topography, aspect, vegetation, weather, and other factors. Scientists evaluated the gradient of burn severity among watersheds in a dry Intermountain West ponderosa pine forest in central Idaho to gauge the relative response of stream communities under a range of burn severities. They observed a gradient of both habitat and biotic effects correlated with a gradient of burn severity. Effects varied based …
Mapping And Estimating Forest Fuel With Radar Remote Sensing, Rachel Clark
Mapping And Estimating Forest Fuel With Radar Remote Sensing, Rachel Clark
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
With an increase in the risk of large fires across much of the Western United States, along with a growing variety of fuel types that result from changes in the landscape and management strategies, there has never been a more pressing need for accurate, cost-efficient, large scale forest fuel maps. Emerging remote sensing technologies may yield exactly the kind of large scale maps needed to more accurately predict forest fuel loads, fire risk, and fire behavior. With the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem as their backdrop, Don Despain, Sasaan Saatchi, Kerry Halligan, Richard Aspinall, and Robert Crabtree worked together to acquire a …
From The Ground Up, Way Up: Measuring Live Fuel Moisture With Satellite Imagery To Fine-Tune Fire Modeling In Western Ecosystems, Rachel Clark
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Remote sensing from space may well become one of the world’s most effective, accurate, and effi cient ways to assess fi re risk and thus manage large landscapes. The technology is evolving quickly, and researchers are busy keeping up. Some major western U.S. landscapes are just now being assessed for integrating remote sensing data with “on the ground” data that helps fi ne tune remote sensing models, and helps researchers assess which models work best. Drs. Jenny Rechel and Dar Roberts have worked together to gather Live Fuel Moisture (LFM) data from seven major western landscapes with similar mixed vegetation …
Lookouts In The Sky With Algorithms: Forecasting Air Quality With Satellite-Sent Data, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Lookouts In The Sky With Algorithms: Forecasting Air Quality With Satellite-Sent Data, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Data and algorithms from earth-orbiting satellite observations provide key components in scientists’ tools that can map active fi res and burn scars. Fire perimeter maps can then be crafted using this data. Armed with fi re perimeter maps that have been linked to fuel maps of the area burning, scientists can calculate emissions from recently burned areas, determine the quantity of emitted gases and particulates, and determine where these emissions will travel downwind from the burn site. For this project, data from satellite sources has been compared against data collected on the ground by ground-based instruments and incident management teams, …
Patch Burning On Grasslands: An Alternative Approach For Rangeland Management, Jake Delwiche
Patch Burning On Grasslands: An Alternative Approach For Rangeland Management, Jake Delwiche
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Large grazing ungulates—notably cattle, elk and American bison—if given a choice exhibit a grazing preference for regrowth on recently burned areas of grassland. Traditional rangeland management approaches that minimize inherent rangeland heterogeneity are increasingly understood as counter to the evolutionary history of rangeland. Heterogeneity is defi ned as variation in the characteristics of vegetation including species, biomass, and height. Recent research now fi nds an alternative approach to rangeland management through patch burning, giving a variegated texture to the grazing land and more closely simulating the earlier evolutionary pattern of much North American rangeland. Patch burning creates a mosaic of …
Your House In Your Hands: Customized Wildfire Risk Assessment For Southern Homeowners, Marjie Brown
Your House In Your Hands: Customized Wildfire Risk Assessment For Southern Homeowners, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Northeast Decision Model (NED) is a computer-based program originally developed to help land managers and property owners protect resources like timber, wildlife, watersheds and aesthetics. This project enhanced NED by integrating a do-it-yourself fire risk assessment and mitigation tool specifi cally for private property owners dwelling in the wildlandurban interface entitled—Wildfi re Risk Assessment Guide for Southern Homeowners. The upgrade provides an easy way for homeowners in the Southeastern U.S. to evaluate wildfire risk for their own unique structures and property, and rank the effectiveness of different protective actions in reducing that risk.
A Tale Of Teakettle: Fire Is Key To Restoring Forests, Rachel Clark
A Tale Of Teakettle: Fire Is Key To Restoring Forests, Rachel Clark
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Prescribed fire and mechanical thinning have long been used as management tools in fire-excluded forests. Until recently, however, little coordinated data existed on the ecological effects of thinning versus fiire. Malcolm North and a large team of scientists working in mixed-conifer stands at the Teakettle Experimental Forest in California, examined how a range of ecosystem functions responded to commonly used fuels treatments. They found that fire is the key to restoring forest health, and thinning is best viewed as a tool for controlling fire intensity and extent. Collectively the different research studies at Teakettle found that fi re can “jump …
Aloha To Flammable Fountain Grass: Fuels Management Comes To The Big Island Of Hawaii, Marjie Brown
Aloha To Flammable Fountain Grass: Fuels Management Comes To The Big Island Of Hawaii, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Fountain grass is an invasive, highly flammable ornamental plant that has overtaken the dry, tropical ecosystems of west Hawaii. Over the last several decades, large, fast spreading fountain grass fires have burned across the landscape with increasing frequency, usually ignited by roadside activities in remote areas. The Pu’u Anahulu Fuels Management Project evaluated the effectiveness of different roadside fuels treatments on fountain grass using a collaborative approach, and allowed the first use of science-based fuels treatments and prescribed fire in Hawaii. Demonstration sites were established along roadsides where ignitions were known to occur. The clear winner for sustained reduction of …
Angle Of Repose: Testing Erosion And Prescribed Fire In Eastern Oregon And Washington’S Blue Mountains, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Angle Of Repose: Testing Erosion And Prescribed Fire In Eastern Oregon And Washington’S Blue Mountains, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Some forest lands in the United States are overgrown with small trees and thick with fuels. Prescribed fire has been used in many forests and woodlands to reduce fuel loads and the risk of wildfi re. But forests are unique, with different soils, plants, weather, and topography. While erosion from prescribed fi re would seem to be less severe than from a wildfire, prior to this study, little data existed on erosion rates and the infl uence of prescribed fi re on erosion in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon and Washington. This study showed that hillslope erosion in the …
Fire Returns To Southern Appalachian Forests, Elise Lequire
Fire Returns To Southern Appalachian Forests, Elise Lequire
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
In the Daniel Boone National Forest (DBNF) in eastern Kentucky, controlled experiments are shedding light on the role of fi re in meeting an urgent need: encouraging regeneration of oak in the forest. Though mature oak dominates the canopy in much of the forest, competition from species that tolerate shade has jeopardized the ability of oak to successfully regenerate. Since 1995, researchers have been collaborating with Forest Service managers, with funding from the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP), to document the multiple effects of prescribed fi re on canopy opening, seedling recruitment, damage to mature trees, fuel loading, and effects …
Biological Soil Crusts: A Crucial Component Of Arid Ecosystems, Elise Lequire
Biological Soil Crusts: A Crucial Component Of Arid Ecosystems, Elise Lequire
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Biological soil crusts are a complex community of primitive organisms that thrive worldwide in harsh, arid and semiarid regions where other vegetation such as trees, shrubs, and grasses is sparse. These crusts play a key role in stabilizing bare soil, stemming erosion from wind and rain, trapping moisture, fixing carbon and nitrogen in the soil, and providing shelter for the seeds of vascular plants. Together, the species that make up soil crusts—cyanobacteria or blue green algae, green algae, fungi, lichens, and mosses—have developed synergistic communities critical to these dry ecosystems. In the semi-arid Great Basin, juniper has encroached into areas …
Restoring Fire To The Longleaf Pine Forest, Elise Lequire
Restoring Fire To The Longleaf Pine Forest, Elise Lequire
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
At the time of European settlement, the longleaf pine ecosystem dominated the southeastern landscape. Lightning strikes and the use of fi re by Native Americans maintained this habitat as an open savanna with a grassy forest fl oor that supported a great diversity of wildlife. Once considered the most commercially valuable species in its range, it was extensively harvested and replaced with faster growing species such as loblolly pine. By the 20th century, the longleaf pine ecosystem was so reduced that today, it is considered endangered. As of 2004, only 15 documented old-growth stands of longleaf pine forest remained in …
Over 50 Years Of Prescribed Burning On The South Carolina Coastal Plain, Jake Delwiche
Over 50 Years Of Prescribed Burning On The South Carolina Coastal Plain, Jake Delwiche
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
A long-term study has been done on the effects of repeated dormant season prescribed burns within a forested area on the South Carolina Coastal Plain, on plots dominated by mixed longleaf pine and loblolly pine. A recent report documents the effectiveness of this burning as a tool to reduce hazardous fuel loads. Repeated burns at intervals from one to four years help to return and maintain the forest in a state closer to its composition before European settlement. Prescribed burning here reduces the risk of overstory-killing wildfi res, and helps maintain habitat for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. Further, it helps …
Sharpening The Tools For Prescribed Burns In Eastern Mixed-Oak Forests, Jake Delwiche
Sharpening The Tools For Prescribed Burns In Eastern Mixed-Oak Forests, Jake Delwiche
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
A research project on forest lands in the mid-Atlantic region was performed with the dual goals of testing which of the 13 Anderson fuel models most accurately depicts common understory fuel characteristics in these forests, and what proportion of advance regeneration of desired species will sprout after burning. The work covered a range of public forest lands, and varying types of fuels and different burn intensities. Researchers found that, overall, one or more of the Anderson fuel models accurately portray most of the fuel conditions found on the experimental areas. However, no fuel model appears to represent evergreen heath shrubs …
Pine Chronologies In Central Appalachian Forests: Fiery Implications, Rachel Clark
Pine Chronologies In Central Appalachian Forests: Fiery Implications, Rachel Clark
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Eastern forests are lush, humid and dominated by hardwoods, relative to fire-prone forests of the West. But until recently, there was little clear evidence for the fi re history of central Appalachia. Specifi cally, there were no tree-ring chronologies depicting fi re history. Dr. Henri Grissino-Mayer of the University of Tennessee and Dr. Charles Lafon of Texas A&M University along with their colleagues found remnant pine stands hidden in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests of Virginia. They painstakingly acquired more than 600 pine cross sections, and discovered that not only did fire once occur in these forests, but …
Restoring Mountain Meadows: Using Fire, Vegetation, And Fuel Management In Western Oregon, Rachel Clark
Restoring Mountain Meadows: Using Fire, Vegetation, And Fuel Management In Western Oregon, Rachel Clark
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Meadows occupy a small percentage of the western Cascade landscape. Yet they sustain an abundance of species that do not exist in adjacent forests. These biologically rich habitats have been shrinking for more than a century as a result of conifer encroachment. Charlie Halpern, at the University of Washington, and his colleagues combined retrospective and experimental research to understand the consequences of encroachment for these ecosystems, and whether, and under what conditions, it was possible to restore meadows through tree removal and prescribed burning. Their initial results indicate that meadow species are replaced by forest herbs within decades of tree …
Climate And Fire In The Northern Rockies: Past, Present, And Future, Rachel Clark
Climate And Fire In The Northern Rockies: Past, Present, And Future, Rachel Clark
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
The Northern Rocky Mountains have sustained wildfi re for centuries. Fires are widespread throughout the region during certain years, most recently in 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2007. However, until very recently there was little understanding of whether such years of widespread fi re occurred prior to the 20th century or of the role of climate in the occurrence of such years. Penny Morgan, Emily Heyerdahl, and Carol Miller used fi re atlases, fi re scars, vegetation, and climate data to address this question. They found that climate is clearly associated with the occurrence of widespread fi res in the Northern …
From The Ground Up: New Fire Weather Model Boosts Accuracy, Marjie Brown
From The Ground Up: New Fire Weather Model Boosts Accuracy, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Accurate regional weather forecasts are critical to successful wildfi re operations and prescribed burns. Computer forecast models produce indispensable information about atmospheric conditions, but they can also generate some signifi cant inaccuracies, most notably in relative humidity, ambient temperature, wind speed and direction. Accurate forecasts of these weather components are vital for successful assessment of fi re danger. This project sought to improve the accuracy of forecast models, like MM5, which was used until recently by the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Center to predict fi re weather over the western U.S. This project increased forecast accuracy by coupling MM5 …
Filling In The Blanks For Prescribed Fire In Shrublands: Developing Information To Support Improved Fire Planning, Jake Delwiche
Filling In The Blanks For Prescribed Fire In Shrublands: Developing Information To Support Improved Fire Planning, Jake Delwiche
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
By collecting information on fuel loading, fuel consumption, fuel moisture, site conditions and fi re weather on fires in a variety of shrubland types, researchers are developing a fuller knowledge of shrubland fire effects. Results are being integrated into the software package CONSUME, a user-friendly software tool for predicting fuel consumption and emissions for fire, fuel and smoke management planning. Shrubland types studied include chamise chaparral in California, big sagebrush in Montana, pine flatwoods in Florida and Georgia, and pitch pine scrub in the New Jersey Pinelands. Measurements were made of fuel characteristics before and after prescribed fi res in …
Filling In The Blanks For Prescribed Fire In Shrublands: Developing Information To Support Improved Fire Planning, Jake Delwiche
Filling In The Blanks For Prescribed Fire In Shrublands: Developing Information To Support Improved Fire Planning, Jake Delwiche
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
By collecting information on fuel loading, fuel consumption, fuel moisture, site conditions and fire weather on fi res in a variety of shrubland types, researchers are developing a fuller knowledge of shrubland fire effects. Results are being integrated into the software package CONSUME, a user-friendly software tool for predicting fuel consumption and emissions for fire, fuel and smoke management planning. Shrubland types studied include chamise chaparral in California, big sagebrush in Montana, pine flatwoods in Florida and Georgia, and pitch pine scrub in the New Jersey Pinelands. Measurements were made of fuel characteristics before and after prescribed fi res in …
Chasing Flame: Gauging Smoke Production And Forest Floor Consumption In Boreal Ecosystems, Marjie Brown
Chasing Flame: Gauging Smoke Production And Forest Floor Consumption In Boreal Ecosystems, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Detailed information on fuel consumption and emissions from wildland fire in Alaska’s boreal forests has been in short supply. Research has been limited by reliance on prescribed burns for data collection in a region where weather, freezing and thawing permafrost and limited resources make controlled fire very challenging to accomplish. For this study, researchers tried a different approach: rapidly deploying and sampling on active wildfi res. They were richly rewarded when the study period coincided with the record-setting fi re season of 2004 when over six million acres burned in Alaska. With so many fires, many conveniently burning along the …
That Liquefaction Of Her Clothes: Mitigating Debris Flows In The Post-Wildfi Re Landscape, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
That Liquefaction Of Her Clothes: Mitigating Debris Flows In The Post-Wildfi Re Landscape, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Fire, burned landscapes, rain, debris flows—the sequence is familiar to most who live in or observe the western United States. Because even relatively small rainstorms can trigger debris flows on lands altered by fire, a variety of treatments such as mulching, seeding, and emplacing barriers and fences are used to reduce hazards. Based on measurements of debris flow volumes for 46 events, as well as field observations, surveys, and literature reviews, the scientists found hillslope treatments are most effective in reducing runoff and improving infi ltration. Conversely, channel treatments effectively capture debris, inhibiting these materials from joining and increasing the …