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Full-Text Articles in Forest Sciences
Getting Public Involvement In Wildfire Hazard Mitigation, Jake Delwiche
Getting Public Involvement In Wildfire Hazard Mitigation, Jake Delwiche
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
In many areas of the U.S. where wildfires are a recognized hazard, public agencies have taken steps to involve the public in reduction of the risks. Programs have ranged from purely voluntary public education to building codes for new buildings and ordinances for vegetation control. Some local governments provide free or subsidized services to reduce fire risks. Recently enacted federal and state policies encourage local government to become more active in managing wildfire hazards. Interest in creating local public programs to achieve hazard reduction has sparked research into which steps will have the most success in achieving hazard mitigation. Recent …
Getting In The Game: Out On The Landscape Without Leaving Your Desk With Gnnviz, Marjie Brown
Getting In The Game: Out On The Landscape Without Leaving Your Desk With Gnnviz, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
This project used computer game technology to create highly interactive forest data visualization and interaction not possible with the traditional geographic information system approach. Known as GNNViz (Gradient Nearest Neighbor Vegetation Map Visualization), the program was developed by applying it to three large regions in the western U.S., though it’s readily extended to additional landscapes and spatial data formats. Developers leveraged the superior capabilities of video game technology to render realistic 3D environments and allow multiple users to interact with each other in a shared environment. Real time rendering allows users to move about and explore huge areas of terrain …
Tapping Into Technology And Information Resources To Assess Erosion Risk, Shari Anstedt
Tapping Into Technology And Information Resources To Assess Erosion Risk, Shari Anstedt
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Just over 50 years ago, predicting soil erosion was a time-consuming manual process. These methods have evolved over time and now include models such as the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP), which helps simulate the important physical processes that result in soil erosion by water. It was the goal of this study to build on the WEPP model to create a multi-scale software tool that could provide fire and fuel managers with access to the geographic data and detailed images they needed to predict soil erosion after wildfire and fuel-reduction treatments. The new tool, known as the Geo-spatial interface for …
Expanding Use Of The Fire Effects Planning Framework, Marjie Brown
Expanding Use Of The Fire Effects Planning Framework, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
This project sought to discover the best ways to encourage broader use of the fire planning and management tool—Fire Effects Planning Framework (FEPF). FEPF calculates and captures the ecological effects of fire, including the benefits. Along the way FEPF developers learned that varying perspectives, skill sets, responsibilities and workloads of targeted users require differing approaches in order for tech transfer to be effective. Additionally, a lack of incentives to measure and account for fire’s benefits was causing managers to prioritize information and tools that capture fire’s costs, particularly to private property. Face-to-face presentations proved to be the most effective way …
Modifying Fofem To Predict Mortality Of The Longleaf Pine Species, Shari Anstedt
Modifying Fofem To Predict Mortality Of The Longleaf Pine Species, Shari Anstedt
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Once the dominant overstory tree across much of the Southeastern United States, the longleaf pine species declined until it faced a high risk of extinction. But due to recent interest in longleaf pine, there is a new focus on managing and restoring the species. Historically, fire has been an important component in maintaining the longleaf pine ecosystem. To help recreate the pre-settlement conditions in which longleaf flourished, prescribed burning is being used. There is concern, however, that by using fire as a management tool, some trees could be lost due to fire-induced mortality. Therefore, a balance must be reached between …
Introducing Fuelcalc: A New Tool That Helps Turn Static Inventory Data Into Actionable Information, Shari Anstedt
Introducing Fuelcalc: A New Tool That Helps Turn Static Inventory Data Into Actionable Information, Shari Anstedt
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Fuel and fire managers perform fuel treatments to manage and restore ecosystems and protect resources. In order to plan effective fuel treatments that accomplish objectives, managers need to analyze fuel conditions and document the expected fire behavior and fi re effects both before and after fuel treatment. To help accomplish these goals, a new software tool named FuelCalc was created. FuelCalc facilitates use of a wide range of inventory data and fuel characteristics to help calculate fuel quantities and qualities to estimate potential fire behavior, fire effects, and smoke production. By linking with a number of existing software systems and …
A Gust Changes Everything: Local Wind Information In Unprecedented Detail With Windwizard And Windninja, Marjie Brown
A Gust Changes Everything: Local Wind Information In Unprecedented Detail With Windwizard And Windninja, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Fire behavior model accuracy has suffered from a lack of specific information about how winds shift in direction and speed in mountainous terrain at fine scales. Before this project, fire managers lacked a tool that could provide realtime status of changing wind conditions at the scale of a specific ridge or drainage. This project resulted in two wind simulation tools that focus on this critical need: WindWizard and WindNinja. WindWizard, based on commercial computational fluid dynamics software, comes with a price tag and is computationally slower due to the complexity of the calculations it performs. WindNinja was developed as WindWizard’s …
After The Fire: Assessing Post-Treatment Effects On Fine Fuels In The Sierra Nevada, Shari Anstedt
After The Fire: Assessing Post-Treatment Effects On Fine Fuels In The Sierra Nevada, Shari Anstedt
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
In the mixed conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, it appears that fire dynamics have changed from predominantly low and moderate intensity surface fires to a greater proportion of larger, stand-replacing fires. To help reduce fuels and speed the restoration process, the Forest Service harvests dead trees and uses herbicides to control early stages of shrubs. But there are concerns about these post-burn restoration treatments and their infl uence on emerging fine fuels. Some of these treatments have been linked to an increase in annual grass invasions, specifi cally non-native grasses, which have the potential to significantly alter fuel characteristics, …
Changes In Public Responses To Wildland Fuel Management Over Time, Joy Drohan
Changes In Public Responses To Wildland Fuel Management Over Time, Joy Drohan
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
This study compared citizen responses to surveys in 2002 and 2008 about fuels reduction programs by federal land management agencies. The researchers attempted to identify factors that influence public opinion and promote citizen support for agency actions. The study design allowed comparisons over time among individuals and in seven locations in the Midwest and western U.S. The researchers found key commonalities and differences in responses among sites. They identified important fire-related activities (e.g., signifi cant fires, fuel treatments, formation of citizen groups, community wildfi re protection planning) at each location in the years between the two surveys to understand what …
A New Online Tool And Estimates For Hand-Pile Biomass And Smoke Production, Shari Anstedt
A New Online Tool And Estimates For Hand-Pile Biomass And Smoke Production, Shari Anstedt
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
To help reduce the chance for high-severity fires in the western United States, thinning of the forest understory, midstory and overstory has become a necessity. In some cases, the resulting surface fuels are piled by hand and burned. As this two-part treatment method becomes more widely-used, fire managers need the ability to calculate the biomass of hand-piled fuels so they can better estimate the potential emissions and smoke impacts from their disposal by burning. Since machine-constructed piles were sampled in a previous study, researchers were able to use this past research as a point of departure to develop methods to …