Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Predicted Fire Behavior And Societal Benefits In Three Eastern Sierra Nevada Vegetation Types, Christopher Dicus, Kenneth Delfino, David R. Weise

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

We investigated potential fire behavior and various societal benefits (air pollution removal, carbon sequestration, and carbon storage) provided by woodlands of pinyon pine (Pinus monophylla) and juniper (Juniperus californica), shrublands of Great Basin sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa), and recently burned annual grasslands near a wildland-urban interface (WUI) community in the high desert of the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Fire behavior simulations showed that shrublands had the greatest flame lengths under low wind conditions, and that pinyon-juniper woodlands had the greatest flame lengths when winds exceeded 25 km hr^{-1 …}