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2009

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Low-Intensity Fire In Eastern White Pine A Supporting Role In Understory Diversity, Marjie Brown Jan 2009

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 …

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Patch Burning On Grasslands: An Alternative Approach For Rangeland Management, Jake Delwiche Jan 2009

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 …

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Aloha To Flammable Fountain Grass: Fuels Management Comes To The Big Island Of Hawaii, Marjie Brown Jan 2009

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 …

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Biological Soil Crusts: A Crucial Component Of Arid Ecosystems, Elise Lequire Jan 2009

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 …

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Restoring Fire To The Longleaf Pine Forest, Elise Lequire Jan 2009

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 …

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Pine Chronologies In Central Appalachian Forests: Fiery Implications, Rachel Clark Jan 2009

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 …

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Filling In The Blanks For Prescribed Fire In Shrublands: Developing Information To Support Improved Fire Planning, Jake Delwiche Jan 2009

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 …

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Filling In The Blanks For Prescribed Fire In Shrublands: Developing Information To Support Improved Fire Planning, Jake Delwiche Jan 2009

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 …

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Little Umpqua Gentian And The Big Biscuit Fire, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian Jan 2009

Little Umpqua Gentian And The Big Biscuit Fire, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

Umpqua gentian is an imperiled plant of the gaps and forested places, growing from the central western Cascade Mountains of Oregon, south to the Klamath Mountains in northwestern California. Since 1993, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service have worked together on a conservation strategy for this rare species, with the goal of maintaining viable, stable populations of genetic diversity. On the Medford District of the BLM, three sites had been monitored each year since 1995. When the 2002 Biscuit Fire burned the area, scientists had no information on how burning would affect this species. The Biscuit …

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The Forest, The Fire And The Fungi: Studying The Effects Of Prescribed Burning On Mycorrhizal Fungi In Crater Lake National Park, Carol Anna Jan 2009

The Forest, The Fire And The Fungi: Studying The Effects Of Prescribed Burning On Mycorrhizal Fungi In Crater Lake National Park, Carol Anna

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

A first-of-its-kind study, conducted in a forest of old-growth ponderosa pine and white fi r in Oregon’s Crater Lake National Park, explored the relationships among seasonal prescribed burning, an array of soil attributes, and mycorrhizal fungal fruiting patterns. This three-fold approach not only made the study unique, but also enabled researchers to separate the effects of fi re treatment from the effects of soil attributes on fungal fruiting patterns. The study’s site encompassed three different prescribed burn treatments—applied in the early spring, late spring, and fall of 2002—as well as non-burned control plots. Analyzing statistics with multiple variables, the researchers …

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Fire And Rain: Stemming The Tide Of Invasive Plants In Hawaiian Ecosystems, Elise Lequire Jan 2009

Fire And Rain: Stemming The Tide Of Invasive Plants In Hawaiian Ecosystems, Elise Lequire

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

In the rainforests of Hawai’i, wildfi re is an uncommon occurrence, and repeated wildfires in the same area rare indeed. In 2002 and 2003, successive lava-ignited wildfi res in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park burned from seasonally dry to mesic low elevation plant communities to higher elevation rainforests, causing 95-percent mortality of the canopy. The lower elevation communities consisted of native shrubs in the overstory and invasive, non-native grasses and ferns in the understory. In the mid-elevation forested communities, non-native sword fern dominated the understory, while the higher elevation communities consisted of native trees in the canopy and native ferns and …

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Where There’S Fire, There’S Smoke Smoldering Combustion From Wildfire Poses Serious Threats To Public Health In The Coastal Plains, Elise Lequire Jan 2009

Where There’S Fire, There’S Smoke Smoldering Combustion From Wildfire Poses Serious Threats To Public Health In The Coastal Plains, Elise Lequire

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

The Coastal Plain of North Carolina contains some of the last remaining vestiges of a wetland forest ecosystem characterized by organic soils ranging from a few inches to eight or more feet deep. When fi re occurs in this system, it can result in smoldering combustion far down into the peat-like soil, which may burn for weeks or even months. Carefully planned and implemented prescribed fire can reduce the fuel load and risk of wildfire, but it also creates emissions of pollutants, including particulate matter and trace gases. Computer models that predict smoke behavior were developed in western lands with …

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Reality Show: Splats Take A Trip From Theory To The Tahoe National Forest, Marjie Brown Jan 2009

Reality Show: Splats Take A Trip From Theory To The Tahoe National Forest, Marjie Brown

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

Strategically Placed Landscape Treatments (SPLATS) developed by Mark Finney have successfully demonstrated their capacity to slow fire spread in computer simulations. This collaborative project combined new applications of high-tech science with local knowledge in an attempt to implement SPLATS in a real world landscape—with real world constraints. Although the SPLATS designs created for the Sagehen Creek Basin by researchers met these constraints, unforeseen complications prevented their implementation. In addition, researchers found that their technologically intensive approach is not likely to be operationally feasible for several reasons, including the limited financial and technological resources of the ranger district. Lessons learned, however, …

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Post-Fi Re Salvage Logging In Central Oregon: Short-Term Response In Bats, Birds And Small Mammals, Marjie Brown Jan 2009

Post-Fi Re Salvage Logging In Central Oregon: Short-Term Response In Bats, Birds And Small Mammals, Marjie Brown

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

Some studies of wildlife response after fire have shown that habitat condition during the years immediately following fire are very important for many species. Because of this, it’s important for managers to have full knowledge of the shortterm effects of salvage logging on wildlife. This short-term study looked at the effects of different intensities of post-fire salvage logging on bat activity, population densities of breeding songbirds and small mammal abundance. The project took place on the 2003 Davis Lake Fire in central Oregon during the second and third years following fire. Although there were some exceptions, results generally showed that …

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Listening To The Message Of The Black-Backed Woodpecker, A Hot Fire Specialist, Elise Lequire Jan 2009

Listening To The Message Of The Black-Backed Woodpecker, A Hot Fire Specialist, Elise Lequire

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

The Black-backed Woodpecker is an uncommon bird of the northern coniferous forests of North America. It is one of several species of fauna that are considered fire specialists. This woodpecker nests in cavities it creates in dead standing trees and feeds on wood-boring beetles and their larvae, which are also attracted to stressed or burned trees. Because the bird can be seen and heard from a distance, its population dynamics can be used to estimate the suitability of habitat to support both fl ora and fauna that have evolved in a natural regime of severe fire. In the effort to …

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Webofire: Easy Fuels Treatment Planning For The Model-Averse, Marjie Brown Jan 2009

Webofire: Easy Fuels Treatment Planning For The Model-Averse, Marjie Brown

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

Webofi re is a model for people who tend to break out in hives at the mention of the words “modeling” or “algorithm.” It provides a simple method for objectively evaluating existing wildfire hazard, prioritizing treatment needs, and estimating the potential effectiveness and costs of proposed treatments before they are carried out. Webofire is designed for people who plan, conduct, or oversee hazardous fuels reduction activities but who may lack training in model use or be model averse. Webofire allows users to take advantage of the sophisticated modeling tools that serve as workhorses for fuels reduction specialists—without the complexity. Webofi …

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After The Fall: A Destructive Bark Beetle In The Southern Appalachians Paves The Way For Restoration Of A Vanishing Shortleaf Pine Ecosystem, Elise Lequire Jan 2009

After The Fall: A Destructive Bark Beetle In The Southern Appalachians Paves The Way For Restoration Of A Vanishing Shortleaf Pine Ecosystem, Elise Lequire

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

Between 1999 and 2003, an epidemic of southern pine beetles ravaged the southeastern United States from Virginia south to Florida and west to Texas. In five southern Appalachian states alone this destructive insect killed more than a million acres of pine and caused $1.5 billion in economic losses on state, federal, and private lands. In the aftermath, the massive amount of dead and downed trees has multiplied the risk of wildfire. The Forest Service regularly uses controlled burning with the primary goal of fuels reduction. After the latest outbreak of the pine beetle, the Forest Service is also using fi …

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Using Fire To Manage Invasive Vegetation: The State Of The Art, Elise Lequire Jan 2009

Using Fire To Manage Invasive Vegetation: The State Of The Art, Elise Lequire

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

People have used fire to manipulate the landscape since prehistoric times. The science of using prescribed fire to manage unwanted vegetation is a fairly new phenomenon, and it recently took an important stride forward. Researchers and land managers have compiled a synthesis of the most current knowledge of fire as a tool to manage non-native, invasive plants. The effort began in 2004 with a workshop where about 30 participants were invited to brainstorm the issues, assess the current state of knowledge, and establish the basic principles of the use of fire in the control of weeds. The findings were published …

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Prevent Or Reduce Fire With Goats: No Kidding!, Rachel Clark Jan 2009

Prevent Or Reduce Fire With Goats: No Kidding!, Rachel Clark

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

In the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) methods for reducing fire hazards such as prescribed burns and mechanical thinning, may be less than ideal in terms of effectiveness, let alone in acceptance by community residents. Kathy Voth may be a harbinger of change. Her work with goat herds to reduce and prevent wildfire provides another option for fuel managers. Goats vigorously eat fire prone vegetation like oakbrush, while trampling parts of the area to bare dirt—such areas treated by goats can stop a fire cold. Voth’s results show the promise of using domesticated animals as part of our fire prevention workforce. …

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Ecological Effects Of Prescribed Fire Season: A Literature Review And Synthesis For Managers, Eric E. Knapp, Becky L. Estes, Carl N. Skinner Jan 2009

Ecological Effects Of Prescribed Fire Season: A Literature Review And Synthesis For Managers, Eric E. Knapp, Becky L. Estes, Carl N. Skinner

Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports

Prescribed burning may be conducted at times of the year when fires were infrequent historically, leading to concerns about potential adverse effects on vegetation and wildlife. Historical and prescribed fire regimes for different regions in the continental United States were compared and literature on season of prescribed burning synthesized. In regions and vegetation types where considerable differences in fuel consumption exist among burning seasons, the effects of prescribed fire season appears, for many ecological variables, to be driven more by fire-intensity differences among seasons than by phenology or growth stage of organisms at the time of fire. Where fuel consumption …

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Synthesis Of Knowledge On The Effects Of Fire And Fire Surrogates On Wildlife In U.S. Dry Forests, Patricia L. Kennedy, Joseph B. Fontaine Jan 2009

Synthesis Of Knowledge On The Effects Of Fire And Fire Surrogates On Wildlife In U.S. Dry Forests, Patricia L. Kennedy, Joseph B. Fontaine

Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports

Dry forests throughout the United States are fire-dependent ecosystems, and much attention has been given to restoring their ecological function. As such, land managers often are tasked with reintroducing fire via prescribed fire, wildland fire use, and fire-surrogate treatments such as thinning and mastication. During planning, managers frequently are expected to anticipate effects of management actions on wildlife species. This document represents a synthesis of existing knowledge on wildlife responses to fire and fire-surrogate treatments, presented in a useful, management-relevant format. Based on scoping meetings and dialogue with public lands managers from throughout the United States, we provide detailed, species-level, …

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Tributes To Peter Homans, Diane Jonte-Pace, Richard A. Rosengarten, Jennifer Homans Jan 2009

Tributes To Peter Homans, Diane Jonte-Pace, Richard A. Rosengarten, Jennifer Homans

Religious Studies

Peter Homans, Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School, died on Saturday, May 30, 2009, in Evanston, Illinois. The cause of death was complications from a recent stroke. Professor of Psychology and Religious Studies in the Divinity School, Professor Homans also held appointments in the Committee on Human Development and on the Committee on the History of Culture, as well as in the Social Sciences Collegiate Division. He joined the Divinity School faculty in 1965.

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Actions Memo January 2009, Kutztown University Curriculum Committee Jan 2009

Actions Memo January 2009, Kutztown University Curriculum Committee

UCC Action Memos

No abstract provided.

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Weaving The Web Of Inquiry: An Activity Introducing Students To Marine Food Webs, Jena Kline, Ryan Dickinson Jan 2009

Weaving The Web Of Inquiry: An Activity Introducing Students To Marine Food Webs, Jena Kline, Ryan Dickinson

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

This activity engages students in a biological investigation focusing on marine life. Students receive pictures of several marine organisms, make observations, and propose a possible food web which includes each of the organisms. Students also explain to the class their rationale behind the construction of their food web. This activity promotes increased familiarity with food webs, ecosystems, and energy flow. While this activity focuses on marine life, the activities and strategies could be used with most any ecosystem of interest. This activity promotes National Science Education Standards A, C, F and G, and Iowa Teaching Standards 2, 3, 4, and …

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Fusion, 2009, George Washington University, William H. Beaumont Medical Research Honor Society Jan 2009

Fusion, 2009, George Washington University, William H. Beaumont Medical Research Honor Society

Fusion

No abstract provided.

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3d Animation & Character Design Business Case, Fanshawe College Jan 2009

3d Animation & Character Design Business Case, Fanshawe College

Documentation (Approvals etc…)

No abstract provided.

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Fans 01273 - 3d Animation & Character Design Funding Letter, Fanshawe College Jan 2009

Fans 01273 - 3d Animation & Character Design Funding Letter, Fanshawe College

Documentation (Approvals etc…)

No abstract provided.

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Law School Catalog 2009, Wiener-Rogers Law Library, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas -- William S. Boyd School Of Law Jan 2009

Law School Catalog 2009, Wiener-Rogers Law Library, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas -- William S. Boyd School Of Law

Law School Catalogs

No abstract provided.

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Abstract Papers Jan 2009

Abstract Papers

Journal of the Minnesota Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

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Encuentros, Summer 2009, Sarah A. Blue, Mayra Daniel, Matthew Maletz, John R. Alexander, Michael J. Gonzales Jan 2009

Encuentros, Summer 2009, Sarah A. Blue, Mayra Daniel, Matthew Maletz, John R. Alexander, Michael J. Gonzales

Encuentros

No abstract provided.

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