Forest Management Commons^™

Using Escaped Prescribed Fire Reviews To Improve Organizational Learning, Anne E. Black Dr., James Saveland Dr., Dave Thomas, Jennifer Ziegler Dr.

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The US wildland fire community has been interested in cultivating organizational learning to improve safety and overall performance for a number of years. A key focus has been on understanding the difference between culpability (to be guilty) and accountability (to explain) and on re-orienting review processes towards building a collective account of (as opposed to finding individual blame for) unwanted outcomes. A variety of innovative methodologies have been developed, yet until this project, there has been no systematic reflection to determine whether or how any of the existing review processes might be assisting organizational learning. Through a series of five …

A Decision-Support System For Assessing The Impact Of Fire Management On Threatened And Endangered Species, Gordon Reeves, Rebecca Flitcroft, Lee E. Benda, Pete Bisson, Steve Wondzell, Jeff Falke, Kris Mcnyset, Ken Vance-Borland, Dan Miller

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Historically, wildfire was an important agent of change in landscapes across the western United States. Fires of varying magnitudes and extents contributed to a mosaic of dynamic landscape conditions. For the past century, fire management that focuses on fire suppression has effectively altered the composition of many vegetation communities across the landscape. Fire management and other landuse practices associated with natural resource use, agriculture, and residential development have changed the complexity of terrestrial landscapes. Aquatic systems have not been exempt from these changes: alterations in disturbance processes on the landscape have changed inputs into the stream environment, and practices such …

A Fire Prevention Effectiveness Assessment For Multiple Ownerships, Jeffrey P. Prestemon Dr., Karen L. Abt, David T. Butry, Douglas S. Thomas, Sam Scranton, Scott L. Goodrick, Parker T. Mothershead, Terry K. Haimes, Susan Marzec, John Owens, Suzanne Romero, Reid Shelley, Loren Walker, Angela Yearwood

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This study first summarized findings of fire prevention education statistical modeling from the State of Florida from a study originally led by the Principal Investigator and two major collaborators (Karen Abt, USDA Forest Service, and David T. Butry, National Institute of Standards and Technology). The study next measured the statistical effects of wildfire prevention programs occurring on tribal lands administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, with primary involvement of major collaborator Sam Scranton (Bureau of Indian Affairs). Using first a binary variable indicating the presence or absence of a wildfire prevention program on lands managed by the tribe or …

Affecting Risk: Improving Hazard Communication In The Wildland-Urban Interface, Melissa Wright Dr., Destiny Aman

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Wildfire hazard is a growing problem in many areas of the United States, especially in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where homes and other structures border or intermingle with forests, shrubs and grasslands. Despite years of educational outreach by fire management officials promoting effective and affordable mitigation strategies, research shows that residents, especially seasonal residents and those new to an area, still tend to under-invest in mitigation, even when they perceive their risk to be high. Meanwhile, the social and economic costs of wildfire have increased with fire size and intensity and far exceed the costs of mitigation. This problem has …

Age-Class Mosaics And Wind-Driven Fire: Further Fuel For The Debate, Jan L. Beyers, Philip J. Riggan, David Weise, Timothy Paysen, Marcia Narog

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

In 2006 the Santa Ana wind-driven Esperanza fire burned through the North Mountain Experimental Area (NMEA) and vicinity, including the scars of 10 previous fires. Multiple images of the fire’s progression were taken using PSW Research Station’s airborne FireMapper thermal-imaging system. Existing fuels data and historic NMEA maps plus new fire images were used to investigate relationships between vegetation history, fire behavior and severity, and fuel consumption. Soil samples were collected at a subset of fire severity sample points to assess seed bank survival. Coordinated documentation of vegetation recovery addressed the effects of age class and fire severity on chaparral …

Assessing Fuels Treatments In Southern California National Forests In The Context Of Climate Change, Timothy J. Brown, Crystal A. Kolden, John T. Abatzoglou

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

One of the key uncertainties in fuels treatments is their longevity under a changing climate. Several recent studies have assessed fuel treatment effectiveness during historic fires, and in many cases found the treatment less effective than desired, particularly during extreme or record conditions. In 2007, southern California experienced one of the most severe fire seasons to-date due to record low fuel moistures early in the fire season (a key driver of the two-month long Zaca fire) and historic Santa Ana winds late in the season (resulting in several large late October fires). Climate change projections for the region suggest that …

Can Climate Change Increase Fire Severity Independent Of Fire Intensity?, Phil Van Mantgem, Marybeth Keifer, Rob Klinger, Eric Knapp

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

We tested the idea that climate may affect forest fire severity independent of fire intensity. Pervasive warming can lead to chronic stress on forest trees (McDowell et al. 2008; Raffa et al. 2008), resulting in higher sensitivity to fire-induced damage (van Mantgem et al. 2003). Thus, there may be ongoing increases in fire severity (the number of trees killed), even when there is no change in fire intensity (the amount of heat released during a fire). We examined this question at a subcontinental scale by synthesizing existing information from plot-based prescribed fire monitoring databases across the western United States of …

Phase 1 Of The Smoke And Emissions Model Intercomparison Project (Semip): Creation Of Semip And Evaluation Of Current Models, Narasimhan K. Larkin, Tara M. Strand, Stacy A. Drury, Sean M. Raffuse, Robert C. Solomon, Susan M. O'Neill, Neill Wheeler, Shihming Huang, Miriam Roring, Hilary R. Hafner

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Managers, regulators, and others often need information on the emissions from wildland fire and their expected smoke impacts. In order to create this information, combinations of models are utilized. The modeling steps follow a logical progression from fire activity through to emissions and dispersion. In general, several models and/or datasets are available for each modeling step, resulting in a large number of combinations that can be created to produce fire emissions or smoke impacts. Researchers, managers, and policy makers need information on how different model choices affect the resulting output, and guidance on what choices to make in selecting the …

A National Study Of The Consequences Of Fire And Fire Surrogate Treatments, Phil Weatherspoon, Jim Agee, Phil Aune, Jim Baldwin, Jamie Barbour, Frank Beall, Julio Betancourt, Ralph Boerner, Matt Busse, Carl Edminster, Gary Fiddler, Carl Fiedler, Sally Haase, Kathy Harchsen, Mick Harrington, Ron Hodgson, Sue Husari, Jon Keeley, Mike Landram, Bill Laudenslayer, Jim Mciver, Dan Neary, Bill Otrosina, Roger Ottmar, Martin Ritchie, Kevin Ryan, Patrick Shea, Carl Skinner, Scott Stephens, Nate Stephensen, Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, Bob Vihanek, Dale Wade, Tom Waldrop, Dan Yaussy, Andy Youngblood, Steve Zack

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Many U.S. forests, especially those with historically short-interval, low- to moderate-severity fire regimes, are too dense and have excessive quantities of fuels. Widespread treatments are needed to restore ecological integrity and reduce the high risk of destructive, uncharacteristically severe fires in these forests. Among possible treatments, however, the appropriate balance among cuttings, mechanical fuel treatments, and prescribed fire is often unclear. For improved decisionmaking, resource managers need much better information about the consequences of alternative management practices involving fire and mechanicaVmanual "fire surrogates." Long-term, interdisciplinary research thus should be initiated to quantify the consequences and tradeoffs of alternative fire and …

Cumulative Effects Of Fire And Fuels Management On Stream Water Quality And Ecosystem Dynamics, David S. Pilloid, Robert S. Arkle

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Prescribed fires and wildland fire-use are increasingly important management tools used to reduce fuel loads and restore the ecological integrity of western forests. Although a basic understanding of the effects of fire on aquatic ecosystems exists, the cumulative and possibly synergistic effects of wildfire following prescribed fire are unknown. Wildfires following prescribed fire may produce different burn severities and effects on riparian and stream ecosystems than wildfires in fire suppressed forests (e.g., fires absent >70 yrs) or prescribed fires alone. The goal of this study was to quantify and compare the effects of wildfire on stream and riparian ecosystems under …

Effects Of Fires And Insects On Fuel Structures In Piñon-Juniper And Post-Fire Invasive Communities, Lisa Floyd-Hanna Dr., Tim Crews Dr., William H. Romme, David Hanna, Monique Rocca Dr., Dustin Hanna, George San Miguel

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

In the last decade, piñon-juniper (Pinus edulis-Juniperus osteosperma) woodlands of southwestern Colorado have been heavily impacted by wildfires and insects, and the effects on fuel structures and future fire intervals have been unclear. In these piñon-juniper woodlands, pre-historic fire rotations of up to 400 years were documented, but in recent climatic conditions, large stand-replacing wildfires burned between 1989 and 2008. Since the 1990s, a period of drought and rising temperatures, portions of the post-fire landscape were targets for invasive Carduus nutans, muskthistle and Bromus tectorum, cheatgrass, whose presence create unprecedented fuels, may shorten fire intervals, and reduce native biodiversity. We …

Engaging The Humanities To Address Wildland Fire Issues, Fred Swanson, Nathaniel Brodie, Charles Goodrich

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project examined existing programs and potential options for collaborations among the humanities, art, science, land management, and public concerning wildfire and wildfire policy and education. These programs and partnerships include creative residencies; conferences, workshops, and symposia; art-science collaborative field studies; and community programs and partnerships. We also reviewed how popular literature frames, reflects and has affected our cultural understanding of wildfire. Our analysis concludes that, compared to the richness of the subject of wildfire, compared to the way wildfire encapsulates all the complexities and controversies of culture, history, and ecology, wildfire’s potential as a literary subject remains largely unfulfilled. …

Estimating Critical Climate-Driven Thresholds In Landscape Dynamics Using Spatial Simulation Modeling: Climate Change Tipping Points In Fire Management, Robert E. Keane, Rachel A. Loehman

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Climate projections for the next 20-50 years forecast higher temperatures and variable precipitation for many landscapes in the western United States. Climate changes may cause or contribute to threshold shifts, or tipping points, where relatively small shifts in climate result in large, abrupt, and persistent changes in landscape patterns and fire regimes. Rather than simulate potential climate-fire interactions using future climate data derived from Global Climate Models (GCMs), we developed sets of progressively warmer and drier or wetter climate scenarios that span and exceed the range of GCM outputs for the western US, including temperature and precipitation combinations that may …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Wood Shreds On Post-Fire Erosion, Peter R. Robichaud, Randy B. Foltz, Charles G. Showers, James S. Groenier, Rory Sternke, Louise E. Ashmun, Robert E. Brown, Peter Jordan

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Agricultural straw mulching is a commonly used post-fire hillslope erosion control treatment that is aerially applied by helicopter. While widely used and reasonably effective at reducing erosion, agricultural straw is not native to the forest environment. There is a growing consensus among Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams that mulch made from native forest material would be preferable to agricultural straw. Wood shred mulch made from post-fire road hazard trees is an alternative to agricultural straw. An optimized blend of sizes of wood shreds was effective in reducing sediment yields in both indoor rainfall simulation and outdoor field experiments. Several …

Identification Of Necessary Conditions For Arctic Transport Of Smoke From United States Fires, Narasimhan K. Larkin, Jennifer L. Dewinter, Tara M. Strand, Steven G. Brown, Sean M. Brown, Sean M. Raffuse, Jonathan Callahan, Kenneth J. Craig, Robert C. Solomon, Hilary R. Hafner

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The deposition of black carbon (BC), a dark absorbing aerosol, is a significant contributor to observed warming trends in the Arctic (Hansen and Nazarenko, 2004; Jacobson et al., 2007). Biomass burning outside of the Arctic, including wildland prescribed fires, is a major potential source of Arctic BC. Therefore, limiting or eliminating spring prescribed burning has been suggested to Congress as a BC reduction technique (e.g., Zender, 2007). However, there are large uncertainties in the current estimates of the sources, source regions, and transport and transformation pathways of BC transported to the Arctic region (Shindell et al., 2008; Hegg et al., …

Timber Talk, Vol. 50, No. 4, November 1, 2012

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Lumber Market News ; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried.; Wood Products: Good for the Environment; Opening Faces; Sawing For Grade Increases Value; Nebraska Forestry Spotlight; The 2 X 4 Revolutionized Construction; The Trading Post; Timber Sales

The Relationship Between Male Moth Density And Female Mating Success In Invading Populations Of Lymantria Dispar, Patrick C. Tobin, Ksenia S. Onufrieva, Kevin W. Thorpe

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The successful establishment of non-native species in new areas can be affected by many factors including the initial size of the founder population. Populations comprised of fewer individuals tend to be subject to stochastic forces and Allee effects (positive-density dependence), which can challenge the ability of small founder populations to establish in a new area. Although the conceptual relationship between initial colony size and establishment success has been previously documented, it is not trivial to estimate precisely the colony size needed to ensure colony persistence. Over the last 40 years, there have been many studies on the probability of mating …

A Detrimental Soil Disturbance Prediction Model For Ground-Based Timber Harvesting, Derrick A. Reeves, Matthew C. Reeves, Ann M. Abbott, Deborah S. Page-Dumroese, Mark D. Coleman

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Soil properties and forest productivity can be affected during ground-based harvest operations and site preparation. The degree of impact varies widely depending on topographic features and soil properties. Forest managers who understand site-specific limits to ground-based harvesting can alter harvest method or season to limit soil disturbance. To determine the potential areal extent of detrimental (potentially plant growth limiting) soil disturbance based on site characteristics and season of harvest, we developed a predictive model based on soil monitoring data collected from 167 groundbased harvest units. Data collected included dominant site parameters (e.g., slope, aspect, soil texture, and landtype), harvest season, …

A Synoptic Review Of U.S. Rangelands A Technical Document Supporting The Forest Service 2010 Rpa Assessment, Matthew Clark Reeves, John E. Mitchell

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The Renewable Resources Planning Act of 1974 requires the USDA Forest Service to conduct assessments of resource conditions. This report fulfills that need and focuses on quantifying extent, productivity, and health of U.S. rangelands. Since 1982, the area of U.S. rangelands has decreased at an average rate of 350,000 acres per year owed mostly to conversion to agricultural and residential land uses. Nationally, rangeland productivity has been steady over the last decade, but the Rocky Mountain Assessment Region appears to have moderately increased productivity since 2000. The forage situation is positive and, from a national perspective, U.S. rangelands can probably …

Fish And Other Aquatic Resource Trends In The United States A Technical Document Supporting The Forest Service 2010 Rpa Assessment, Andrew J. Loftus, Curtis H. Flather

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act (RPA) of 1974 requires periodic assessments of the status and trends in the Nation’s renewable natural resources including fish and other aquatic species and their habitats. Data from a number of sources are used to document trends in habitat quality, populations, resource use, and patterns of imperilment among aquatic fauna. Freshwater habitat quality varied widely across the United States. Nationwide, more than half of monitored lakes were ranked in good condition, but the percentage ranged from a high of 91 percent in the upper Midwest to a low of 1 percent in …

Nebraska’S Forest Resources, 2012, Dacia M. Meneguzzo, Chuck Barnett

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

This publication provides an overview of forest resource attributes for Nebraska based on an annual inventory conducted by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program at the Northern Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service. These estimates, along with web-posted core tables, will be updated annually. For more information please refer to page 5 of this report.

Profitable Farms And Woodlands: A Practical Guide In Agroforestry For Landowners, Farmers And Ranchers, J. O. Idassi

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

This handbook is part of an interdisciplinary, interinstitutional and comprehensive effort to develop a practical guide to assist underserved and limited resource small farmers and woodland owners to adopt best management technologies in agroforestry. Funding for this effort was provided through the USDA National Agroforestry Center (NAC) from the US Forest Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) under cooperative agreement number 68-7482-7-361 with Tennessee State University, Cooperative Extension Program and the 1890/1862 Agroforestry Team.

This guide was prepared by an agroforestry team of research and extension specialists from the 1862 and 1890 Land Grant Universities in collaboration with …

Agroforestry: Accounting For Windbreak's Climate Change Contributions, Michele Schoeneberger, Jim Brandle, Xinhua Zhou, John Kort, Tom Sauer

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A General Target For Mvps: Unsupported And Unnecessary, Curtis H. Flather, Gregory D. Hayward, Steven R. Beissinger, Philip A. Stephens

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

In a recent article in TREE [1], we reviewed evidence for a consistent standardized estimate of minimum viable populations (MVPs) across taxa [2–4] and found that the universal MVP of 5000 adults advocated by Traill et al. [5] was unsupported by reanalyses of their data. We identified shortcomings in the original analyses, and found substantial uncertainty in standardized MVP estimates, both within populations of the same species and among species. We concluded that neither data nor theory supported a generally applicable MVP.

No evidence refuting the technical problems that we identified in their original analyzes was presented by Brook …

Extent Of Coterminous Us Rangelands: Quantifying Implications Of Differing Agency Perspectives, Matthew Clark Reeves, John E. Mitchell

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Rangeland extent is an important factor for evaluating critical indicators of rangeland sustainability. Rangeland areal extent was determined for the coterminous United States in a geospatial framework by evaluating spatially explicit data from the Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE) project describing historic and current vegetative composition, average height, and average cover through the viewpoints of the Natural Resources Inventory (NRI) administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program administered by the US Forest Service. Three types of rangelands were differentiated using the NRI definition encompassing rangelands, afforested rangelands, and transitory …

A Comparative Risk Assessment Framework For Wildland Fire Management: The 2010 Cohesive Strategy Science Report, David E. Calkin, Alan Ager, Matthew P. Thompson, Mark A. Finney, Danny C. Lee, Thomas M. Quigley, Charles W. Mchugh, Karin L. Riley, Julie M. Gilbertson-Day

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The FLAME Act of 2009 requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Interior to submit to Congress a Cohesive Wildfire Management Strategy. In this report, we explore the general science available for a risk-based approach to fire and fuels management and suggest analyses that may be applied at multiple scales to inform decisionmaking and tradeoff analysis. We discuss scientific strengths and limitations of wildfire risk assessment frameworks, including the benefit of broad scalability as demonstrated by four recent case studies. We further highlight the role of comparative risk assessment, which extends the analysis to …

Classifying And Mapping Diversity In A Species-Poor System: The Mangrove Meta-Community Of Laguna Chacahua National Park, Oaxaca, Mexico, Elizabeth Kay Weisgerber

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Classifying and Mapping Diversity in a Species-Poor System: the mangrove meta-community of Laguna Chacahua National Park, Oaxaca, Mexico

by

Elizabeth Kay Weisgerber

Both field transects and imagery grid plots were analyzed with the goal of creating a community classification map for the mangrove forest of Parque Nacional Lagunas de Chacahua. In total, data was collected in 49 sites throughout the park, recording measures such as DBH, basal area, estimated dominance, frequency, cover and relative dominance. Field locations were marked and georeferenced with a GPS and grid plots overlaid on satellite imagery of the park were generated via a random …

Knowledge Exchange: A Two-Way Street, Elise Lequire

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

The best available science is of little use if it gathers dust on the shelves of library stacks or is deeply embedded on an obscure website. A key part of the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) mission is to ensure research on wildland fire science is readily available to practitioners in a useful format so it can help support sound management decisions. The JFSP has made great inroads in this arena on a national level, but managers short on time often have to sift through an overload of information that may not be specific to their region. In the next …

A Real-Time Risk Assessment Tool Supporting Wildland Fire Decisionmaking, David E. Calkin, Matthew P. Thompson, Mark A. Finney, Kevin D. Hyde

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Development of appropriate management strategies for escaped wildland fires is complex. Fire managers need the ability to identify, in real time, the likelihood that wildfire will affect valuable developed and natural resources (e.g., private structures, public infrastructure, and natural and cultural resources). These determinations help guide where and when aggressive suppression is required to protect values and when fire may be allowed to burn to enhance ecosystem conditions. This article describes the primary components of the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS), a geospatial decision support system developed by the US Forest Service. WFDSS provides state-of-the-art wildfire risk analysis, decision …

Rats As Forest Pests In Southeastern Virginia: Girdling By The Hispid Cotton Rat Sigmodon Hispidus As A Significant Source Of Mortality Of Loblolly Pines (Pinus Taeda) In A Successional Pine Forest, Robyn M. Nadolny

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) is a common field rodent throughout the southeastern US, where volunteer loblolly pine trees (Pinus taeda) invade open space and begin the process of ecological succession from field to pine forest. Recent analysis of the diet of S. hispidus indicates that loblolly pine bark is stripped and eaten during the winter months. In this study, we explored the extent of rodent girdling on a 1.23 ha grid in a successional pine forest in southeastern Virginia. During the winter of 2005 we observed damage to 65% of trees in our study area, with 98% …