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Articles 2641 - 2670 of 4004

Full-Text Articles in Forest Management

Blackbrush Shrublands: Fire Conditions And Solutions In The Mojave Desert, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian Jan 2009

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 …

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Fuels Treatment Demonstration Sites In The Boreal Forests Of Interior Alaska, Marjie Brown Jan 2009

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 …

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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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The Indefatigable Hand: Cutting, Funding, Studying Treatments, Federal Timber And Market Impacts, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian Jan 2009

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 …

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Wildfire, Prescribed Fire, And Peak Stream Flow: Understanding Effects On Stream Habitats And Communities, Joy Drohan Jan 2009

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 …

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Mapping And Estimating Forest Fuel With Radar Remote Sensing, Rachel Clark Jan 2009

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 …

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From The Ground Up, Way Up: Measuring Live Fuel Moisture With Satellite Imagery To Fine-Tune Fire Modeling In Western Ecosystems, Rachel Clark Jan 2009

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 …

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Lookouts In The Sky With Algorithms: Forecasting Air Quality With Satellite-Sent Data, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian Jan 2009

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, …

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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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Your House In Your Hands: Customized Wildfire Risk Assessment For Southern Homeowners, Marjie Brown Jan 2009

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.

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A Tale Of Teakettle: Fire Is Key To Restoring Forests, Rachel Clark Jan 2009

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 …

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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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Over 50 Years Of Prescribed Burning On The South Carolina Coastal Plain, Jake Delwiche Jan 2009

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 …

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Sharpening The Tools For Prescribed Burns In Eastern Mixed-Oak Forests, Jake Delwiche Jan 2009

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 …

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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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Restoring Mountain Meadows: Using Fire, Vegetation, And Fuel Management In Western Oregon, Rachel Clark Jan 2009

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 …

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Climate And Fire In The Northern Rockies: Past, Present, And Future, Rachel Clark Jan 2009

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 …

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From The Ground Up: New Fire Weather Model Boosts Accuracy, Marjie Brown Jan 2009

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 …

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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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Chasing Flame: Gauging Smoke Production And Forest Floor Consumption In Boreal Ecosystems, Marjie Brown Jan 2009

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 …

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That Liquefaction Of Her Clothes: Mitigating Debris Flows In The Post-Wildfi Re Landscape, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian Jan 2009

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 …

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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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Lessons Of The Hayman Fire: Weeds, Woodpeckers And Fire Severity, Marjie Brown Jan 2009

Lessons Of The Hayman Fire: Weeds, Woodpeckers And Fire Severity, Marjie Brown

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

This project took advantage of pre-fire data gathered within the perimeter of Colorado’s 2002 Hayman Fire. Researchers studied the unique fire regime of Front Range ponderosa pine forests, and fire effects on understory-plant communities and American Three-toed Woodpeckers. Results confi rmed that historically, the diverse structure of these forests was maintained by a mixed-severity fi re regime that included large areas of severe fire. In addition, researchers found that much of the burn meets habitat requirements for American Three-toed Woodpeckers, and that understory plant species that were present before the fire returned afterward, with only a slight increase in the …

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Post-Fire Soil Erosion And How To Manage It, Jake Delwiche Jan 2009

Post-Fire Soil Erosion And How To Manage It, Jake Delwiche

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

A pair of major wildfi res in the Front Range of Colorado in 2002 created an ideal opportunity to measure post-fire soil erosion characteristics and to assess the effectiveness of various site rehabilitation treatments to reduce erosion. The studies continued over a four-year period, allowing collection of data on longer-term erosion and sedimentation trends. Most erosion in this region is caused by localized convective thunderstorms rather than snowmelt runoff. Sedimentation measurements documented that straw mulch and to a limited extent hydromulch were effective in reducing post-fire erosion by increasing the amount of ground cover. Seeding following scarifi cation and application …

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Prescribed Burning And Big Trees: Can We Do It Without Killing The Trees?, Rachel Clark Jan 2009

Prescribed Burning And Big Trees: Can We Do It Without Killing The Trees?, Rachel Clark

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

At fi rst glance, it may seem that large diameter ponderosa and Jeffrey pine trees would be well-equipped to handle prescribed fire, especially low-intensity burns. They have thick bark and sturdy root systems, and have been around a long time. However, managers have found these high-value trees often die several years after prescribed burning, and researchers want to know how managers and planners can more readily protect these trees. With years of little to no fire, duff accumulation around many of these trees is unprecedented, and some researchers have proposed that burning this deep duff can increase the risk of …

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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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