Other Forestry and Forest Sciences Commons^™

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., …

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 …

Utilization Of Geographic Information System For Research, Management, And Education In The Natural Resources Management Department At California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, David In Yun

Master's Theses

Geographic Information System (GIS) is “an organized collection of computer hardware, software, geographic data, and personnel designed to efficiently capture, store, update, manipulate, analyze, and display all forms of geographically referenced information” (ESRI, 1997a). The Natural Resources Management Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, hereafter NRM, was one of the early users of GIS technology. Although GIS was primarily used as an educational tool, it was also used for cataloging and displaying resource information for management planning and research projects. As the computing technology advanced, GIS became more powerful and easier to use. NRM faculty and …

Synthesis Of Knowledge Of Extreme Fire Behavior: Volume I For Fire Managers, Paul Werth, Brian Potter, Craig Clements, Mark Finney, Scott Goodrick, Martin Alexander, Miguel Cruz, Jason Forthofer, Sara Mcallister

Faculty Publications, Meteorology and Climate Science

The National Wildfire Coordinating Group definition of extreme fire behavior (EFB) indicates a level of fire behavior characteristics that ordinarily precludes methods of direct control action. One or more of the following is usually involved: high rate of spread, prolific crowning/ spotting, presence of fire whirls, and strong convection column. Predictability is difficult because such fires often exercise some degree of influence on their environment and behave erratically, sometimes dangerously. Alternate terms include “blow up” and “fire storm.” Fire managers examining fires over the last 100 years have come to understand many of the factors necessary for EFB development. This …

Will Climate Change Alter Wildfire Behavior And Effects In Seasonally-Dry Wetlands?, Leda Kobziar Dr., Adam Watta Dr., J. Michael Camp Mr., Marissa Streiffel Ms., Alex Kattan Mr.

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The effects of edge on ecosystems is well documented on animal and plant species, as well as a number of ecosystem attributes. A substantial determinant of ecological edge effects is the effect of edge on microclimate parameters such as temperature and humidity. These effects have been described in detail in upland communities, but not in wetland forests. Of particular interest is whether hydrologic influence trumps edge effect; in other words, does the influence of inundation create a hydrologic “switch” that overwhelms edge effect? In a landscape with numerous wetland forest patches subject to seasonal hydrologic fluctuations, I measured microclimate in …

Vegetation Impacts Of Recurring Fires On Sagebrush Ecosystems In Washington: Implications For Conservation And Rehabilitation, J. D. Bakker, P. W. Dunwiddie, S. A. Hall, J. R. Evans, G, M. Davies, E. Detterweiler-Robinson

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Thousands of hectares of high quality sagebrush shrub-steppe burned in south-central Washington in 2000 and 2007, particularly on the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve (ALE) on the Hanford Reach National Monument. Extensive rehabilitation efforts took place on ALE to control invasive species and establish native species following each of these fires. Permanent vegetation monitoring plots were established throughout this area in the mid-1990s, remonitored in 2001-2004, and monitored again in 2009-2010. This combination of rehabilitation treatments and monitoring provided a unique opportunity to better understand the individual and cumulative effects of recurring fires and restoration in this landscape. We investigated changes …

The Influence Of Prescribed Fire And Understory Fuels Mastication On Soil Carbon Respiration Rates In Flatwoods Forests, Leda Kobziar, David Godwin, Michael Camp, Dawn Mckinstry, Marissa Steifel, Alex Kattan, Daniel Godwin

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Soil CO2 efflux (Rs) is a significant flux of carbon dioxide from ecosystem soils to the atmosphere and is a critical component of the total ecosystem carbon budget. Rs fluxes are comprised of autotrophic (Ra) sources of CO2 produced by plant roots and associated rhizosphere fungi and heterotrophic (Rh) sources of CO2 produced by aerobic soil microbes. A variety of forest management activities, including prescribed fire and mechanical fuels mastication treatments have been shown to significantly influence Rs rates in forests of the Western United States (US), yet these relationships are not well known for southeastern US forests. Prescribed fire …

Comprehensive Fuels Treatment Pratices Guide For Mixed Conifer Forests: California, Central And Southern Rockies, And The Southwest, Alexander M. Evans, Rick G. Everett, Scott L. Stephens, James A. Youtz

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The goal of this guide is to provide a resource for managers of mixed conifer forests of the Southwestern plateaus and uplands, the Central and Southern Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevada, and the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges in Southern California. Mixed conifer forests have different species, structures, and spatial patterns in these regions but, in general, we focus on forests with a mix of ponderosa or Jeffrey pine, Douglas-fir, true firs, and aspen. The guide includes a comprehensive review of historic conditions, past land use, natural fire regimes, impacts of altered fire regimes, and future prospects, given climate change, for …

A Regional Experiment To Evaluate Effects Of Fire And Fire Surrogate Treatments In The Sagebrush Biome, James Mclver, Dave Pyke, Hugh Barrett, Mark Brunson, Steve Bunting, Jeanne C. Chambers, Carla D'Antonio, Paul Doescher, Dale Johnson, Sherm Karl, Steve Knick, Rick Miller, Mike Pellant, Fred Pierson, Kim Rollins, Bruce Roundy, Gene Schupp, Robin Tausch, David Turner, Mike Wisdom

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

SageSTEP is a comprehensive regional experiment that provides critical information to managers faced with a sagebrush steppe ecosystem that is increasingly at risk from wildfire, invasive plants, and climate change. The experiment provides managers with information that can be used to restore ecological communities across the 100+ million acres of the sagebrush biome. It is designed to match the temporal and spatial scales at which managers operate, is intended to reduce management risk and uncertainty of catastrophic wildfire to the greatest degree possible, and provides managers with information that allows them to better understand tradeoffs inherent in the choice of …

Climate, Fire And Carbon: Tipping Points And Landscape Vulnerability In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Erica A.H. Smithwick, Anthony L. Westerling, Monica G. Turner, William H. Romme, Michael G. Ryan

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

More frequent fires under climate warming are likely to alter terrestrial carbon (C) stocks by reducing the amount of C stored in biomass and soil. However, the thresholds of fire frequency that could shift landscapes from C sinks to C sources under future climates and whether these are likely to be exceeded during the coming century are not known. We used the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) as a case study to explore the conditions under which future climate and fire regimes would result in tipping points of C source/sink dynamics. We asked: (1) How great a change in climate and …

Compiling, Synthesizing And Analyzing Existing Boreal Forest Fire History Data In Alaska, Diana L. Olson, James B. Cronan, Donald Mckenzie, Jennifer L. Barnes, Anne E. Camp, Mike Tjoelker, Jennifer Northway, Paige Eagle

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Wildland fires play a critical role in maintaining the ecological integrity of boreal forests in Alaska. Identifying and maintaining natural fire regimes is an important component of fire management. There are numerous research projects that directly or indirectly address historical fire regimes in the Alaskan boreal forest, but many are unpublished, have many unprocessed dendrochronological (tree age and fire scar) samples, or their data were used for other purposes. Furthermore, no assessment of these data exists to understand how fire has historically affected the boreal forest ecosystems of Alaska. The goal of this project was to compile and synthesize existing …

Development Of A California Fire Science Delivery Consortium, Scott Stephens Dr.

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

I have submitted several final reports to the Joint Fire Sciences Program over the years but this one is different. This project was funded to write the full proposals for the California Fire Sciences Consortium. We used the funds from this grant to create the team for the consortium and wrote the proposal that was funded by the JFS. In that regard we accomplished all that we had proposed for this project. This report will be relatively brief because the project objective was to write a full proposal for consideration of the JFS Board.

Doubling Knowledge On Fire And Eastern Invasive Plants In The Fire Effects Information System (Feis), Jane Kapler Smith, Kristin Zouhar, Janet L. Fryer

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Managers have been coming to the Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) for reviews of scientific knowledge about fire effects since 1986. Prior to this project, FEIS provided relatively little coverage of invasive plant species in the eastern United States: In 2008, the system contained 52 species reviews of eastern invasive plants covering 69 taxa. The system now contains 105 reviews of eastern invasive plants covering 139 taxa. Thus the project has doubled the information in FEIS on eastern invasive plants. In fact, the information has more than doubled, since the numbers above do not include updates of 5 reviews, addition …

Effects Of Blowdown, Salvage Logging, And Wildfire On Regeneration And Fuel Characteristics In Minnesota’S Forests, Shawn Fraver, Brian Palik, John B. Bradford, Doug Shinneman, Anthony D'Amato

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The patchiness resulting from a sequence of recent disturbances – blowdown, salvage logging, and wildfire – provided an excellent opportunity to assess the impacts of these disturbances, singly and in combination, on (1) wildfire severity (2) post-disturbance vegetation responses, (3) ecosystem carbon stocks, and (4) soil mercury (Hg) accumulation or loss in jack pine (P. banksiana) forests of northern Minnesota. Considering issue 1, our results suggest that salvage logging reduced the intensity (heat released) of the subsequent fire. However, its effect on severity (impact to the system) differed between the tree crowns and forest floor. Considering issue 2, our results …

Evaluating Post-Fire Salvage Logging Effects On Erosion, Peter R. Robichaud, William J. Elliot, Lee Macdonald, Robert Coats, Joseph W. Wagenbrenner, Sarah A. Lewis, Louise E. Ashmun, Robert E. Brown

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Legal challenges have delayed numerous post-fire salvage logging operations, which often results in lost economic value of the burned timber and unrecovered legal expenses. The scientific literature has shed little light on the additive effect of salvage logging operations on post-fire runoff, erosion, flooding, and sedimentation. Hence, there is an urgent need to better understand the impacts of post-fire salvage operations so that land managers can evaluate the relative and cumulative effects of different salvage logging practices. Intensive, multi-scale studies are needed because the effects of post-fire logging are superimposed on the effect of wildfires; rates and processes change according …

Evaluating Post-Fire Salvage Logging Effects On Erosion, Peter R. Robichaud, William J. Elliot, Lee Macdonald, James Saveland, Craig Busskohl, Steve Howes, Aaron Everett, Robert Coats, Joseph W. Wagenbrenner, Sarah A. Lewis, Louise E. Ashmun, Robert E. Brown

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Legal challenges have delayed numerous post-fire salvage logging operations, which often results in lost economic value of the burned timber and unrecovered legal expenses. The scientific literature has shed little light on the additive effect of salvage logging operations on post-fire runoff, erosion, flooding, and sedimentation. Hence, there is an urgent need to better understand the impacts of post-fire salvage operations so that land managers can evaluate the relative and cumulative effects of different salvage logging practices. Intensive, multi-scale studies are needed because the effects of post-fire logging are superimposed on the effect of wildfires; rates and processes change according …

Equipment And Strategies To Enhance The Post-Wildfire Establishment And Persistence Of Great Basin Native Plants, Nancy Shaw, Beth Newingham, Amy C. Ganguli, Ann L. Hild, Robert D. Cox, Jim Truax, Mike Pellant, David Pyke, Dan Ogle, Loren St. John

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Annual grass invasion in the Great Basin has increased fire size, frequency and severity. Post-fire restoration to provide functional native plant communities is critical to improve resistance to weed invasion. Our ability to successfully re-establish mixtures of native grasses, forbs and shrubs, however, is limited. We examined the effects of the standard rangeland drill and a minimum-till drill, seeding strategies for small-seeded species, and Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt. spp. wyomingensis Beetle & Young) seeding rates on seeding success in burned shrub communities at four sites in the northern Great Basin. Seeded and recovering vegetation, as well as soil …

Evaluation And Improvement Of Smoke Plume Rise Models, Yongqiang Liu Dr., Gary Achtemeier Dr., Scott Goodrick Dr., Bill Jackson Dr., John Qu Dr.

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The purpose of this JFSP project was to evaluate and improve the performance of Daysmoke in simulating smoke plume rise of prescribed burning. A combined approach of field measurement, numerical modeling, and dynamical and statistical analysis was used. Smoke plume height was measured with a ceilometer for 20 prescribed burns in the southeastern U.S. The measured data was used to validate Daysmoke simulation. An empirical smoke plume rise model was developed based on the RAWS observations. Daysmoke was improved by including the number of multiple updraft cores. Regional air quality modeling was conducted with smoke plume rise provided by Daysmoke. …

Evaluation Of Smoke Models And Sensitivity Analysis For Determining Their Emission Related Uncertainties, M. Talat Odman Dr., Scott Goddrick Dr., Fernando Garcia-Menendez, Aika Yano

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Emissions from wildland (wild and prescribed) fires add to the burden of air pollution and can have adverse impacts on air quality and public health. Numerical models for dispersion and chemical transport, also known as air quality models, can be used to investigate the fire plume evolution and the smoke impacts. However, it is important that the predictive skills of smoke models be evaluated under a wide range of applicable conditions through systematic simulations of past events with existing data. Three models were evaluated in this research: CALPUFF, DAYSMOKE and CMAQ. Different prescribed burn and wildfire episodes occurring throughout the …

Fire And Aquatic Ecosystems In The Context Of Climate Change: A Synthesis For Improved Management, Charles Luce, Penelope Morgan, Kate Dwire, John Buffington, Bruce Rieman, Zack Holden, Matt Dare, Dan Isaak, Claire Mcgrath

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Fire will be the proverbial eye-of-the-needle through which many western U.S. mountain, forest, and stream ecosystems will pass as the climate changes. Historic observations show increased dryness and temperatures accompanying more widespread fire and forest die-off. These events may punctuate gradual changes to ecosystems, or may be a mechanism driving stepwise changes in ecosystems. Most western ecosystems are strongly tied to cycles of fire and recovery, and the changing nature of fire will have profound consequences. There is no question that vulnerability assessments of western U.S. ecosystems need to account for fire in their calculus. The biophysical template of the …