Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Other Forestry and Forest Sciences Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Wood Science and Pulp, Paper Technology

Institution
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type

Articles 211 - 240 of 421

Full-Text Articles in Other Forestry and Forest Sciences

Getting Public Involvement In Wildfire Hazard Mitigation, Jake Delwiche Jan 2010

Getting Public Involvement In Wildfire Hazard Mitigation, Jake Delwiche

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

In many areas of the U.S. where wildfires are a recognized hazard, public agencies have taken steps to involve the public in reduction of the risks. Programs have ranged from purely voluntary public education to building codes for new buildings and ordinances for vegetation control. Some local governments provide free or subsidized services to reduce fire risks. Recently enacted federal and state policies encourage local government to become more active in managing wildfire hazards. Interest in creating local public programs to achieve hazard reduction has sparked research into which steps will have the most success in achieving hazard mitigation. Recent …

Go to article

Getting In The Game: Out On The Landscape Without Leaving Your Desk With Gnnviz, Marjie Brown Jan 2010

Getting In The Game: Out On The Landscape Without Leaving Your Desk With Gnnviz, Marjie Brown

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

This project used computer game technology to create highly interactive forest data visualization and interaction not possible with the traditional geographic information system approach. Known as GNNViz (Gradient Nearest Neighbor Vegetation Map Visualization), the program was developed by applying it to three large regions in the western U.S., though it’s readily extended to additional landscapes and spatial data formats. Developers leveraged the superior capabilities of video game technology to render realistic 3D environments and allow multiple users to interact with each other in a shared environment. Real time rendering allows users to move about and explore huge areas of terrain …

Go to article

Tapping Into Technology And Information Resources To Assess Erosion Risk, Shari Anstedt Jan 2010

Tapping Into Technology And Information Resources To Assess Erosion Risk, Shari Anstedt

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

Just over 50 years ago, predicting soil erosion was a time-consuming manual process. These methods have evolved over time and now include models such as the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP), which helps simulate the important physical processes that result in soil erosion by water. It was the goal of this study to build on the WEPP model to create a multi-scale software tool that could provide fire and fuel managers with access to the geographic data and detailed images they needed to predict soil erosion after wildfire and fuel-reduction treatments. The new tool, known as the Geo-spatial interface for …

Go to article

Expanding Use Of The Fire Effects Planning Framework, Marjie Brown Jan 2010

Expanding Use Of The Fire Effects Planning Framework, Marjie Brown

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

This project sought to discover the best ways to encourage broader use of the fire planning and management tool—Fire Effects Planning Framework (FEPF). FEPF calculates and captures the ecological effects of fire, including the benefits. Along the way FEPF developers learned that varying perspectives, skill sets, responsibilities and workloads of targeted users require differing approaches in order for tech transfer to be effective. Additionally, a lack of incentives to measure and account for fire’s benefits was causing managers to prioritize information and tools that capture fire’s costs, particularly to private property. Face-to-face presentations proved to be the most effective way …

Go to article

Modifying Fofem To Predict Mortality Of The Longleaf Pine Species, Shari Anstedt Jan 2010

Modifying Fofem To Predict Mortality Of The Longleaf Pine Species, Shari Anstedt

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

Once the dominant overstory tree across much of the Southeastern United States, the longleaf pine species declined until it faced a high risk of extinction. But due to recent interest in longleaf pine, there is a new focus on managing and restoring the species. Historically, fire has been an important component in maintaining the longleaf pine ecosystem. To help recreate the pre-settlement conditions in which longleaf flourished, prescribed burning is being used. There is concern, however, that by using fire as a management tool, some trees could be lost due to fire-induced mortality. Therefore, a balance must be reached between …

Go to article

Introducing Fuelcalc: A New Tool That Helps Turn Static Inventory Data Into Actionable Information, Shari Anstedt Jan 2010

Introducing Fuelcalc: A New Tool That Helps Turn Static Inventory Data Into Actionable Information, Shari Anstedt

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

Fuel and fire managers perform fuel treatments to manage and restore ecosystems and protect resources. In order to plan effective fuel treatments that accomplish objectives, managers need to analyze fuel conditions and document the expected fire behavior and fi re effects both before and after fuel treatment. To help accomplish these goals, a new software tool named FuelCalc was created. FuelCalc facilitates use of a wide range of inventory data and fuel characteristics to help calculate fuel quantities and qualities to estimate potential fire behavior, fire effects, and smoke production. By linking with a number of existing software systems and …

Go to article

After The Fire: Assessing Post-Treatment Effects On Fine Fuels In The Sierra Nevada, Shari Anstedt Jan 2010

After The Fire: Assessing Post-Treatment Effects On Fine Fuels In The Sierra Nevada, Shari Anstedt

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

In the mixed conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, it appears that fire dynamics have changed from predominantly low and moderate intensity surface fires to a greater proportion of larger, stand-replacing fires. To help reduce fuels and speed the restoration process, the Forest Service harvests dead trees and uses herbicides to control early stages of shrubs. But there are concerns about these post-burn restoration treatments and their infl uence on emerging fine fuels. Some of these treatments have been linked to an increase in annual grass invasions, specifi cally non-native grasses, which have the potential to significantly alter fuel characteristics, …

Go to article

Changes In Public Responses To Wildland Fuel Management Over Time, Joy Drohan Jan 2010

Changes In Public Responses To Wildland Fuel Management Over Time, Joy Drohan

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

This study compared citizen responses to surveys in 2002 and 2008 about fuels reduction programs by federal land management agencies. The researchers attempted to identify factors that influence public opinion and promote citizen support for agency actions. The study design allowed comparisons over time among individuals and in seven locations in the Midwest and western U.S. The researchers found key commonalities and differences in responses among sites. They identified important fire-related activities (e.g., signifi cant fires, fuel treatments, formation of citizen groups, community wildfi re protection planning) at each location in the years between the two surveys to understand what …

Go to article

A New Online Tool And Estimates For Hand-Pile Biomass And Smoke Production, Shari Anstedt Jan 2010

A New Online Tool And Estimates For Hand-Pile Biomass And Smoke Production, Shari Anstedt

Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)

To help reduce the chance for high-severity fires in the western United States, thinning of the forest understory, midstory and overstory has become a necessity. In some cases, the resulting surface fuels are piled by hand and burned. As this two-part treatment method becomes more widely-used, fire managers need the ability to calculate the biomass of hand-piled fuels so they can better estimate the potential emissions and smoke impacts from their disposal by burning. Since machine-constructed piles were sampled in a previous study, researchers were able to use this past research as a point of departure to develop methods to …

Go to article

Mitigating Old Tree Mortality In Long-Unburned,Fire-Dependent Forests: A Synthesis, Sharon M. Hood Jan 2010

Mitigating Old Tree Mortality In Long-Unburned,Fire-Dependent Forests: A Synthesis, Sharon M. Hood

Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports

This report synthesizes the literature and current state of knowledge pertaining to reintroducing fire in stands where it has been excluded for long periods and the impact of these introductory fires on overstory tree injury and mortality. Only forested ecosystems in the United States that are adapted to survive frequent fire are included. Treatment options that minimize large-diameter and old tree injury and mortality in areas with deep duff and methods to manage and reduce duff accumulations are discussed. Pertinent background information on tree physiology, properties of duff, and historical versus current disturbance regimes are also discussed.

Go to article

Post-Fire Treatment Effectiveness For Hillslope Stabilization, Peter R. Robichaud, Louise E. Ashmun, Bruce D. Sims Jan 2010

Post-Fire Treatment Effectiveness For Hillslope Stabilization, Peter R. Robichaud, Louise E. Ashmun, Bruce D. Sims

Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports

This synthesis of post-fire treatment effectiveness reviews the past decade of research, monitoring, and product development related to post-fire hillslope emergency stabilization treatments, including erosion barriers, mulching, chemical soil treatments, and combinations of these treatments. In the past ten years, erosion barrier treatments (contour-felled logs and straw wattles) have declined in use and are now rarely applied as a post-fire hillslope treatment. In contrast, dry mulch treatments (agricultural straw, wood strands, wood shreds, etc.) have quickly gained acceptance as effective, though somewhat expensive, post-fire hillslope stabilization treatments and are frequently recommended when values-at-risk warrant protection. This change has been motivated …

Go to article

Timber Talk, Vol. 48, No. 4, November 1, 2010 Jan 2010

Timber Talk, Vol. 48, No. 4, November 1, 2010

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

Lumber Market News; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried; The Independent Contractor Definition Dilmenna Continues; Is There Still Room for Circle Saws in the Sawmill?; Nebraska Forestry Industry Spotlight; The Trading Post; Using a Kiln Schedule; Timber Sales

Go to article

The Communicative Construction Of Safety In Wildland Firefighting, Jody Jahn, Linda Putnam, Anne Black Jan 2010

The Communicative Construction Of Safety In Wildland Firefighting, Jody Jahn, Linda Putnam, Anne Black

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This document is a summary of a mixed methods dissertation that examined the communicative construction of safety in wildland firefighting. For the dissertation, I used a twostudy mixed methods approach, examining the communicative accomplishment of safety from two perspectives: high reliability organizing (Weick, Sutcliffe, & Obstfeld, 1999), and safety climate (Zohar, 1980). In Study One, 27 firefighters from two functionally similar wildland firefighting crews were interviewed about their crew-level interactions involved in implementing safety rules and firefighting tasks. These critical incident narratives (Flanagan, 1954; Gremler, 2004) were compared to extract workgroup level similarities and differences in interaction patterns relating to …

Go to article

The Role Of Adaptive Capacity In Creating Fire-Adapted Human Communities, Pamela J. Jakes, Matthew S. Carroll, Travis B. Paveglio, Soren Newman Jan 2010

The Role Of Adaptive Capacity In Creating Fire-Adapted Human Communities, Pamela J. Jakes, Matthew S. Carroll, Travis B. Paveglio, Soren Newman

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

In this research we sought answers to the question: What are the social characteristics and conditions of human communities that promote adaptive capacity for wildfire? The Quadrennial Fire Review (USDA and USDI 2009) promotes a goal of “achieving fire-adapted communities” in the wildland urban interface (WUI), and identifies metrics for determining whether a community is fire-adapted. While these metrics address some of the biophysical conditions necessary for fire-adapted human communities, they offer little insight into the social elements that promote or sustain adaptive capacity. Adaptive capacity refers to the individual and collective resources, capabilities, and actions that alleviate the risk …

Go to article

2010 Western Mensurationists’ Conference, David Affleck, John Goodburn, Christopher Keyes, Renate Bush Jan 2010

2010 Western Mensurationists’ Conference, David Affleck, John Goodburn, Christopher Keyes, Renate Bush

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The 2010 Western Mensurationists’ Conference in Missoula, MT, drew together forest scientists and land managers with primary expertise in the measurement and modeling of forest resources. The meeting provided an opportunity to focus the collective technical expertise of this group on crossdisciplinary conifer crown modeling issues that are of increasing importance to existing and emerging forest management strategies in western North America. Thus, a special invited session on conifer crown modeling results and opportunities was added to the conference agenda together with a participatory workshop on crown modeling needs and challenges. Funding was provided by the Joint Fire Science Program …

Go to article

A Proposal To Improve Performance Of The Forest Vegetation Simulator - Fire And Fuels Extension, Dave C. Cawrse, Michael G. Van Dyke, Nicolas Nicholas L. Crookston, Donald Robinson, Sarah Beukema Jan 2010

A Proposal To Improve Performance Of The Forest Vegetation Simulator - Fire And Fuels Extension, Dave C. Cawrse, Michael G. Van Dyke, Nicolas Nicholas L. Crookston, Donald Robinson, Sarah Beukema

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) and its associated Fire and Fuels Extension (FFE) have been used to provide information required by larger software systems like the Interagency Fuels Treatment - Decision Support System (IFT-DSS). Interacting with FVS in an automated fashion has been difficult, and simulations with very large numbers of stands, such as those necessary for landscape analyses for fire planning, could take a significant amount of time to process. This project was designed to: (A) develop a requirements document considering Service Oriented Architecture and how that may apply to FVS, and how FVS will be used interactively; (B) …

Go to article

Assessment Of Canopy Fuel Loading Across A Heterogeneous Landscape Using Lidar, Kenneth L. Clark, Nicholas Skowronski, Michael Gallagher, Nicholas Carlo, Michael Farrell, Melanie R. Maghirang Jan 2010

Assessment Of Canopy Fuel Loading Across A Heterogeneous Landscape Using Lidar, Kenneth L. Clark, Nicholas Skowronski, Michael Gallagher, Nicholas Carlo, Michael Farrell, Melanie R. Maghirang

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Our research used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) systems coupled with sequential harvesting of Pitch pine (Pinus rigida Mill.) to quantify canopy fuels in three dimensions across a large, heterogeneous landscape impacted by multiple wildfires, prescribed burns and insect defoliation events. We used a three-tiered approach; 1) calibration of upward sensing profiling LiDAR data with sequential harvesting of 20 x 20 meter plots to quantify the mass of foliage, branches and stems in Pitch pine canopies in 1-meter height layers, 2) scaling results to the landscape scale using previously-published relationships between upward sensing and downward sensing scanning LiDAR systems in …

Go to article

Annual Brome Biocontrol After Wildfire Using A Native Fungal Seed Pathogen, Susan E. Meyer, Phil S. Allen, Julie Beckstead, Michael Gregg, Heidi Newsome, Kathleen Harcksen, Gary Kidd, Glenn Paulsen, Karen Prentice, Dana Quinney, David Wilderman, Stephanie Carlson, Suzette Clement, Duane Smith, Thom Stewart, Katie Merrill, Keith Merrill, Kedra Foote, Stephen Harrison, Kelly Bergen, Brian Connelly, Trevor Davis, Sandra Dooley, Michael Huck, Laura Street, Lauren Miller Jan 2010

Annual Brome Biocontrol After Wildfire Using A Native Fungal Seed Pathogen, Susan E. Meyer, Phil S. Allen, Julie Beckstead, Michael Gregg, Heidi Newsome, Kathleen Harcksen, Gary Kidd, Glenn Paulsen, Karen Prentice, Dana Quinney, David Wilderman, Stephanie Carlson, Suzette Clement, Duane Smith, Thom Stewart, Katie Merrill, Keith Merrill, Kedra Foote, Stephen Harrison, Kelly Bergen, Brian Connelly, Trevor Davis, Sandra Dooley, Michael Huck, Laura Street, Lauren Miller

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

A major problem in post-fire restoration of semi-arid shrublands dominated by annual bromes is the presence of carryover seed banks that cannot be controlled using conventional methods. These seeds can provide significant competition for seeded species in the years following treatment. We investigated the feasibility of using a naturally occurring seed pathogen, the ascomycete Pyrenophora semeniperda, as a biocontrol organism for eliminating this carryover seed bank. We carried out the necessary technology development to create and apply field inoculum to cheatgrass- or red brome-infested areas (both burned and unburned) at six sites located in three states across two years of …

Go to article

Changes In Vegetation And Fuels Due To The Warm Fire On The Kaibab National Forest, Melissa A. Mcmaster, Andrea Thode, Brian Brost, Matthew Williamsen, Ethan Aumack, Dave Mertz Jan 2010

Changes In Vegetation And Fuels Due To The Warm Fire On The Kaibab National Forest, Melissa A. Mcmaster, Andrea Thode, Brian Brost, Matthew Williamsen, Ethan Aumack, Dave Mertz

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Fire is a significant and essential disturbance in ponderosa pine ecosystems but the management and the re-introduction of fire across the landscape is a difficult task for land managers. In this study we worked with land managers, stakeholders and researchers to examine the effects of a large wildfire on the Kaibab Plateau in northern Arizona. We analyzed litter and duff depth, downed woody debris and understory vegetation responses to low and high burn severity and assessed the response of the understory vegetation to seeding with Lolium perenne ssp. multiflorum in high severity burn areas. To assist land managers in future …

Go to article

Continued Evaluation Of Post-Fire Recovery And Treatment Effectiveness For Validation Of The Ermit Erosion Model, Peter R. Robichaud, William J. Elliot, Joseph W. Wagenbrenner, Sarah A. Lewis, Louise E. Ashmun, Peter M. Wohlgemuth, Robert E. Brown Jan 2010

Continued Evaluation Of Post-Fire Recovery And Treatment Effectiveness For Validation Of The Ermit Erosion Model, Peter R. Robichaud, William J. Elliot, Joseph W. Wagenbrenner, Sarah A. Lewis, Louise E. Ashmun, Peter M. Wohlgemuth, Robert E. Brown

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The use and cost of post-fire emergency stabilization treatments continues to grow. To help maximize the impact of these treatments, many assessment teams use the Erosion Risk Management Tool (ERMiT) erosion model to predict postfire erosion and mitigation effects. However, despite several completed JFSP projects, the long-term effects of these treatments remain unknown, and the ERMiT model has not been validated. Long-term post-fire erosion and runoff data on a variety of mulches and erosion barriers were collected using 12 existing sites throughout the Western U.S. The agricultural straw and wood strand mulch treatments were very effective at reducing erosion and …

Go to article

Effectiveness Of Fuel Treatments For Mitigating Wildfire Severity: A Manager‐Focused Review And Synthesis, Philip N. Omi, Erik J. Martinson Mr. Jan 2010

Effectiveness Of Fuel Treatments For Mitigating Wildfire Severity: A Manager‐Focused Review And Synthesis, Philip N. Omi, Erik J. Martinson Mr.

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The 2008 Request for Applications from the Joint Fire Science Program called for a synthesis of the extant literature that addresses the effectiveness of fuel treatments. We employed a four‐pronged approach to address this task, including several scoping exercises with land managers, a literature review, a meta‐analysis, and development of an online pictorial database.

Go to article

An Enhanced Online Piled Fuels Biomass Calculator, Clinton S. Wright, Paige C. Eagle Jan 2010

An Enhanced Online Piled Fuels Biomass Calculator, Clinton S. Wright, Paige C. Eagle

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

A web-programming project was undertaken to allow users of the online Hand-piled Fuels Biomass Calculator to also estimate the volume, biomass and potential emissions of mechanically piled fuels. Machine pile calculations encoded in the decision support software CONSUME 3.0 were added to the online Calculator to achieve this objective. In addition, the ability to batch process piled fuels data was added to the online Calculator to ease data input for large analysis projects. A stand-alone version of the Calculator was developed for users without access to the Internet. As it is executed within a standard web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet …

Go to article

Evaluating The Effects Of Pinyon Thinning Treatments At A Wildland Urban Interface, J. R. Matchett, Matthew L. Brooks, Anne Halford, Dale Johnson, Helen Smith Jan 2010

Evaluating The Effects Of Pinyon Thinning Treatments At A Wildland Urban Interface, J. R. Matchett, Matthew L. Brooks, Anne Halford, Dale Johnson, Helen Smith

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This study evaluated the short-term effects of thinning methods for pinyon pine woodlands at two sites in the southwestern Great Basin. Both cut/pile/burn and mastication treatments were equally effective at reducing the target fuels which were mature, live pinyon trees. Application costs though differed substantially, with the cut/pile/burn technique being less expensive. Thinning treatments increased the abundance of herbaceous vegetation, although in some cases the strength of the increase was constrained by the level of pre-treatment tree dominance. Increases in perennial grass cover and density in response to thinning were usually greatest at lower levels of pre-treatment pinyon dominance, whereas …

Go to article

Exploring The Traditional Use Of Fire In The Coastal Mountains Of Central California, Brent E. Johnson, Rand R. Everett, Kent G. Lightfoot, Charles J. Stiplen Jan 2010

Exploring The Traditional Use Of Fire In The Coastal Mountains Of Central California, Brent E. Johnson, Rand R. Everett, Kent G. Lightfoot, Charles J. Stiplen

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This study brought together a team of ecologists, archaeologists, environmental historians, indigenous peoples, and land managers within a research framework combining an ethnographic investigation of traditional practices with cutting-edge paleoecological techniques to answer questions about Indian utilization of fire as an ecological and cultural landscape management tool in Central Coastal California. The study was designed around four key elements: (1) examining fire regimes for research sites using a combination of fire scar dendrochronology, phytoliths, archaeology, historical information, and traditional ecological knowledge; (2) attempting to formalize a methodology for using phytoliths to estimate the fire return interval and intensity in grassland …

Go to article

Fire Regimes Of The Southern Appalachian Mountains: Temporal And Spatial Variability Over Multiple Scales And Implications For Ecosystem Management, Charles W. Lafon, Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Sally P. Horn, Robert N. Klein Jan 2010

Fire Regimes Of The Southern Appalachian Mountains: Temporal And Spatial Variability Over Multiple Scales And Implications For Ecosystem Management, Charles W. Lafon, Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Sally P. Horn, Robert N. Klein

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Information about historic fire regimes and the departure of current fire regimes from historic conditions is essential for guiding and justifying management actions, such as prescribed burning programs for ecosystem process restoration and fuel reduction. Such information is noticeably lacking for the southern Appalachian Mountains, where human populations are encroaching onto wildland areas, and where decades of fire exclusion have contributed to the decline of fire-associated communities and also to altered fuel loads. We address this knowledge gap via a multi-scale investigation of the variability in fire regimes over time and space using tree-ring reconstructions of fire history and stand …

Go to article

Fuel Consumption And Smoke Emissions From Landscape-Scale Burns In Eastern Hardwoods, Matthew Dickinson, Ann Acheson, Robert Kremens Jan 2010

Fuel Consumption And Smoke Emissions From Landscape-Scale Burns In Eastern Hardwoods, Matthew Dickinson, Ann Acheson, Robert Kremens

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Our project used remotely-sensed infrared radiation measurements to estimate fuel consumption in eastern mixed-oak forests and facilitated the development of smoke management expertise and processes for complying with EPA regulations in Ohio and Kentucky. As a result of two workshops, Ohio developed a Smoke Management Plan designed to ensure that best management practices were being used across land ownerships and to facilitate mandated information sharing with the Ohio EPA and US EPA. Ohio also established a Prescribed Fire Council as a result of this process. Kentucky opted for a less formal response to EPA regulations, establishing a Prescribed Fire Council …

Go to article

Developing And Using Fire Scar Histories In The Southern And Eastern United States, Richard P. Guyette, Martin Spetich, Daniel C. Dey Jan 2010

Developing And Using Fire Scar Histories In The Southern And Eastern United States, Richard P. Guyette, Martin Spetich, Daniel C. Dey

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Land managers developing fire management plans in the eastern and southern United States lack quantitative information on historic fire regimes. Twelve new fire histories were developed from dated fire scars on trees from regions where no fire scar history data had existed before in the states of Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Sites represent highly variable climates from extreme cold (with long snow cover duration) to subtropical. All sites utilized oak or pine recorder species that were collected from closed forest to open savanna structures. Pre-industrial mean fire intervals ranged from 3 to more than 35 years at …

Go to article

Do Annual Prescribed Fires Enhance Or Slow The Loss Of Coastal Marsh Habitat At Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge?, Donald R. Cahoon, Glenn Guntenspergen, Suzanne Baird Jan 2010

Do Annual Prescribed Fires Enhance Or Slow The Loss Of Coastal Marsh Habitat At Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge?, Donald R. Cahoon, Glenn Guntenspergen, Suzanne Baird

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The rate of estuarine marsh loss at Blackwater NWR has been high (up to 2,000 ha) during the past 80 years because the vertical buildup of the marsh surface has lagged behind the local rate of relative sea-level rise. In this mineral sediment-poor estuary, marsh vertical development is driven primarily by the accumulation of plant matter in the soil (roots and rhizomes). Thus any activity that affects plant productivity can affect the ability of these marshes to keep pace with sea-level rise. Blackwater NWR has employed an annual prescribed fire regime since the 1970’s to achieve multiple management objectives. However, …

Go to article

Do Fuel Treatments Reduce Fire Severity? Evaluating Treatment Effectiveness In The 2006 Tripod Complex Fires, Susan J. Prichard, David L. Peterson Jan 2010

Do Fuel Treatments Reduce Fire Severity? Evaluating Treatment Effectiveness In The 2006 Tripod Complex Fires, Susan J. Prichard, David L. Peterson

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The 2006 Tripod Complex fires burned over 70,000 ha of dry mixed conifer forests in north-central Washington State. Recent fuel treatments burned in the wildfire offered an opportunity to quantitatively evaluate if fuel treatment effectively mitigated fire severity. We quantified the relative effect of two common fuel treatments: mechanical thinning only (thin) and mechanical thinning followed by prescribed burning (thinRx). Fire severity was markedly different between the two treatments. Over 57% of trees survived in thinRx units versus 19% in thin and 14% in control units. Considering only large-diameter trees (> 20 cm dbh), 73% survived in thinRx units versus …

Go to article

Effect Of Season And Interval Of Prescribed Burns In A Ponderosa Pine Ecosystem On Tree Growth And Understory Vegetation., W. G. Thies, Becky K. Kerns, Douglas J. Westlind Jan 2010

Effect Of Season And Interval Of Prescribed Burns In A Ponderosa Pine Ecosystem On Tree Growth And Understory Vegetation., W. G. Thies, Becky K. Kerns, Douglas J. Westlind

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

After decades of fire exclusion many stands now have historically unprecedented (high) levels of fuels and overstocking. As a result these stands have developed a variety of health issues. In response to these problems land managers are using prescribed fire to restore fuel loads and stand stocking to pre-fire exclusion levels. The impacts of season of prescribed burn as well as burn interval are not well understood. Managers need the ability to better predict these impacts on such things as tree mortality from fire, associated insect attack and disease development, tree growth, and plant communities. The “Season of Burn” study …

Go to article

First Prev Next Last