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Articles 241 - 270 of 409
Full-Text Articles in Wood Science and Pulp, Paper Technology
Patch Burning On Grasslands: An Alternative Approach For Rangeland Management, Jake Delwiche
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 …
Your House In Your Hands: Customized Wildfire Risk Assessment For Southern Homeowners, Marjie Brown
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.
A Tale Of Teakettle: Fire Is Key To Restoring Forests, Rachel Clark
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 …
Aloha To Flammable Fountain Grass: Fuels Management Comes To The Big Island Of Hawaii, Marjie Brown
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 …
Biological Soil Crusts: A Crucial Component Of Arid Ecosystems, Elise Lequire
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 …
Restoring Fire To The Longleaf Pine Forest, Elise Lequire
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 …
Over 50 Years Of Prescribed Burning On The South Carolina Coastal Plain, Jake Delwiche
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 …
Sharpening The Tools For Prescribed Burns In Eastern Mixed-Oak Forests, Jake Delwiche
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 …
Pine Chronologies In Central Appalachian Forests: Fiery Implications, Rachel Clark
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 …
Restoring Mountain Meadows: Using Fire, Vegetation, And Fuel Management In Western Oregon, Rachel Clark
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 …
Climate And Fire In The Northern Rockies: Past, Present, And Future, Rachel Clark
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 …
From The Ground Up: New Fire Weather Model Boosts Accuracy, Marjie Brown
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 …
Filling In The Blanks For Prescribed Fire In Shrublands: Developing Information To Support Improved Fire Planning, Jake Delwiche
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 …
Filling In The Blanks For Prescribed Fire In Shrublands: Developing Information To Support Improved Fire Planning, Jake Delwiche
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 …
Chasing Flame: Gauging Smoke Production And Forest Floor Consumption In Boreal Ecosystems, Marjie Brown
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 …
That Liquefaction Of Her Clothes: Mitigating Debris Flows In The Post-Wildfi Re Landscape, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
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 …
Little Umpqua Gentian And The Big Biscuit Fire, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
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 …
Lessons Of The Hayman Fire: Weeds, Woodpeckers And Fire Severity, Marjie Brown
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 …
Post-Fire Soil Erosion And How To Manage It, Jake Delwiche
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 …
Prescribed Burning And Big Trees: Can We Do It Without Killing The Trees?, Rachel Clark
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 …
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 …
Fire And Rain: Stemming The Tide Of Invasive Plants In Hawaiian Ecosystems, Elise Lequire
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 …
Arcfuels: Integrating Wildfi Re Models And Risk Analysis Into Landscape Fuels Management, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Arcfuels: Integrating Wildfi Re Models And Risk Analysis Into Landscape Fuels Management, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
That risk from wildfi re continues to grow across the United States is not a new problem. Managing forest fuels in the real world—such as thinning and burning prescriptively—to reduce fuel loads have been used effectively to reduce the risk of severe wildfi re. These actions have been helped by a variety of software tools that assist managers in planning and evaluating fuel treatments to ensure they are cost effective in terms of impeding the growth of future large, severe wildfires. While many landscape planning tools do a fine job within the scope of their capabilities, the process of fi …
Where There’S Fire, There’S Smoke Smoldering Combustion From Wildfire Poses Serious Threats To Public Health In The Coastal Plains, Elise Lequire
Where There’S Fire, There’S Smoke Smoldering Combustion From Wildfire Poses Serious Threats To Public Health In The Coastal Plains, Elise Lequire
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
The Coastal Plain of North Carolina contains some of the last remaining vestiges of a wetland forest ecosystem characterized by organic soils ranging from a few inches to eight or more feet deep. When fi re occurs in this system, it can result in smoldering combustion far down into the peat-like soil, which may burn for weeks or even months. Carefully planned and implemented prescribed fire can reduce the fuel load and risk of wildfire, but it also creates emissions of pollutants, including particulate matter and trace gases. Computer models that predict smoke behavior were developed in western lands with …
Reality Show: Splats Take A Trip From Theory To The Tahoe National Forest, Marjie Brown
Reality Show: Splats Take A Trip From Theory To The Tahoe National Forest, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Strategically Placed Landscape Treatments (SPLATS) developed by Mark Finney have successfully demonstrated their capacity to slow fire spread in computer simulations. This collaborative project combined new applications of high-tech science with local knowledge in an attempt to implement SPLATS in a real world landscape—with real world constraints. Although the SPLATS designs created for the Sagehen Creek Basin by researchers met these constraints, unforeseen complications prevented their implementation. In addition, researchers found that their technologically intensive approach is not likely to be operationally feasible for several reasons, including the limited financial and technological resources of the ranger district. Lessons learned, however, …
Post-Fi Re Salvage Logging In Central Oregon: Short-Term Response In Bats, Birds And Small Mammals, Marjie Brown
Post-Fi Re Salvage Logging In Central Oregon: Short-Term Response In Bats, Birds And Small Mammals, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Some studies of wildlife response after fire have shown that habitat condition during the years immediately following fire are very important for many species. Because of this, it’s important for managers to have full knowledge of the shortterm effects of salvage logging on wildlife. This short-term study looked at the effects of different intensities of post-fire salvage logging on bat activity, population densities of breeding songbirds and small mammal abundance. The project took place on the 2003 Davis Lake Fire in central Oregon during the second and third years following fire. Although there were some exceptions, results generally showed that …
Listening To The Message Of The Black-Backed Woodpecker, A Hot Fire Specialist, Elise Lequire
Listening To The Message Of The Black-Backed Woodpecker, A Hot Fire Specialist, Elise Lequire
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
The Black-backed Woodpecker is an uncommon bird of the northern coniferous forests of North America. It is one of several species of fauna that are considered fire specialists. This woodpecker nests in cavities it creates in dead standing trees and feeds on wood-boring beetles and their larvae, which are also attracted to stressed or burned trees. Because the bird can be seen and heard from a distance, its population dynamics can be used to estimate the suitability of habitat to support both fl ora and fauna that have evolved in a natural regime of severe fire. In the effort to …
Breakthrough At The Missouri River Breaks: A Quick Tool For Comparing Burned And Unburned Sites, Rachel Clark
Breakthrough At The Missouri River Breaks: A Quick Tool For Comparing Burned And Unburned Sites, Rachel Clark
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
A quantitative understanding of how forests work, both before and after (prescribed and wild) fire, is essential to management. Yet acquiring the kind of broad yet detailed information needed for many management decisions can be costly, tedious, and time-consuming. After two sweeping wildfi res in the Missouri River Breaks area of eastern Montana—the Indian and Germaine wildfi res—some researchers wanted to see whether it was possible to characterize both pre-fi re and post-fi re characteristics in a relatively inexpensive and effi cient way. Specifi cally, they wanted to know whether prescribed fire that is then followed by wildfire, is more …
Webofire: Easy Fuels Treatment Planning For The Model-Averse, Marjie Brown
Webofire: Easy Fuels Treatment Planning For The Model-Averse, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Webofi re is a model for people who tend to break out in hives at the mention of the words “modeling” or “algorithm.” It provides a simple method for objectively evaluating existing wildfire hazard, prioritizing treatment needs, and estimating the potential effectiveness and costs of proposed treatments before they are carried out. Webofire is designed for people who plan, conduct, or oversee hazardous fuels reduction activities but who may lack training in model use or be model averse. Webofire allows users to take advantage of the sophisticated modeling tools that serve as workhorses for fuels reduction specialists—without the complexity. Webofi …
Chewing The Landscape: Masticated Fuelbeds Pose Novel Challenges, Elise Lequire
Chewing The Landscape: Masticated Fuelbeds Pose Novel Challenges, Elise Lequire
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Mastication, the mechanical shredding and chipping of small trees and shrubs, has been rapidly embraced by land managers as a treatment to reduce the risk of wildfire in the wildland/urban interface and to provide fire breaks in more remote areas. In the western United States, the use of mastication has more than doubled in the past 5 to 10 years, but until recently little was known about the novel characteristics of this artificial fuelbed or how it might behave when confronted with fi re. Mastication does not reduce the total amount of fuel; it essentially takes ladder fuels—live and dead …