Natural Resources and Conservation Commons^™

Synthesis Of Knowledge On The Effects Of Fire And Thinning Treatments On Understory Vegetation In U.S. Dry Forests, Anne M. Bartuszevige, Patricia L. Kennedy

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

A century of fire exclusion in dry forests across the United States has resulted in high fuel loads and increasing dominance by fire-intolerant vegetation. Federal, state, and private agencies have adopted a goal of managing forests to reduce the risk of high-severity wildfire. Forest managers use a variety of tools to create desired conditions within forests; the most common are prescribed fire and mechanical thinning. These two treatments may be used separately or in combination, depending on restoration goals for the forest stand. Before these treatments can be applied, managers must justify their choice by documenting the effects of the …

Synthesis Of Knowledge On The Effects Of Fire And Fire Surrogates On Wildlife In U.S. Dry Forests, Patricia L. Kennedy, Joseph B. Fontaine

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Dry forests throughout the United States are fire-dependent ecosystems, and much attention has been given to restoring their ecological function. As such, land managers often are tasked with reintroducing fire via prescribed fire, wildland fire use, and fire-surrogate treatments such as thinning and mastication. During planning, managers frequently are expected to anticipate effects of management actions on wildlife species. This document represents a synthesis of existing knowledge on wildlife responses to fire and fire-surrogate treatments, presented in a useful, management-relevant format. Based on scoping meetings and dialogue with public lands managers from throughout the United States, we provide detailed, species-level, …

Effects Of Prescribed Fire On Biological Soil Crusts And Their Subsequent Recovery In A Great Basin Juniper Woodland, Steven D. Warren, Larry L. St.Clair, Jeffrey R. Johansen, Paul Kugrens

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

A prescribed burn was conducted in a juniper woodland approximately 40 km south of Tooele, Utah on 05 October 2006. Conditions were sub-optimal, and the fire did not encroach into mid- or late-successional areas; only the early-successional area burned successfully. This study evaluated the effects of the prescribed burn on biological soil crusts that occupy the soil surface and are important for soil stability, soil nutrient cycling, and the germination and survival of vascular plants. Biological soil crusts are composed primarily of cyanobacteria, green algae, lichens and mosses. Mosses were rare under juniper trees, so the effects of the fire …

Effects Of Fuels/Fire Risk Reduction Treatments Using Hydro-Mow Or Thinning On Pinyon-Juniper Ecosystem Components Within The Wildland-Urbaninterface., Gerard J. Gottfried, Steven T. Overby, Philip A. Kemp, Cara Macmillan

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Pinyon-juniper woodlands are a dominant vegetation type throughout the Interior West on lands managed by the U.S. Forest Service and the USDI Bureau of Land Management. The woodlands have traditionally been viewed as having a low risk of wildfires because of the lack of a continuous and dense ground cover and low tree stand densities. However, stand densities are often high and are increasing in many areas and wildfires, often resulting in loss of lives and property, will occur under conditions of low humidity, high temperatures and wind speeds, and an ignition source. Woodlands commonly surround or are adjacent to …

Ecological Effects Of Prescribed Fire Season: A Literature Review And Synthesis For Managers, Eric Knapp, Becky Estes, Carl N. Skinner

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Prescribed burning may be conducted at times of the year when fires were infrequent historically, leading to concerns about potential adverse effects on vegetation and wildlife. Historical and prescribed fire regimes for different regions in the continental United States were compared and literature on season of prescribed burning synthesized. In regions and vegetation types where considerable differences in fuel consumption exist among burning seasons, the effects of prescribed fire season appears, for many ecological variables, to be driven more by fire-intensity differences among seasons than by phenology or growth stage of organisms at the time of fire. Where fuel consumption …

Epidemic Southern Pine Beetle Attacks: A Problem Of Fuel-Loading Or An Opportunity For Management?, Thomas A. Waldrop, G. Geoffrey Wang, Knight Cox

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The Piedmont Region of South Carolina experienced one of the heaviest attacks of southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimm.) in history during the early part of this decade. Managers with both commercial objectives and restoration objectives needed information on how prescribed burning or mechanical treatments can be used to reduce the heavy fuels resulting from these attacks, without neglecting their primary management objectives. Prescribed burning is of concern because intensities are expected to be high and fires may damage soils, neighboring trees, or target vegetation. Methods of predicting fire behavior and fuel consumption are unavailable. Mechanical treatments will reduce fuels …

Estimating Canopy Fuels And Their Impact On Potential Fire Behavior For Ponderosa Pine In The Black Hills, South Dakota., Frederick W. Smith, Tara Keyser, Wayne Shepperd

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

We evaluate whether current procedures used in fire behavior prediction models such as FVS-FFE provide predictions of CBD and CBH suitable for evaluating fire behavior in response to fuel treatments. Currently, FFE-FVS uses a geographic non-specific set of tree allometries and assumes a uniform distribution of crown mass when estimating CBH and CBD. We develop allometric equations to predict crown mass specific to ponderosa pine in the Black Hills (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) from a sample of 80 felled trees in 16 forest stands spanning a wide range in tree size and stand. We develop a non-uniform description of …

Estimating The Biomass Of Hand-Piled Fuels For Smoke Management Planning, Clinton S. Wright, Robert E. Vilnanek, James Russell, Mark Middy, Jim Bailey, Steve Davis, Robert Sanders, Cameron Balog, Paige Eagle

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Dimensions, volume, and biomass were measured for 121 hand-constructed piles composed primarily of coniferous (n=61) and shrub/hardwood (n=60) material at sites in Washington and California. Equations using pile dimensions, shape, and type allow users to accurately estimate the biomass of hand piles. Equations for estimating true pile volume from simple geometric shapes and measurements of pile dimensions were also developed to allow users who require estimates of pile volume for regulatory reporting. Biomass and volume estimation equations are being programmed into a web-based calculator to allow users to estimate either value from pile dimensions.

Reducing Fine Fuel Loads, Controlling Invasive Annual Grasses, And Manipulating Vegetation Composition In Zion Canyon, Utah, J. R. Matchett, Aviva O'Neill, Matt Brooks, Cheryl Decker, Jennifer Vollmer, Curt Deuser

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Fine fuels created by non-native annual grasses are a land management problem throughout the United States and beyond. These fuels facilitate the ignition of wildfires and promote their spread, creating hazardous fuel conditions in wildland urban interface areas. For example, fine fuel accumulations from non-native annual grasses in the riparian corridor at Zion National Park threaten the few egress routes from Zion Canyon, creating a threat to human life should a large wildfire occur there. In addition, when these non-native plants create novel fuel characteristics and fire behavior, they can lead to altered fire regimes that can significantly degrade natural …

Conversion Of The Bluesky Framework Into Collaborative Web Service Architecture And Creation Of A Smoke Modeling Application, Narasimhan K. Larkin, Sean Raffuse, Daniel Pryden, Alan Healy, Kevin Unger, Tara Strand, Robert Solomon

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This project addresses the need for a collaborative architecture for scientific modeling that allows various scientific models to easily interact. The need for such a system has been documented by recent studies such as the JFSP Smoke Roundtables and the JFSP review of tools done by the Software Engineering Institute. This project addresses these needs by modifying the BlueSky Modeling Framework so that it can better serve as a collaborative architecture, and then utilizing this architecture to create an advanced application that could not otherwise be created. The BlueSky framework was modified for this purpose, and all changes integrated into …

Community Wildfire Protection Plans: Enhancing Collaboration And Building Social Capacity, Daniel R. Williams, Pamela J. Jakes, Sam Burns, Antony Cheng, Kristen Nelson, Victoria Sturtevant, Alex Bujak, Rachel Brummel, Stephanie Grayzeck Souter, Emily Saeli Staychock

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 (HFRA) was enacted to reduce wildfire risk to communities and other at-risk lands through a collaborative process of planning, prioritizing and implementing hazardous fuel reduction projects. One of the key features of HFRA is the development of community wildfire protection plans (CWPPs). We studied the development of CWPPs in order to identify those factors and processes that consistently lead to effective collaborative fire and fuels management as defined by HFRA, and enhance local social capacity to sustain wildfire protection activities into the future. Findings from this research highlight the importance of: (1) drawing …

Characterizing Particulate Matter Emissions By Wildland Fires Relevant To Visibility Impairment And Pm Non-Attainment, William Malm, Douglas Fox, Hans Moosmüller, Sonia Kreidenweis, Jeffrey Collett Jr., Wei Min Hao

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Carbonaceous aerosols, which include contributions from industrial and mobile source emissions and biomass combustion, exert a significant impact on regional air quality. Some preliminary semi-quantitative analyses suggest that smoke from fire-related activity may contribute significantly to observed organic mass concentrations. Further, these emissions have resulted in increased conflicts with the need to attain air quality standards, especially for particulate matter (PM) and visibility, as mandated by the Clean Air Act. However, federal land managers and policy makers currently lack several important tools needed for air quality assessments: composition profiles and analytical techniques necessary to differentiate carbonaceous aerosols originating from industrial …

Experimental Study Of Local Fire Conditions And Effects On Surface Or Near-Surface Archeological Resources At National Park Service Units – Midwest Region., Jay T. Sturdevant, Rod Skalsky, Cody L. Wienk, Brennan Dolan, Dustin Gonzalez, David Amrine

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Today, park managers must routinely balance the restoration needs of natural resources with the preservation of cultural resources. This project was designed to provide park managers with scientific data on the impacts from wildland fire to archeological resources at National Park Service units in the Midwest Region. Experimental research was conducted at six parks to record data on fire conditions (i.e., fuels, fire temperature, and burn duration) and the impacts on multiple classes of archeological materials routinely observed at sites within the region. The experimental study of fire conditions in different regional environments addresses questions regarding the threats or non-threats …

A Regional Assessment Of The Ecological Effects Of Chipping And Mastication Fuels Reduction And Forest Restoration Treatments., Mike Battaglia, Charles Rhoades, Monique E. Rocca, Michael G. Ryan

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Over the past several years, fire managers have increased their use of mastication treatments, the on-site disposal of shrubs and small-diameter trees through chipping and shredding. Mastication is a relatively untested management practice that alters the chemical and physical conditions of the forest floor and may influence vegetation regrowth and fuel development for years or decades. Eighteen sites were established across four ecosystems of the southern Rocky Mountains and the Colorado Plateau: lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), mixed conifer (Pinus ponderosa, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Pinus flexilis, and Pinus contorta), ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), and pinyon pine/juniper …

Enhancing Western Managers’ Knowledge And Use Of Available Economic And Financial Biomass Information And Tools, Todd A. Morgan, Kenneth Skog, Greg Jones, Woodam Chung, Henry Spelter, John Baldridge, Jason Brandt, Dan Loeffler, Jon Songster

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) sponsored this study to enhance the ability of federal land managers to understand and deal with the economic and financial aspects of woody biomass removal as a component of fire hazard reduction treatments. The study objectives were to synthesize the body of economic and financial information and tools currently available to federal land managers in the West, identify managers’ information needs and disconnects from available information, and fill the gaps between existing information and tools versus managers’ awareness of available information and access to tools. The methods used for this study included 1) preparing …

Fire And Fuels Management In Coast Redwood Forests, Steven P. Norman, J. Morgan Varner, Leonel Arguello, Stephen Underwood, Bradley Graham, Greg Jennings, Yana Valachovic, Christopher Lee

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Coast redwood forests rank among the most significant natural features of North America, yet our understanding of how they came to be and how we might sustain them has been beset by scientific and management uncertainty for decades. A key part of this controversy has been the historical importance of fire given the mild coastal climate and small number of lightning ignitions. In the northern part of the coast redwood range, past research found that fire was uncommon, but results conflicted with others that found fire to be as frequent as in any dry forest of western North America. We …

A Chronosequence Feasibility Assessment Of Emergency Fire Rehabilitation Records Within The Intermountain Western United States, Kevin C. Knutson, David A. Pyke, Troy A. Wirth, David S. Pilliod, Matthew L. Brooks, Jeanne C. Chambers

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Department of the Interior (DOI) bureaus have invested heavily (for example, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spent more than $60 million in fiscal year 2007) in seeding vegetation for emergency stabilization and burned area rehabilitation of non-forested arid lands over the past 10 years. The primary objectives of these seedings commonly are to (1) reduce the post-fire dominance of non-native annual grasses, such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) and red brome (Bromus rubens); (2) minimize the probability of recurrent fire; and (3) ultimately produce desirable vegetation characteristics (for example, ability to recover following disturbance [resilience], resistance to invasive species, …

Extending The Reach Of The Fire Effects Planning Framework By Taking A Critical Approach To Science Delivery And Application, Anne E. Black, Carol Miller, Vita Wright, Kate Walker, Carolyn Ballard, Paula Nasiatka, Brett Fay, Linda Chappell, Dave Calkin

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The Fire Effects Planning Framework (FEPF), developed under JFSP project (99-1-3-16) “Wildland fuels management: evaluating and planning risks and benefits,” was formally completed in June 2004. FEPF is a logical framework that uses available data (e.g., local, LANDFIRE data) and existing software (e.g., GIS, Farsite, FlamMap, expert knowledge) to produce maps of probable fire effects during the pre-season or in advance of a fire front. The initial project included significant technology transfer activities. As that project concluded, however, we continued to receive requests for assistance from field managers (District, Forest and Regional Forest Service offices), international organizations (Interior West Fire …

Third Report Of The North Dakota Bird Records Committee: 2004-2005, Dan Svingen, Ron E. Martin

The Prairie Naturalist

Since 1979, North Dakota's bird records committee has collected, evaluated, and archived documentations of rare bird occurrences in the state. In 2004 and 2005, this committee resolved 189 rare bird records. On the basis of these record reviews, six species were ad~ed to the North Dakota state bird list: mottled duck (Anas fulvigula), yellow-billed loon (Cavia adamsii), white-tailed kite (Elanus leucurus), little stint (Calidris minuta), glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens), and great black-backed gull (Larus marinus). Four species were added to the list of nesting species within the state: snowy …

Effect Of Drought And Agriculture On Ring-Necked Pheasant Abundance, Nebraska Panhandle, Charles J. Randel Iii

The Prairie Naturalist

The objectives of my study were to detennine the effects of drought (e.g., Palmer Modified Drought Severity Index; PMDI, Bridges et at. 2001) and/or agricultural practices (e.g., conversion) on RNP abundance in the Nebraska Panhandle (NP).

My RNP survey data were found to be correlated negatively to drought condition (PMDI) in January, February, and April. This was supported by Snyder (1984) and Riley (1995), both of whom reported that decreased precipitation in spring affected RNP production in the western Great Plains and Iowa, respectively. Late winter and early spring drought affect subsoil moisture and decrease primary production (Kiesselbach et al. …

The Prairie Naturalist Manuscript Submission Guidelines, Christopher N. Jacques, Troy W. Grovenburg, Jonathan Jenks

The Prairie Naturalist

These guidelines present The Prairie Naturalist (PNAT) policies and procedures for submitting scientific manuscripts for consideration for publication. In January 2009, a change in Editorial staff occurred and these guidelines address the ongoing transition and update the online "Suggestions for Contributors" guidelines provided on the PNAT website (http://www.fhsu.edu/biology/pn/prairienat.htm); these instructions supersede all previous guidelines. Tables and appendices are included for common word expressions with superfluous wording, examples of correct format and style guidelines for tables accompanying manuscripts, guidance in properly preparing Research Articles and Notes, citing literature, and mandatory abbreviations for tables, figures and parenthetical expressions.

2009 Astragalus Barrii Barneby (Barr’S Milkvetch) Survey On The Oglala National Grassland For The Nebraska Game And Parks Commission And Nebraska National Forest, Grace M. Kostel

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: White Papers, Conference Presentations, and Manuscripts

Astragalus barrii Barneby (Barr’s milkvetch) is ranked globally vulnerable (G3) by NatureServe and critically imperiled (S1) by the Nebraska Natural Heritage Program. A. barrii is designated a sensitive species by the USDA Forest Service (USFS) Region 2 (R2). The Oglala National Grassland (ONG), located in northwestern Nebraska in Dawes and Sioux County, is within the USFS R2 jurisdiction. The purpose of this survey was to: (1) search for and document all A. barrii present on designated areas of the ONG and (2) collect data on rare plant species and high quality native plant community occurrences.

Fundamentals For Using Geographic Information Science To Measure The Effectiveness Of Land Conservation Projects, Robert G. Pontius Jr., Shaily Menon, Joseph Duncan, Shalini Gupta

Other Scholarly Publications

Some humans spend a tremendous amount of effort to change landscapes from a “natural” state to a “developed” state for a variety of desirable economic uses, such as urban, agriculture, transportation, and mining. Others spend a tremendous amount of effort to prevent such development in order to conserve the landscapes for a variety of important environmental uses, such as biodiversity maintenance, carbon storage, water filtration, and landslide prevention. It would be efficient in theory if a society were to focus its development efforts at locations that give the largest economic utility per area developed, and to focus its conservation efforts …

The Effects Of Climate Change On Biodiversity: Pressing Issues And Research Priorities, Friedhelm Krupp, Lytton J. Musselman, Mohammed M.A. Kotb, Ilka Weidig

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

State Of The River Report For The Lower St. Johns River Basin, Florida: Water Quality, Fisheries, Aquatic Life, And Contaminants 2009, Environmental Protection Board, City Of Jacksonville, University Of North Florida, Jacksonville University

State of the River Report

No abstract provided.

Land Resources Series No 21 - Tambellup-Borden Area Land Resources Survey, Angela Stuart-Street, Rohan Marold

Natural resources published reports

AGDEX 526

Land Resources Series No. 21

This report presents results from soil-landscape mapping at a scale of 1: 100,000 in the Tambellup- Borden area of Western Australia. It is accompanied by a soil-landscape map covering almost 511,000 hectares.

Most of the survey occurs within the upper Frankland-Gordon, Kent, North Stirlings Basin and upper reaches of the Pallinup and Kalgan River catchments. The survey falls within the Katanning and Albany Department of Agriculture and Food advisory districts.

Seventeen soil-landscape systems have been identified and are represented on the map on the accompanying CD-ROM. These systems have been further divided into …

Farmers And Nature Conservation: What Is Known About Attitudes, Context Factors And Actions Affecting Conservation?, Johan Ahnström, Jenny Höckert, Hanna L. Bergea, Charles A. Francis, Peter Skelton, Lars Hallgren

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Farmers’ attitudes towards viability of specific conservation practices or actions strongly impact their decisions on adoption and change. This review of ‘attitude’ information reveals a wide range of perceptions about what conservation means and what the impacts of adoption will mean in economic and environmental terms. Farmers operate in a tight financial situation, and in parts of the world they are highly dependent on government subsidies, and cannot afford to risk losing that support. Use of conservation practices is most effective when these are understood in the context of the individual farm, and decisions are rooted in land and resource …

Common Raven Nests In North Dakota After 100-Year Hiatus, Melvin P. Nenneman, Todd A. Grant, Ron E. Martin

The Prairie Naturalist

Our observations represent the first documented nesting by the common raven in North Dakota since the late 1800's. Houston (1977) suggested that the expansion of the American crow onto the Canadian prairies was limited by the scarcity of trees for nest sites, which also might have limited the extent of the common raven. Aspen woodland has increased substantially in and around J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge since European settlement, due primarily to fire suppression and extirpation of large herbivores (Grant and Murphy 2005). Thus, plausibly these increases in woodland habitat might be providing nest sites necessary for the common …

Factors Associated With Duck Use Of Impounded And Natural Wetlands In Western South Dakota, Jane E. Austin, Deborah A. Buhl

The Prairie Naturalist

Many wetlands in the northern Great Plains west of the Missouri River are stock ponds, created by impoundment of natural drainages or excavation of existing wetlands to provide water for livestock or improve habitat for waterfowl. We evaluated factors influencing use of wetlands by breeding duck pairs and broods relative to modification, water regime, size, and hydrological location on United States Forest Service lands within the Grand River National Grassland in northern South Dakota (2003 and 2004). Responses for both indicated pairs and broods were related positively to wet area, total wetland area within 4 km, emergent edge cover, and …

Brood Parasitism In A North American Population Of White-Faced Ibis, Mark E. Clark

The Prairie Naturalist

In 2007 while monitoring reproductive success among various overwater nesting birds at J. Clark Salyer National Wildlife Refuge in North Dakota, I observed parasitism of a white-faced ibis nest by a cattle egret. I located a nest on 23 May 2007 that contained four white-faced ibis eggs and one cattle egret egg. The nest was located in the middle of a small colony of nesting white-faced ibis (approximately 35 pairs) and black-crowned night herons (approximately 30 pairs). On 3 June 2007 all of the eggs were still present in the nest, but two of the white-faced ibis eggs began hatching …