Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons^™

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) …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

Effects Of Prescribed Burning, Mechanical, And Chemical Treatments To Curtail Rhododendron Dominance And Reduce Urban Interface Fuel Loads, Shepard M. Zedaker, Charles W. Harrell Iii, Christopher D. Pearce

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

One-half-acre treatment areas were delineated within prescribed burns. Cutting treatments consisted of chainsaw or brushsaw severing of all rhododendron stems within 6 in of the ground surface. Herbicide and herbicide followed by fire treatments consisted of basal applications of triclopyr or imazapyr in methylated seed oil on each plot. Cutting and burning treatments followed by herbicides utilized foliar applications of triclopyr or imazapyr in emulsions to all resprouting rhododendron. All herbicide plots were randomly split in half for the application of imazapyr or triclopyr on different halves. Analyses of variance and mean separation by LSD were used to compare treatment …

Evaluating Postfire Seeding Treatments Designed To Suppress Cheatgrass (Bromus Tectorum) In A Ponderosa Pine Forest On The Colorado Plateau, Matthew L. Brooks, Robert Klinger, Jennifer Chase, Curt Deuser

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The restoration of historical fuel conditions and fire regimes is one of the primary land management goals in the Shivwits Plateau region of northwestern Arizona. Fire is the primary tool used in this region to reduce fuel loads and shift landscapes back to historical conditions of a low intensity, 8- 15 year return interval, surface fire regime. However, the invasive plant cheatgrass has become the dominant understory vegetation and fuel type following initial fire treatments in many areas. There is significant concern that repeated burning at historically appropriate fire return intervals for ponderosa pine forest will benefit this invasive plant …

Evaluating Approaches To Mapping Burn Probabilities For A Quantitative Wildland Fire Risk Analysis Framework., Carol Miller, Marc Parisien, Alan Ager, Mark Finney

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This final report summarizes a collaboration that brought together experts in burn probability (BP) modeling and wildland fire risk analysis to compare and evaluate BP models, and ultimately incorporate these into a risk analysis framework. The project built on and extended the work from JFSP project #01-1-1-05. This project evaluated and tested three different independent models that generate BP maps as output for their operational use in risk analysis. The project quantified the relative sensitivity of the three BP models to different inputs, enhanced our understanding of the factors that affect BP at the landscape scale, and yielded concrete improvements …

Evaluating Postfire Seeding Treatments Designed To Suppress Cheatgrass (Bromus Tectorum) In A Ponderosa Pine Forest On The Colorado Plateau, Matthew L. Brooks, Robert Klinger, Jennifer Chase, Curt Deuser

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The restoration of historical fuel conditions and fire regimes is one of the primary land management goals in the Shivwits Plateau region of northwestern Arizona. Fire is the primary tool used in this region to reduce fuel loads and shift landscapes back to historical conditions of a low intensity, 8- 15 year return interval, surface fire regime. However, the invasive plant cheatgrass has become the dominant understory vegetation and fuel type following initial fire treatments in many areas. There is significant concern that repeated burning at historically appropriate fire return intervals for ponderosa pine forest will benefit this invasive plant …

Diagnosis Of Extended Cold-Season Temperature Anomalies In Alaska, Martha Shulski, John Walsh, Eric Stevens, Richard Thoman

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

During the early winter of 2002 and late winter of 2007, the Alaskan sector of the North Pacific Ocean region experienced record-breaking temperature anomalies. The duration of these episodes was unusually long, with each lasting more than 1 month: 55 days for the warm anomaly of October–December 2002 and 37 days for the cold anomaly of February–March 2007. Temperature departures over each respective period were the largest for the continental climate of interior Alaska (>10°C) and the smallest for the maritime regions of Alaska (

Droughtscape, Winter 2010, Kelly Smith

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

USDM Forum Highlights

Drought Likely to Ease

Research Shows Birds Vulnerable to Drought

Drought Recedes in 2009

CA, TX Suffer Impacts from Ongoing Drought

NDMC Wishes Ryu Well

Conferees Pick SPI for Global Drought Index

The Kentucky Mesonet: Perspectives On Data Access, Distribution, And Use For A Meso-Scale Surface Network, D. M. Grogan, S. Foster, Rezaul Mamood

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

New Insights On The Sequence Stratigraphic Architecture Of The Dakota Formation In Kansas-Nebraska-Iowa From A Decade Of Sponsored Research Activity, G. A. Ludvigson, B. J. Witzke, Robert Matthew Joeckel, R. L. Ravn, P. L. Phillips, L. A. Gonzalez, R. L. Brenner

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Landscapes And Soils Of The Northam District, D N. Sawkins, Department Of Agriculture And Food

Bulletins 4000 -

The publication aims to provide readers with the principles underlying the formation of local landscapes and soils, and the ability to identify landscapes and their associated soils.

Impacts Of Land Use/Land Cover Change On Climate And Future Research Priorities, Rezaul Mahmood, Roger A. Pielke Sr., Kenneth G. Hubbard, Dev Niyogi, Gordon Bonan, Peter Lawrence, Richard Mcnider, Clive Mcalpine, Andres Etter, Samuel Gameda, Budong Qian, Andrew Carleton, Adriana Beltran-Przekurat, Thomas Chase, Arturo I. Quintanar, Jimmy O. Adegoke, Sajith Vezhapparambu, Glen Connor, Salvi Asefi, Elif Sertel, David R. Legates, Yuling Wu, Robert Hale, Oliver W. Frauenfeld, Anthony Watts, Marshall Shepherd, Chandana Mitra, Valentine G. Anantharaj, Souleymane Fall, Robert Lund, Anna Treviño, Peter D. Blanken, Jinyang Du, Hsin-I Chang, Ronnie Leeper, Udaysankar S. Nair, Scott Dobler, Ravinesh Deo, Jozef Syktus

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Human activities have modified the environment for thousands of years. Significant population increase, migration, and accelerated socioeconomic activities have intensified these environmental changes over the last several centuries. The climate impacts of these changes have been found in local, regional, and global trends in modern atmospheric temperature records and other relevant climatic indicators.

An important human influence on atmospheric temperature trends is extensive land use/land cover change (LULCC) and its climate forcing. Studies using both modeled and observed data have documented these impacts (e.g., Chase et al. 2000; Kalnay and Cai 2003; Cai and Kalnay 2004; Trenberth 2004; Vose et …

Western Australian Resource Condition Monitoring Projects 2007-2009, Ceidwen Pengelly, 2010

All other publications

Monitoring the status and trends of our natural resources is the only way we can assess whether the actions that have been implemented are making a difference. The impetus for this resource condition monitoring program (RCM) was the recognition that our monitoring networks, baseline data and data management systems were inadequate to enable quantitative reporting to government, and the community, on the difference their investments in natural resource management were making. It was considered that making a significant investment in raising our ability to report would be a long-lasting legacy of value to the state.

Riparian Conundra, David Weaver

Conference papers and presentations

Riparian vegetation is established or restored on the basis that it physically filters and traps hillslope derived particulate nutrients in surface runoff. Whilst many studies support this conventional model of riparian function, few test this models embedded assumptions. The assumptions are that catchments are surface runoff dominated, that most surface derived nutrients are transported in particulate form, and that riparian management targets locations that will result in the greatest change in water quality. This paper reviews studies in south west Western Australia that challenge these assumptions. Plots measuring leaching and runoff of nutrients showed that 20 times more water and …

Niobrara National Scenic River Condition Assessment, Sunil Narumalani, Gary D. Willson, Christine K. Lockert, Paul B. T. Merani

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

Niobrara National Scenic River spans a 122-km (76-mile) long reach of the Niobrara River in rural, north-central Nebraska. The scenic river encompasses 9,338 ha (23,074 acres) of land and water, all of which is in private ownership, except for about 320 ha (790 acres). Because the scenic river does not own land, it achieves management goals by coordinating and collaborating with federal, state, and local jurisdictions and private landowners.

The central Niobrara River Valley is often referred to as a “biological crossroads” with plant and animal species representative of northern boreal forest, eastern deciduous forest, rocky mountain coniferous …

Effective Environmental Management Of The National Park Service: A Case Study Of Channel Islands National Park, Daniel T. Olmsted

CMC Senior Theses

The topic of protected area management serves as the focal point of my thesis. The fundamental question I seek to answer is; what constitutes effective environmental management and how is it exemplified in the National Park Service (NPS)? How exactly does the NPS continually earn the trust and confidence of the American people when so many other government agencies are viewed in a negative light? How does the Channel Islands National Park, in particular, shape the economic and political framework in which it operates to achieve its goals? How does this agency effectively manage such a complex ecosystem spanning across …

2010 Piscataqua Region Comprehensive : Executive Summary, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership

PREP Reports & Publications

In the fall of 2010, the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) completed an 18-month effort to understand current and future environmental issues affecting the Region’s estuaries, to establish realistic goals and objectives for the next 10 years, and to create effective action plans to systematically achieve the shared environmental goals of a broad base of Regional stakeholders.

With input from more than 150 individuals, representing 82 organizations, PREP compiled the 2010 Piscataqua Region Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) that lays the foundation for work over the next decade to protect and restore the Region’s estuaries and associated watersheds.