Sustainability Commons^™

Developing A Science Integration Strategy For Jfsp, Jamie Barbour

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The mission of the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) is to produce high quality research findings to inform wildland fire and fuel managers’ decisions. Since its inception in 1998, the program has funded nearly 400 studies and has generated a tremendous amount of information and analytical tools. As the JFSP moves into the future, a Science Delivery Strategy is needed to: 1) ensure that this base of information finds application, and 2) create a more systematic way to identify and organize new work that will encourage its rapid assimilation by the management community. The attached Science Delivery Strategy was developed …

Development And Demonstration Of Smoke Plume, Fire Emissions, And Preand Post-Prescribed Fire Fuel Models On North Carolina Coastal Plain Forest Ecosystems, Robert Meckler, Gary Achtemier, Chris Geron, Miriam Rorig, David Brownlie

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The objectives are to (1) Inventory, map, and model live and down woody debris/fuels biomass utilizing USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis P2 and P3 field plot protocols, develop fuel loading formulas for fire behavior models in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and the Air Force Dare County Bombing Range in the North Carolina Coastal Plain, and incorporate data from Coastal Plain forest types into the fuel characteristic classification (FCC) system and the FARSITE fire behavior model; (2) Validate the USDA Forest Service PB-Coastal Plain smoke model, the BlueSky smoke prediction system, and the BlueSky Rapid Access Information …

Digital Photo Series (Natural Fuels Photo Series), Clinton S. Wright, Robert E. Vilnakek, Roger D. Ottmar, Paige C. Eagle

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The Digital Photo Series (DPS) is a web-based application that provides access to the Natural Fuels Photo Series database and photographs. The DPS works through a user’s internet browser, but has also been designed to work as a stand-alone application when the computer is disconnected from the internet. A user-friendly interface allows users to browse, query, and download photo series data and high-quality photographs. The Digital Photo Series is intended to complement, not replace, the printed photo series volumes.

A Comprehensive Guide To Fuels Treatment Fractices For Ponderosa Pine In The Black Hills, Colorado Front Range, And Southwest, M. E. Hunter, W. D. Shepperd, L. B. Lentile, J. E. Lundquist, M. G. Andreu, J. L. Butler, F. W. Smith

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The objective of this paper is to present recommendations for fuels treatments in ponderosa pine forests in the Southwest, Colorado Front Range, and Black Hills of South Dakota. We have synthesized existing knowledge from the peer-reviewed literature and administrative studies and acquired local knowledge through a series of discussions with fuels treatment practitioners. We describe specific treatments, the circumstances under which they can be applied, and treatment effects. We provide recommendations related to where, how, and how often fuels treatments may be prescribed to achieve desired outcomes. Desired outcomes address social, political, economic, and ecological factors.

Soil Response To Season And Interval Of Prescribed Fire In A Ponderosa Pine Forest Of The Blue Mountains, Oregon, D. Zabowski, W. G. Thies, J. Hatten, A. Ogden

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Soil properties were examined at a season of burn and burn interval study located in the Malheur National for responses to prescribed burns used to reduce fuel loads and wildfire hazard. Prescribed burn comparisons included spring vs. fall burning, with either one 15-year interval burn or two 5-year interval burns of each season. Results showed that major change to soil organic matter was a reduction in the amount of O horizon. The percent bare ground increased with both spring and fall burning and was highest with multiple burns, indicating a loss of O horizon cover. There was also a decrease …

Effects Of Fuel Treatments And Wildfire On The Avifauna Of The Pine Rockland Ecosystem In Southern Florida., John D. Lloyd, Gary L. Slater, Skip Snow, James R. Snyder

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The response of plants and animals in the pine forests of southern Florida to variation in fire and hydrological regimes remains inadequately described, hindering the ability of resource managers to manipulate fire and water to achieve desired ecological outcomes. In this study, we took advantage of natural variation in two measures of fire history (the number of days since last fire and the number of times an area had been burned during the previous ten years) and one measure of hydrology (water table elevation) to explore how plants, breeding birds, and wintering birds in slash-pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa) forests …

Effects Of Fire Severity And Distance From Unburned Edge On Mammalian Community Post-Fire Recovery, Jay Diffendorfer, Wayne Spencer, Scott Tremor, Jan Beyers

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

This final report summarizes key findings relative to the five major objectives listed in our proposal, along with the crosswalk of accomplished and future deliverables. Additional details concerning objectives, methods, results, and recommendations are presented in Attachment A. Each of our major objectives is listed below with a brief summary of findings to date. Because we only recently finished the final session of data collection, all findings are preliminary and may change as more comprehensive statistical analyses are completed. 1. Evaluate the effects of fire on southern California rodent, large mammal, and bat diversity and study patterns of post fire …

Effects Of Fire On Kuenzler’S Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus Fendleri Var. Kuenzleri), David B. Wester, Colton M. Britton

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Kuenzler’s cactus (Echinocereus fendleri var. kuenzleri [Castetter, Pierce and Schwerin] L. Benson]) is a federally- and state-listed endangered species that is known to occur in pinyon-juniper habitat in the mountains of south central New Mexico in Lincoln, Otero, Chaves and Eddy counties. Presence of this species affects the management of its habitat with prescribed burning. However, there has been no research that has documented the response of Kuenzler’s cactus to fire. This project was initiated in 2002 to provide information on habitat characteristics of Kuenzler’s cacti and to investigate its response to fire. Because of the protected status of the …

Interactions Among Prescribed Fire, Soil Attributes, Fungal Mats, And Mycorrhizal Fungus Fruiting Patterns In An Old-Growth Pinus Ponderosa / Abies ConcolorStand In Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, Usa, Kermit Cromack, Randy Molina, Jane E. Smith, James M. Trappe, Efren Cazares-Gonzales, Mary Rasmussen, Matt Trappe

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

The first of its kind, Soil characteristics tend to occur as a suite, Pre-treatment patterns: a silver lining, Prescribed burn treatment effects on soil attributes, Fruiting patterns primarily influenced by soil C:N ratios, Fungal indicator guilds, Prescribed burn treatment effects on fungal fruiting patterns, Prescribed burn treatment effects on fungal mats, Summary and take-home message.

Soil Response To Season And Interval Of Prescribed Fire In A Ponderosa Pine Forest Of The Blue Mountains, Oregon, D. Zabowski, W. G. Thies, J. Hatten, A. Ogden

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Soil properties were examined at a season of burn and burn interval study located in the Malheur National for responses to prescribed burns used to reduce fuel loads and wildfire hazard. Prescribed burn comparisons included spring vs. fall burning, with either one 15-year interval burn or two 5-year interval burns of each season. Results showed that major change to soil organic matter was a reduction in the amount of O horizon. The percent bare ground increased with both spring and fall burning and was highest with multiple burns, indicating a loss of O horizon cover. There was also a decrease …

Fuels Reduction In A Western Coniferous Forest: Effects On Two Sympatric Ungulates And Their Habitat, Ryan A. Long, Janet Rachlow, Marty Vavra, John G. Kie

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

We evaluated effects of an experimental fuels reduction program on elk, mule deer, and their habitat at the Starkey Experimental Forest and Range (Starkey) in northeastern Oregon. From 2001 to 2003, 26 stands of true fir and Douglas-fir that suffered high rates of mortality from an outbreak of spruce budworm were selectively thinned (spring or summer) and burned (fall) while 27 similar stands were left untreated to serve as experimental controls. We used location data for elk and mule deer collected during spring (1 April–14 June) and summer (15 June–31 August) of 1999–2006 to compare use of treated and untreated …

Agricultural Climatology, Kenneth G. Hubbard

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

With the diversification of the U.S. economy over the past century, agriculture has changed. We can say the farm sizes have increased over time, the number of farmers and those employed in farming have decreased over time, and as the economy has grown the relative contribution of agriculture to the total economy has decreased due to growth in other sectors. The farm prices have not changed significantly over many years while costs for energy, machinery, and land have generally increased. The combination of these factors has generally narrowed the profit margin and the highest productivity will no longer ensure the …

Droughtscape, Winter 2007, Kelly Smith

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

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Policy Update: NIDIS is Law. What’s Next?

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TX, OK, Plains, Southwest Hardest Hit in 2006

Climatologically Speaking, How Bad Was It?

State Spotlight: Arizona

Drought Decision-Support Tools Evolving

Multifunctional Rural Landscapes: Economic, Environmental, Policy, And Social Impacts Of Land Use Changes In Nebraska, Twyla M. Hansen, Charles A. Francis, J. Dixon Esseks, J. Allen Williams Jr.

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The conversion of farmland near cities to other human uses is a global trend that challenges our long-term capacity to provide food, fiber, and ecosystem services to a growing world population. If current trends continue in the United States, the population will reach 450 million by the year 2050. At the same time, an accelerating change in land use will reduce today’s two acres per person of farmland to less than one acre per person. This is scarcely enough to produce food for our domestic population, without any food available for export – even assuming advances in technology. We need …

Agroforestry: Sustaining Native Bee Habitat For Crop Pollination, Mace Vaughan, Scott Hoffman Black

Agroforestry Notes (USDA-NAC)

Over one hundred crop species in North America require a visit from an insect pollinator to be most productive. In the past, native bees and feral honey bees could meet the pollination needs of small orchards, tomato and pumpkin fields, and berry patches, because these farms were typically adjacent to areas of habitat that harbored important pollinators. Today, many farms are large and, at the same time, have less nearby habitat to support native pollinators. To ensure adequate pollination services, producers now rely on European honey bees. Research, however, shows that native bees can be important pollinators in agricultural fields …

On The Spatial Nature Of The Groundwater Pumping Externality, Nicholas Brozovic, David L. Sunding, David Zilberman

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

Most existing economic analyses of optimal groundwater management use single-cell aquifer models, which assume that an aquifer responds uniformly and instantly to ground- water pumping. This paper demonstrates how spatially explicit aquifer response equations from the water resources engineering literature may be embedded in a general economic framework. Calibration of our theoretical model to published economic studies of spe- cific aquifers demonstrates that, by averaging basin drawdown across the entire resource, existing studies generally understate the magnitude of the groundwater pumping external- ity relative to spatially explicit models. For the aquifers studied, the drawdown predicted by single- cell models may …

Fire History, Passerine Abundance, And Habitat On A North Dakota Drift Plain Prairie, Timothy J. Ludwick, Robert K. Murphy

The Prairie Naturalist

Prescribed fire is among key tools for restoring and managing prairies in the northern Great Plains, yet there are no published reports of its impacts on grassland passerine birds on native prairie in the Drift Plain, a major physiographic subregion. We examined relationships between prescribed fire history and abundance and habitat of breeding passerines in Drift Plain prairie at Des Lacs National Wildlife National Refuge in northwestern North Dakota. In 2003, we used point counts (n = 79 75 m radius plots) to survey bird abundance on 16 management units that had been prescribe-burned one to three times each …

Optimal Management Of Groundwater Over Space And Time, Nicholas Brozovic, David L. Sunding, David Zilberman

Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute: Faculty Publications

For nearly half a century, groundwater has been portrayed in the economic literature as a typical common property resource. Numerous studies of groundwater extraction have analyzed the externalities imposed by users on each other. A large body of work offers clear prescriptions in the form of optimal policy instruments, and a similarly large body of work advocates the needlessness of any centralized intervention. Yet existing theoretical models of groundwater extraction implicitly make two strong assumptions about the underlying behavior of the resource. First, the spatial distribution of resource users is assumed to be irrelevant. Second, path-independence of the resource is …

Science-Based Organic Farming 2006: Toward Local And Secure Food Systems, Charles A. Francis, Katja Koehler-Cole, Twyla Hansen, Peter Skelton

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Organic farming includes growing food and fiber—animals, agronomic crops, horticultural fruits and vegetables, related products—as one dynamic and rapidly evolving component of our complex U.S. food system. Even as more farmers are moving toward organic certification and participation in an environmentally sound and economically lucrative market, questions arise about the long-term social impacts and sustainability of a set of practices that has gone from a movement to an industry. Consolidations in the organic trade have brought multinational corporations to the table, as they have observed a grassroots activity that has grown by 20% per year for the past two decades, …

A Comparison Of Presettlement Vegetation And Fire Regimes With Current Patterns In Oak Woodlands And Shrublands Of Sw Oregon, Patricia S. Muir Dr., Paul Hosten Dr.

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Fuel reduction efforts on BLM lands in southwestern Oregon are motivated by the need to reduce fire hazard and restore and rehabilitate ecosystems. Successful ecosystem restoration depends, in part, on understanding the target: what ecosystem model is considered natural and healthy for a given area? Oak (Quercus garryana) woodlands and shrublands are two of the most characteristic ecosystems in interior valleys of southwest Oregon, and extensive acreages within these systems are treated annually for fuel reduction. However, these are also two of the least understood ecosystems in the region. We know little about their presettlement attributes, responses to disturbance, or …

An Internet Based Portal For Fire Science And Management In The Southern Region

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Task 1 – Organize a technical advisory team and host an initial workshop to explore methods for integrating FRAMES, TTRS, and ESFS websites.

Task 2 – Identify and acquire data, tools, and publications from funded JFSP and NFP projects working with the JFSP and NFP project databases and principal investigators. Also, when possible identify and acquire data and tools used and created by others in the wildland fire community including state agencies, educational institutions, and non-governmental organizations.

Task 3 – Develop and post online FGDC metadata records for all datasets from funded JFSP and NFP projects as well as key …

Risk And Consequence Analysis Focused On Biota Transfers Potentially Associated With Surface Water Diversions Between The Missouri River And Red River Basins, Greg Linder, Ed Little, Lynne Johnson, Chad Vishy, Bruce Peacock, Heather Goeddecke

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Section 1 provides a brief overview of the project, including a cursory summary of the history of the “Garrison Diversion” and how that history relates to this work focused on the analysis of risks and consequences potentially associated with interbasin biota transfers. The present study was initiated under the auspices of the Dakota Water Resources Act (DWRA) of 2000, which directed the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a comprehensive study of the water quality and quantity needs of the Red River Valley and the options for meeting those needs. As such, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) requested technical support …

Characterizing Moisture Regimes For Assessing Fuel Availability In North Carolina Vegetation Communities, Roberta A. Bartlette, James Reardon, Gary M. Curcio

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

In the southeastern United States prescription burning, fire danger rating and wildfire suppression strategies are constrained by limited knowledge of the influence of moisture content in live vegetation, organic soils, water table and weather. The interactive influence of these factors on fire behavior is not well studied. The 3+ year long study reported here was conducted to gain direct empirical understanding of seasonal fuel and soil moisture dynamics in shrub-dominated pocosin communities, in coastal Virginia and North Carolina, mixed hardwoods communities containing significant laurel and rhododendron understory fuels in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, and longleaf pine communities in …

Fuel Reduction And Restoration Of Pine/Hardwood Ecosystems Severely Impacted By The Recent Southern Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus Frontalis) Epidemic In The Southern Appalachians, James M. Vose, Katherine J. Elliott

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

As a result of this most recent SPB epidemic (1999-2003), thousands of hectares of dead pine trees have created wildfire-hazard conditions in the southern Appalachians. One of the challenges for land managers is how to return fire to these ecosystems after (1) nearly a decade of exclusion, and (2) the more recent SPB mortality enhanced fuel loads. Higher fuel loads have the potential to increase fire intensity and severity. At the extremes, fires of high intensity and severity can have a large effect on ecosystem structure and function. The objectives of our research were: (1) to quantify fuel load reduction …

Science-Based Organic Farming 2005: Toward Local And Secure Food Systems, Charles A. Francis, Twyla Hansen, Peter Skelton

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Organic farming includes growing food and fiber — animals, agronomic crops, horticultural fruits and vegetables, related products — as one dynamic and rapidly evolving component of our complex U.S. food system. Even as more farmers are moving toward organic certification and participation in an environmentally sound and economically lucrative market, questions arise about the long-term social impacts and sustainability of a set of practices that has gone from a movement to an industry. Consolidations in the organic trade have brought multinational corporations to the table, as they have observed a grassroots activity that has grown by 20% per year for …

Marketing Locally Produced Foods: Consumer And Farmer Opinions In Washington County, Nebraska, Mindi L. Schneider, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Local food system potentials were studied in Washington County, Nebraska, United States. As a departure from most studies of locally based systems, farmers were surveyed in addition to consumers for potential participation. Data about the current food system and opinions and preferences for local production, marketing, and purchasing of food were collected using self-administered mail questionnaires. The response rate was 35% for the farmer survey and 37% for the consumer survey. Results indicated that, on the farming side of the food system, conventional corn and soybean production and marketing predominated in Washington County, and farmer interest in producing for local …

Science-Based Organic Farming: A Resource For Educators, Charles A. Francis, Mindi Schneider, Brad Kindler

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Organic farming is an important and growing part of the United States food system. The organic sector has grown by at least 20% per year for the past two decades, and currently shows no indication of slowing in this growth. There is increasing consumer concern about where and how food is produced, and people want to be assured access to safe and healthy food products. Interest and concern about food security, and discussion about the merits of a local food system as compared to the vulnerable globalized marketplace are also becoming increasingly important. In Nebraska we have only limited local …

An Analysis Of Simulated Long-Term Soil Moisture Data For Three Land Uses Under Contrasting Hydroclimatic Conditions In The Northern Great Plains, Rezaul Mamood, Kenneth G. Hubbard

High Plains Regional Climate Center: Staff Publications

Soil moisture (SM) plays an important role in land surface and atmosphere interactions. It modifies energy balance near the surface and the rate of water cycling between land and atmosphere. The lack of observed SM data prohibits understanding of SM variations at climate scales under varying land uses. However, with simulation models it is possible to develop a long-term SM dataset and study these issues. In this paper a water balance model is used to provide a quantitative assessment of SM climatologies for three land uses, namely, irrigated corn, rain-fed corn, and grass, grown under three hydroclimatic regimes in Nebraska. …

Fire In Southern Appalachians: Fuels, Stand Structure And Oaks, David L. Loftis, Mary A. Arthur, Rex Mann, Jeffrey Lewis

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

Managers responsible for maintaining the diversity and productivity of Southern Appalachian forests are increasingly turning to prescribed fire as an important management tool in oak dominated forests. The decision to use fire with increasing frequency and spatial extent is based, in part, on an emerging sense of the prehistoric significance of fire in this landscape and its potential to control the proliferation of fire-sensitive competitors in contemporary forests. While it is well documented that fire has been an important ecological force in Southern Appalachian forests for a very long time, there has been little research to demonstrate that prescribed fire …

Reviews Of Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy Of Industrial Agriculture And The Fatal Harvest Reader: The Tragedy Of Industrial Agriculture, Edited By Andrew Kimbrell, Charles A. Francis

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Fatal Harvest introduces and dispels key myths about industrial agriculture: greater efficiency; safe and nutritious food that is cheap to consumers; benefits to wildlife and environment; how biotechnology will save the world. In essays by leading proponents of a more equitable and sustainable food system, the book presents compelling evidence that alternative systems guided by an agrarian ethic will better address our food needs while protecting our natural environment and soil resources.

Wendell Berry cites the separation of people from their food supply and natural environment as a causal factor in our ready acceptance of today's industrial agriculture. When we …