Nature In A Name: Paulownia Tomentosa—Exotic Tree, Native Problem,
2010
US Forest Service
Nature In A Name: Paulownia Tomentosa—Exotic Tree, Native Problem, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
While awareness of fire’s importance in dry Appalachian forests, and the application of fire as a restoration tool have increased over the last two decades, so too has the post-fire invasion of Paulownia tomentosa (Princess tree). For the last ten years, managers have witnessed Paulownia invasion grow following fi re events. To understand this better, the team studied five life history transitions for the species: seed dispersal, seed germination, seed survival over time through incorporation in the seed bank, initial habitat requirements, and seedling persistence to maturity. Paulownia seeds were found to disperse over two miles from their source tree. …
The Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition: A Citizen-Agency Partnership That Works,
2010
US Forest Service
The Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition: A Citizen-Agency Partnership That Works, Bruce Shindler
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
With the urgency of wildfi re near every community’s door, federal agencies have sought a middle ground between the extremes of timber-industry and environmental positions, one that would enable active management to reduce fuels and create safer communities. At the same time, citizen groups have organized themselves to protect important community values connected with their neighboring forests. These developments have set the stage for increasingly successful multi-stakeholder partnerships. The collaborative processes facilitated by these partnerships require considerable patience and perseverance at the outset, but the result can be a healthier forest, reduced fi re risk, more stable planning processes, and …
Filling In Knowledge Gaps In North Carolina,
2010
US Forest Service
Filling In Knowledge Gaps In North Carolina, Elise Lequire
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
North Carolina is divided into three broad physiographic regions, from the low-lying Atlantic Coastal Plain, to the midelevation foothills—the Piedmont Plateau—to the higher elevation Blue Ridge and Appalachian zone. Understanding the behavior of fire in these widely different regions, as in much of the southeastern United States, presents challenges that differ sharply from those common in the West, where the emphasis on fire science research has been greater. An ambitious project has helped fill in local and regional knowledge gaps, as researchers gathered data and assessed the relevance and limitations of existing tools, including remote satellite sensing, weather station information, …
Sink Or Source? Fire And The Forest Carbon Cycle,
2010
US Forest Sercive
Sink Or Source? Fire And The Forest Carbon Cycle, Christina Frame
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
As the size and severity of fires in the western U.S. continue to increase, it has become ever more important to understand carbon dynamics in response to fire. Many subalpine forests experience stand-replacing wildfires, and these fires and subsequent recovery can change the amount of carbon released to the atmosphere because subalpine forests store large amounts of carbon. Stand-replacing fires initially convert ecosystems into a net source of carbon as the forest decomposes—a short-term effect (decades) that will likely be important over the next century if fire frequency increases as a result of climate change. Over the long term (centuries), …
The Good Earth: Run-Off, Erosion, And Recovery In The
Post-Fi Re Chaparral Steeplands Of Southern California,
2010
US Forest Service
The Good Earth: Run-Off, Erosion, And Recovery In The Post-Fi Re Chaparral Steeplands Of Southern California, Lisa-Natalie Anjozian
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
In September 2002, the Williams Fire burned 38,184 acres of chaparral steeplands, including more than 90 percent of the San Dimas Experimental Forest. The 1960 Johnstone Fire had burned many of the same watersheds some forty years earlier, thus providing opportunities to compare post-fire watershed response coupled with management efforts that had converted some native chaparral areas to grassland. With scant studies on soil water repellency, plant recovery, and their effects on watershed hydrology, managers face diffi culties in planning for erosion/run-off problems. The researchers delivered quantifi ed data on changing soil properties, the character and structure of regenerating plants, …
To Thin Or Not To Thin: Assessing The Consequences Of Fuel Reduction Treatments For The Non-Coniferous Ecosystems Of Southwestern Oregon,
2010
US Forest Service
To Thin Or Not To Thin: Assessing The Consequences Of Fuel Reduction Treatments For The Non-Coniferous Ecosystems Of Southwestern Oregon, Shari Anstedt
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Over time, fire exclusion has caused the accumulation of fuels and changes in vegetation structure and composition in many western ecosystems. This is commonly assumed to have also occurred in the oak woodlands, shrub lands and grasslands of southwestern Oregon. As a result, land managers of the Medford District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have sought to reduce fuel-loads using a variety of thinning methods including mechanical mastication and hand-cutting, piling and burning. As of the mid-1990s, these treatments have been used on thousands of acres annually of the Ashland Resource Area (ARA) of the BLM. Since non-coniferous …
Using Lidar To Validate And Strengthen A Long-Range
Smoke Transport Model For Air Quality Forecasting,
2010
US Forest Service
Using Lidar To Validate And Strengthen A Long-Range Smoke Transport Model For Air Quality Forecasting, Joy Drohan
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Researchers have explored the potential and limitations of using lidar, the remote sensing instrument, to provide information on smoke plume dynamics and optical properties. They used a scanning lidar in the smoke-polluted atmospheres near wildfires and prescribed fires to measure the height, dynamics, and three-dimensional dispersion of smoke plumes and the temporal and spatial variations of the optical properties of the smoke particulates. The team has developed and refi ned a measurement methodology and data processing techniques for analysis of data collected from smoky atmospheres by lidar and auxiliary instruments within the smoke-polluted area. They developed, validated, and improved lidar …
Frequencies, Lasers, And Wavelengths: A Quest For Affordable, Landscape Scale Remote Sensing,
2010
US Forest Service
Frequencies, Lasers, And Wavelengths: A Quest For Affordable, Landscape Scale Remote Sensing, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
New developments in high-resolution remote sensing systems have demonstrated the potential for generating direct, more accurate, and efficient estimates of fuels and the vegetation characteristics that influence fire behavior at the landscape scale. Two of these direct measurement tools are operated from aircraft and known by their acronyms LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) and IFSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar). IFSAR is less costly than LIDAR, and unlike LIDAR, IFSAR sees through clouds and smoke. This project sought to evaluate the utility of IFSAR data for characterizing vegetation structure in the chaparral-dominated landscapes typical over much of southern California. The researchers …
Upland Oak Regeneration,
2010
US Forest Service
Upland Oak Regeneration, Elise Lequire
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Along the ridgetops and in the coves of Kentucky’s Cumberland Plateau, oak forests are in a state of transition. Mature oaks still tower over the forest floor and produce acorns that provide nourishment for wildlife. Those acorns also once ensured new generations of oak from seedlings and saplings. Beneath the canopy, however, a fierce competition for light is placing the future of upland oak forests in jeopardy. Once a frequent visitor that cleared the understory, opened the canopy, and allowed sunlight to penetrate to the forest fl oor, fire has been basically absent for nearly a century. Reintroduced as part …
Exploring Patterns Of Burn Severity In The Biscuit Fire In Southwestern Oregon,
2010
US Forest Service
Exploring Patterns Of Burn Severity In The Biscuit Fire In Southwestern Oregon, Joy Drohan
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Large wildfires are important ecologically and economically, but their behavior and effects are not well understood, especially in the Klamath-Siskiyou region, which is characterized by a diversity of conifers and evergreen sprouting hardwoods, steep topography, variable geology, and strong climatic gradients. These studies used new analytical tools to characterize conditions before and after a large wildfire and to analyze those data across the entire landscape of the fire. Some of the general findings may apply to other forest regions, but the details may be unique to southwestern Oregon and northwestern California. The results improve our understanding of how post-fire management …
After A Southern Pine Beetle Epidemic,
2010
US Forest Service
After A Southern Pine Beetle Epidemic, Jake Delwiche
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Southern pine beetles are a serious insect threat to pine forests in the South, from eastern Texas to Virginia. Beetles attack most pine species by boring through the bark of the tree and constructing long, winding tunnels between the bark and the wood, eventually girdling and killing the tree. They also introduce a fungus called “bluestain,” which further damages conductive systems of the tree. After an outbreak, the area of dead standing timber is usually no longer of commercial value. Forest managers are interested in reducing these fuel hot spots, both to allow forest regeneration and to reduce wildfire risk. …
After The Fire, Follow The Nitrogen,
2010
US Forest Service
After The Fire, Follow The Nitrogen, Jake Delwiche
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Nitrogen availability in soils, streams and associated terrestrial and aquatic vegetation can be infl uenced by both wildfi res and prescribed burns, though typically not to the same degree. Extensive research was done on postfire nitrogen dynamics at several mid-altitude coniferous National Forest sites in Idaho. Sites included both wildfi relocations and prescribed burn projects. By measurement of both ammonium (NH4) and nitrate (NO3) levels, researchers documented over time the effects of both high-intensity wildfi res and lower-intensity prescribed burns on nitrogen transformation processes in soil levels, and nitrogen levels in various ecosystem components. Field measurements demonstrated that the soil, …
Tracing The History Of Fire In The Willamette Valley,
2010
US Forest Service
Tracing The History Of Fire In The Willamette Valley, Elise Lequire
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
The Willamette Valley in northwestern Oregon and southwestern Washington is a fertile agricultural region that supports a variety of farming activities. It is also a densely populated region with extensive urban and suburban development, including residences in the wildland/urban interface. Over the millennia, the valley floor has been shaped by numerous forces, including flooding of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, naturally and human-ignited fires, Euro-American forest clearance, and most recently, agriculture. Over the past 18,000 years the regional climate has undergone major changes. From the big chill of the last great Ice Age, to a period of warming that reached …
The Big Comeback: Prefire Understory Plants Return After The Hayman Fire,
2010
US Forest Service
The Big Comeback: Prefire Understory Plants Return After The Hayman Fire, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Researchers took advantage of data collected prior to Colorado’s 2002 Hayman Fire to examine the effects of mixedseverity wildfire on understory plant community development during the first five postfire years. Some declines in species richness and cover were observed immediately following fire, but by postfire year five, they met or exceeded prefire levels, even in severely burned areas. Changes in upland community composition, where they were observed, were primarily due to the postfire recruitment of new species (particularly native short-lived forbs), rather than due to a loss of prefire species. While exotic richness and cover generally increased as fire severity …
Challenges To Implementing “Best Available Science”,
2010
US Forest Service
Challenges To Implementing “Best Available Science”, Shari Anstedt
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Interagency wildland fire policy directs manager to apply “best available science” to management plans and activities. But what does “best available science” mean? With a vague defi nition of this concept and few guidelines for delivering or integrating science into management, it can be difficult for scientists to effectively provide managers with the science they need. As a result, valuable information and tools can go unused. To better understand the factors infl uencing research use, principal investigator Vita Wright conducted a literature review, agency meetings, in-depth interviews, and a survey of approximately 500 fi re and fuels specialists and decision …
New Tool Helps With The Tough Post-Fire Decisions,
2010
US Forest Service
New Tool Helps With The Tough Post-Fire Decisions, Jake Delwiche
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
After a wildfire is extinguished, the work is not done. In the U.S., many public natural resource agencies immediately begin considering appropriate post-fire steps. The most widely used system is the Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) process. The purpose of BAER is to assess the effects of the fire and to make recommendations for appropriate next steps to protect health and safety, to prevent further loss of property or habitat, and to stabilize the fire area to allow revegetation and appropriate future use. Advanced mapping and measurement tools are available and widely used to define and describe affected areas. Another …
Using Satellite Imagery Analysis Together With Computer Simulation May Improve Burn Severity Mapping,
2010
US Forest Service
Using Satellite Imagery Analysis Together With Computer Simulation May Improve Burn Severity Mapping, Joy Drohan
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
This project compared and contrasted the utility and limitations of satellite-imagery and computer simulation modeling approaches to mapping fire effects and burn severity. The goal was to provide resource managers with tools to more effectively meet burned area rehabilitation objectives and manage fire on landscapes. Using satellite imagery analysis together with simulation modeling may improve burn severity mapping. The results of this study are being integrated into a comprehensive spatially explicit software analysis package for wildfi re and prescribed fire management decision support.
Baer Truth: Fertilization And Yarrow Show Promise For Restoring Vegetation Cover After Fire On The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest,
2010
US Forest Service
Baer Truth: Fertilization And Yarrow Show Promise For Restoring Vegetation Cover After Fire On The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
For this study, researchers tested the effectiveness of seeding and fertilization treatments for increasing total live plant cover and reducing bare soil during the first 2 years following wildfire in dry mixed-conifer forests of north-central Washington state. Results suggest that fertilization treatments can increase the effectiveness of seeding treatments and stimulate regrowth of surviving native vegetation after fire, particularly in forest types with understory vegetation dominated by species that resprout. Yarrow seed was a surprising performer, especially in combination with fertilization. Effectiveness of treatments varied greatly depending on site characteristics that included elevation, precipitation and postfi re plant survival.
Baer Truth: Fertilization And Yarrow Show Promise For Restoring Vegetation Cover After Fire On The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest,
2010
US Forest Service
Baer Truth: Fertilization And Yarrow Show Promise For Restoring Vegetation Cover After Fire On The Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
For this study, researchers tested the effectiveness of seeding and fertilization treatments for increasing total live plant cover and reducing bare soil during the first 2 years following wildfire in dry mixed-conifer forests of north-central Washington state. Results suggest that fertilization treatments can increase the effectiveness of seeding treatments and stimulate regrowth of surviving native vegetation after fire, particularly in forest types with understory vegetation dominated by species that resprout. Yarrow seed was a surprising performer, especially in combination with fertilization. Effectiveness of treatments varied greatly depending on site characteristics that included elevation, precipitation and postfi re plant survival.
Taming Non-Native Grasses In Zion National Park,
2010
US Forest Service
Taming Non-Native Grasses In Zion National Park, Marjie Brown
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Fine fuels from non-native, annual brome grasses have overcome native plants across much of Zion Canyon in Zion National Park. This invasion threatens the single road that provides access into—and escape from—the canyon, creating a threat to human life should a large wildfi re occur there. In addition, native riparian plant communities in Zion Canyon have been degraded by non-native plants, and recurrent fire caused by annual grasses could further reduce native plant diversity. Results from this study suggest that burning can have a more lasting effect than annual mowing in reducing fine fuel loads, extending the period between repeated …
