Other Forestry and Forest Sciences Commons^™

A Wildfire Risk Assessment Framework For Land And Resource Management, Joe H. Scott, Matthew P. Thompson, David E. Calkin

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Wildfires can result in significant, long-lasting impacts to ecological, social, and economic systems. It is necessary, therefore, to identify and understand the risks posed by wildland fire, and to develop cost-effective mitigation strategies accordingly. This report presents a general framework with which to assess wildfire risk and explore mitigation options, and illustrates a process for implementing the framework. Two key strengths of the framework are its flexibility— allowing for a multitude of data sources, modeling techniques, and approaches to measuring risk—and its scalability, with potential application for project, forest, regional, and national planning. The specific risk assessment process we introduce …

Integrating Biodiversity And Drinking Water Protection Goals Through Geographic Analysis, James D. Wickham, Curtis H. Flather

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Aim Biodiversity and drinking water share a common interest in land conservation. Our objective was to identify where that common interest occurs geographically to inform conservation planning.

Location The study focused on 2112 eight-digit hydrologic units (watersheds) occurring in the conterminous United States.

Methods Data on aquatic-dependent species occurrence, drinking water intakes, protected land status and land cover change were compiled for each watershed. We compared these four datasets after defining ‘hotspots’ based on attribute-specific thresholds that included (1) the 90th percentile of at-risk aquatic biodiversity, (2) with and without drinking water intakes, (3) above and below the median percentage …

The Influence Of Vertical And Horizontal Habitat Structure On Nationwide Patterns Of Avian Biodiversity, Patrick D. Culbert, Volker C. Radeloff, Curtis H. Flather, Josef M. Kellndorfer, Chadwick D. Rittenhouse, Anna M. Pidgeon

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

With limited resources for habitat conservation, the accurate identification of high-value avian habitat is crucial. Habitat structure affects avian biodiversity but is difficult to quantify over broad extents. Our goal was to identify which measures of vertical and horizontal habitat structure are most strongly related to patterns of avian biodiversity across the conterminous United States and to determine whether new measures of vertical structure are complementary to existing, primarily horizontal, measures. For 2,546 North American Breeding Bird Survey routes across the conterminous United States, we calculated canopy height and biomass from the National Biomass and Carbon Dataset (NBCD) as measures …

Wildlife Population And Harvest Trends In The United States A Technical Document Supporting The Forest Service 2010 Rpa Assessment, Curtis H. Flather, Michael S. Knowles, Martin F. Jones, Carol Schilli

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

The Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Planning Act (RPA) of 1974 requires periodic assessments of the condition and trends of the nation’s renewable natural resources. Data from many sources were used to document recent historical trends in big game, small game, migratory game birds, furbearers, nongame, and imperiled species. Big game and waterfowl have generally increased in population and harvest trends. Many small upland and webless migratory game bird species have declined notably in population or harvest. Considerable declines in fur harvest since the 2000 RPA Assessment have occurred. Among the 426 breeding bird species with sufficient data to estimate …

Keeping It Wild: Mapping Wilderness Character In The United States, Steve Carver, James Tricker, Peter Landres

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

A GIS-based approach is developed to identify the state of wilderness character in US wilderness areas using Death Valley National Park (DEVA) as a case study. A set of indicators and measures are identified by DEVA staff and used as the basis for developing a flexible and broadly applicable framework to map wilderness character using data inputs selected by park staff. Spatial data and GIS methods are used to map the condition of four qualities of wilderness character: natural, untrammelled, undeveloped, and solitude or primitive and unconfined recreation. These four qualities are derived from the US 1964 Wilderness Act and …

Carbon Storage And Sequestration By Trees In Urban And Community Areas Of The United States, David J. Nowak, Eric J. Greenfield, Robert E. Hoehn, Elizabeth Lapoint

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Carbon storage and sequestration by urban trees in the United States was quantified to assess the magnitude and role of urban forests in relation to climate change. Urban tree field data from 28 cities and 6 states were used to determine the average carbon density per unit of tree cover. These data were applied to statewide urban tree cover measurements to determine total urban forest carbon storage and annual sequestration by state and nationally. Urban whole tree carbon storage densities average 7.69 kg C m^‒2 of tree cover and sequestration densities average 0.28 kg C m^‒2 of tree …

Quantifying Carbon Allocation To Mycorrhizal Fungi By Temperate Forest Tree Species Across A Nitrogen Availability Gradient, Shersingh Joseph Tumber-Davila

Honors Theses and Capstones

Terrestrial ecosystems make up the largest carbon pool with a major portion of that being forests. With carbon being a major concern due to global climate change, being able to make accurate models is increasingly important. Studies have shown that trees may allocate up to 50% of their photosynthetically fixed carbon underground; however these values haven’t been accurately quantified and underground carbon allocation has been historically overlooked. Mycorrhizal fungi may be a large portion of underground carbon allocation, as they have a symbiotic relationship with trees where they provide the plant with water and nutrients in return for sugars (carbon). …

Mortality Assessment Of Redwood And Mixed Conifer Forest Types In Santa Cruz County Following Wildfire, Steve R. Auten

Master's Theses

On August 12, 2009, the Lockheed Fire ignited the west slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains burning approximately 7,819 acres. Foresters and other land managers were left with challenging decisions on how to evaluate tree mortality. Big Creek Lumber Company, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly)’s Swanton Pacific Ranch (SPR), and other resource professionals familiar with this region teamed up to develop a method for evaluating damage and thereby mortality for redwood, California nutmeg, live oak, tanoak, California bay, Pacific madrone, big leaf maple, Douglas-fir, Monterey pine, and knobcone pine. Quantitative damage criteria were used to design …

Post-Fire Mortality And Response In A Redwood/ Douglas-Fir Forest, Santa Cruz Mountains, California, Garren M. Andrews

Master's Theses

We investigated how fire severity impacts the survival and response (sprouting/seeding) of multiple species in the Santa Cruz Mountains of coastal California, including coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), and Pacific madrone(Arbutus menziesii). During August 2009 the Lockheed Fire burned nearly 3,160ha of mixed-conifer stands with variable severity. Data from 37 Continuous Forest Inventory (CFI) plots were collected immediately before and for 2 successive years following the 2009 Lockheed Fire.

This research entails three objectives. First, we quantified post-fire mortality of trees that vary in species, size, and …

Smoke Science Plan: The Path Forward, Elise Lequire, Molly Hunter

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

Wildland fire managers face increasingly steep challenges to meet air quality standards while planning prescribed fire and its inevitable smoke emissions. The goals of sound fire management practices, including fuel load reduction through prescribed burning, are often challenged by the need to minimize smoke impacts on communities. Wildfires, of course, also produce smoke, so managers must constantly weigh the benefits and risks of controlled burns and their generated emissions against potential wildfires and their generated emissions and must communicate those benefits and risks to the public. Moreover, research on and the modeling of smoke emissions from fire is a rapidly …

A Reexamination Of The Eastern Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus Collaris Collaris) In Arkansas, Ashley A. Grimsley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Loss of suitable habitat is a threat to species worldwide. Habitat destruction, including loss, change, and fragmentation of habitat, is the leading cause of species extinction. Eastern collared lizards (Crotaphytus collaris collaris) are habitat specialists on glades. Both C. c. collaris and glade habitats are rare and of special concern in the state of Arkansas. Many glade populations have already been extirpated in the Ozarks of Arkansas and Missouri. Increasing knowledge of the distribution, habitat structure, and population dynamics of C. c. collaris is important to ensure the survival of this species in Arkansas.

A literature review of …

Herbaceous 2012 (June 3), Amy L. Myers, Julia I. Chapman, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Herbaceous vegetation data collected in 2012 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.

Wildland Urban Interface Assessment Of San Luis Obispo, California, Brian Hanson, Stephen Kadash, Nicholi Mackewicz

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

The purpose of this report is to provide a wildland fire hazard assessment of communities in the city of San Luis Obispo, California, and to identify prescriptions designed to prevent property damage and loss of life in the event of a wildfire. These prescriptions are adopted from established Shelter-In-Place communities who practice fire wise community wildfire prevention.There are eight communities that were identified as being fire prone. Each community had its own set of fire hazard, for example, flammable vegetation against a home, tall dead grass behind structures, or overhanging trees that would prevent an engine from passing. Once the …

Herbaceous 2012 (May 19), Amy L. Myers, Julia I. Chapman, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Herbaceous vegetation data collected in 2012 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.

Herbaceous 2012 (May 5), Amy L. Myers, Julia I. Chapman, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Herbaceous vegetation data collected in 2012 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.

Sub-Pixel Classification Of Forest Cover Types In East Texas, Joey Westbrook, I-Kuai Hung, Daniel Unger, Yanli Zhang

Faculty Publications

Sub-pixel classification is the extraction of information about the proportion of individual materials of interest within a pixel. Landcover classification at the sub-pixel scale provides more discrimination than traditional per-pixel multispectral classifiers for pixels where the material of interest is mixed with other materials. It allows for the un-mixing of pixels to show the proportion of each material of interest. The materials of interest for this study are pine, hardwood, mixed forest and non-forest. The goal of this project was to perform a sub-pixel classification, which allows a pixel to have multiple labels, and compare the result to a traditional …

Cheating Cheatgrass: New Research To Combat A Wily Invasive Weed, Gail Wells

Joint Fire Science Program Digests

Cheatgrass and its cousin, red brome, are exotic annual grasses that have invaded and altered ecosystem dynamics in more than 41 million acres of desert shrublands between the Rockies and the Cascade-Sierra chain. A fungus naturally associated with these Bromus species has been found lethal to the plants’ soil-banked dormant seeds. Supported by the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP), researchers Susan Meyer, Phil Allen, and Julie Beckstead cultured this fungus, Pyrenophora semeniperda, in the laboratory and developed an experimental field application that, in some trials, killed all the dormant soil-banked Bromus seeds, leaving none to germinate the following year. The …

Herbaceous 2012 (April 21), Amy L. Myers, Julia I. Chapman, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Herbaceous vegetation data collected in 2012 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.

Herbaceous 2012 (April 9), Amy L. Myers, Julia I. Chapman, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Herbaceous vegetation data collected in 2012 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.

Herbaceous 2012 (March 25), Amy L. Myers, Julia I. Chapman, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Herbaceous vegetation data collected in 2012 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.