Evaluating Post-Fire Successional Trajectories After A Large High-Severity Wildfire,
2013
Northern Arizona University
Evaluating Post-Fire Successional Trajectories After A Large High-Severity Wildfire, Peter Z. Fule, Carolyn Hull Sieg, Kristin L. Shive
Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports
This study took advantage of permanent plots in the then-largest severe fire in the Southwest to assess fire effects on (1) successional trajectory, (2) plant community changes, including persistence of post-fire seeding and presence of non-native species, and (3) and fuel dynamics. Each objective resulted in a separate study and publication. Abstracts summarizing each objective studied are presented below. (1) Simulating post-wildfire forest trajectories under alternative climate and management scenarios. (2) Pre-fire fuel reduction treatments influence plant communities and exotic species 9 years after a large wildfire. (3) Pre-wildfire fuel reduction treatments result in more resilient forest structure a decade …
Experimental Determination Of Secondary Organic Aerosol Production From Biomass Combustion,
2013
Colorado State University
Experimental Determination Of Secondary Organic Aerosol Production From Biomass Combustion, Jeffrey Collett, Allen Robinson, Timothy Larson, Sonia Kreidenweis, Bret Schichtel
Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports
This project, a collaboration between Colorado State University (CSU), Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), the University of Washington (UW), and the National Park Service (NPS), investigated the atmospheric aging of biomass burning plumes in order to examine changes in both primary particle emissions and the production of additional, secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Included in the project were chamber studies to directly study smoke aging as well as analyses of ambient samples to look for evidence of smoke aging and SOA formation in the ambient atmosphere. CMU conducted smog chamber studies to investigate the atmospheric evolution of fine particle and organic aerosol …
Fire And Fish Dynamics In A Changing Climate: Broad- And Local-Scale Effects Of Fire-Induced Water Temperature Changes On Native And Nonnative Fish Communities,
2013
USDA Forest Service
Fire And Fish Dynamics In A Changing Climate: Broad- And Local-Scale Effects Of Fire-Induced Water Temperature Changes On Native And Nonnative Fish Communities, Michael K. Young, Lisa Eby, Lisa Holsinger, Daniel J. Isaak, Robert E. Keane
Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports
Fire is a key natural disturbance that affects the distribution and abundance of native fishes in the Rocky Mountain West. In the absence of migratory individuals from undisturbed portions of a watershed, persistence of native fish populations depends on the conditions of the post-fire stream environment. Stream temperatures typically warm after fire, and remain elevated until riparian vegetation recovers. An additional threat to native species is that nonnative fishes have invaded many waters, and these species tolerate or prefer warmer water temperatures. Thus, forecasting the long-term effects of fire on native fish populations requires an understanding of fire dynamics (size, …
Fire Effects On Seed Banks And Vegetation In The Eastern Mojave Desert: Implications For Post-Fire Management,
2013
U.S. Geological Survey
Fire Effects On Seed Banks And Vegetation In The Eastern Mojave Desert: Implications For Post-Fire Management, Matthew L. Brooks, Steven Ostoja, Robert Klinger
Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports
Area burned has increased during the past few decades in the Mojave Desert due in part to increased dominance of highly flammable invasive non-native annual grasses. Management responses such as post-fire seedings have been implemented during the first 3 post-fire years to suppress the growth of the invasive annual grasses, promote recovery of native species, and facilitate the restoration of plant species diversity and abundance. Although there is a fair amount of information available on the effects of fire on plant diversity, density, and cover, there is very little information available regarding effects on soil seed banks to help guide …
Fire Rehabilitation Effectiveness: A Chronosequence Approach For The Great Basin,
2013
U.S. Geological Survey
Fire Rehabilitation Effectiveness: A Chronosequence Approach For The Great Basin, David A. Pyke, David S. Pilliod, Jeanne C. Chambers, Matthew L. Brooks, James Grace
Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports
Federal land management agencies have invested heavily in seeding vegetation for emergency stabilization and rehabilitation (ES&R) of non-forested lands. ES&R projects are implemented to reduce post-fire dominance of non-native annual grasses, minimize probability of recurrent fire, quickly recover lost habitat for sensitive species, and ultimately result in plant communities with desirable characteristics including resistance to invasive species and resilience or ability to recover following disturbance. Land managers lack scientific evidence to verify whether seeding non-forested lands achieves their desired long-term ES&R objectives. The overall objective of our investigation is to determine if ES&R projects increase perennial plant cover, improve community …
Fuel Lifecycle And Long Term Fire Behavior Responses To Fuel Treatments In Southeastern Us Pine Ecosystems,
2013
USDA Forest Service
Fuel Lifecycle And Long Term Fire Behavior Responses To Fuel Treatments In Southeastern Us Pine Ecosystems, Joseph J. O'Brien, Bret Butler, J. Kevin Hiers, Dan Jimenez, Robert J. Mitchell, Joseph W. Jones
Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports
We completed an investigation of the long term legacies of fuels treatments in longleaf pine sandhills at Eglin Air Force Base in the panhandle of Florida. From 1994-1999, The Nature Conservancy conducted a large-scale, long-term study at Eglin Air Force Base to compare the effectiveness of midstory reduction treatments, including herbicide, growing season fire, and mechanical clearing on the restoration of longleaf sandhill pine forests. The study plots have been monitored continuously since the completion of the original study and information still exists for all experimental sites, which have been burned as part of the prescribed fire program at Eglin …
Climate Change, Carbon Sequestration, And Wildfire Management In Sierran Mixed Conifer Forests,
2013
University of California, Berkeley
Climate Change, Carbon Sequestration, And Wildfire Management In Sierran Mixed Conifer Forests, Scott Stephens Dr., Brandon M. Collins, Sabina Dore, Danny L. Fry, Anna Wong
Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports
We measured the impacts of prescribed fire and small clear-cut tree harvesting on carbon dynamics in a mixed-conifer forest in the central Sierra Nevada. Soil CO2 efflux, above ground tree biomass, annual tree radial growth, and ecosystem carbon stored as litter, fine root and in the mineral soil were measured in four treatment sites: an un-manipulated control, a prescribed fire site, and two harvested sites, in one of which the soil was mechanically ripped to reduce soil compaction, a common practice done on industrial forest lands in the Sierra Nevada. Biomass and radial tee growth was also measured in a …
Fuel Treatment Effectiveness In The United States,
2013
South Dakota State University
Fuel Treatment Effectiveness In The United States, Mark A. Cochrane, Michael C. Wimberly, Jeffrey C. Eidenshink, Zhi-Liang Zhu, Don Ohlen, Mark Finney, Matt Reeves
Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports
The fire situation in the United States is well documented with a growing prevalence of larger and more intense fires that have increasingly severe consequences for affected ecosystems and human health and well being. Increasingly, fuels management has been put forth and implemented as part of an integral strategy for limiting extreme fire behavior, reducing the area affected by wildfire and minimizing the economic and ecological costs of fires. Communities and land management agencies are now treating millions of acres of wildland fuels annually and an ever-increasing number of wildfires are burning treated lands. Although the scientific premises of various …
Historic Fire Frequency In Mountain Big Sagebrush Communities Of The Eastern Great Basin And Colorado Plateau: A Comparison Of Estimates Based Upon Proxy Fire Scar Records And Predictions Derived From Post-Fire Succession Rates,
2013
USDA Forest Service
Historic Fire Frequency In Mountain Big Sagebrush Communities Of The Eastern Great Basin And Colorado Plateau: A Comparison Of Estimates Based Upon Proxy Fire Scar Records And Predictions Derived From Post-Fire Succession Rates, Stanley G. Kitchen, Peter J. Weisberg
Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports
Knowledge of past fire regimes associated with mountain big sagebrush-dominated landscapes is inadequate for scientifically-based land management that requires assessment of departures from historic conditions. Widely utilized estimates of fire frequency for sagebrush ecosystems are largely based upon few studies using fire-scarred proxy trees positioned at the forest/shrubland ecotone. These studies, all conducted in the northern half of the species distribution, generally fail to adequately address questions of fire behavior across the fuels threshold at the forest/woodland-shrubland ecotone. Alternatively, post-fire rates of succession have been used to suggest fire frequencies compatible with big sagebrush recovery. Minimum and maximum fire-free intervals …
Impacts Of Repeated Wildfire On Vegetation In The Southern Appalachian Mountains,
2013
U.S. Forest Service
Impacts Of Repeated Wildfire On Vegetation In The Southern Appalachian Mountains, Thomas A. Waldrop, Donald L. Hagan, Matthew Reilly
Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports
The infrequent occurrence of large wildfires in the southern Appalachian Mountains over the last several decades has offered few opportunities to study the impacts of these types of disturbances. As a result, relatively little is known about how heterogeneity in topography, vegetation, and recent disturbance history interact to influence patterns of fire severity across the landscape. Since 2000, five separate wildfires burned a large portion of the area in, and surrounding the Linville Gorge Wilderness in western North Carolina, two burned the same area a second time. Burn severity and vegetative recovery were measured in 152 plots established in 1992 …
Timber Talk, Vol. 51, No. 2, June 1, 2013,
2013
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Timber Talk, Vol. 51, No. 2, June 1, 2013
Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter
Lumber Market News; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green; Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried; Nebraska Timber Industry 2009; Global Timber and Wood Products Market Update; Drying Methods For Small Operators; Nebraska Forestry Spotlight; The Trading Post; Timber Sales.
Smoke Science Plan: The Path Forward,
2012
National Interagency Fire Center
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 …
Cheating Cheatgrass: New Research To Combat A Wily Invasive Weed,
2012
Gail Wells Communications
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 …
Bark Beetles And Fire: Two Forces Of Nature Transforming Western Forests,
2012
Gail Wells Communcations
Bark Beetles And Fire: Two Forces Of Nature Transforming Western Forests, Gail Wells
Joint Fire Science Program Digests
Bark beetles are chewing a wide swath through forests across North America. Over the past few years, infestations have become epidemic in lodgepole and spruce-fir forests of the Intermountain West. The resulting extensive acreages of dead trees are alarming the public and raising concern about risk of severe fire. Researchers supported by the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) are examining the complicated relationship between bark beetles and wildfire, the two most influential natural disturbance agents in these forests. Are the beetles setting the stage for larger, more severe wildfires? And are fires bringing on beetle epidemics? Contrary to popular opinion, …
Predicting Dry Lightning Risk Nationwide,
2012
US Forest Service
Predicting Dry Lightning Risk Nationwide, Joy Drohan
Joint Fire Science Program Briefs (2007-2012)
Meteorologists developed two formulas to predict the probability of dry lightning throughout the continental United States and Alaska and parts of Canada. Predictions are made daily and are accessible through the web at http://www.airfire.org/tools/daily-fire-weather/dry-lightning-probability. The emphasis is on the western United States, where dry lightning is a more common occurrence. Predictions are based on identifying days on which lightning is expected and separately determining whether there is likely to be at least 1/10th inch of accompanying rain. The formulas are run with the latest North American or Alaskan weather forecasting model and forecast dry lightning probabilities for about three days …
Wildland Fire In Ecosystems
Effects Of Fire On Cultural Resources And Archaeology,
2012
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service
Wildland Fire In Ecosystems Effects Of Fire On Cultural Resources And Archaeology, Krista Deal, Leaonard Debano, Michael L. Elliot, Charles Haecker, Ann Trinkle Jones, Roger Kelly, Kristine M. Lee, Daniel F. Mccarthy, Elizabeth Oster, Trisha Rude, Samantha M. Ruscava-Barz, Kevin C. Ryan, Nelson Siefkin, Rebecca S. Timmons, John R. Welch
Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports
This state-of-knowledge review provides a synthesis of the effects of fire on cultural resources, which can be used by fire managers, cultural resource (CR) specialists, and archaeologists to more effectively manage wildland vegetation, fuels, and fire. The goal of the volume is twofold: (1) to provide cultural resource/archaeological professionals and policy makers with a primer on fuels, fire behavior, and fire effects to enable them to work more effectively with the fire management community to protect resources during fuels treatment and restoration projects and wildfire suppression activities; and (2) to provide fire and land management professionals and policy makers with …
Research Perspectives On The Public And Fire
Management: A Synthesis Of Current Social
Science On Eight Essential Questions,
2012
U.S. Forest Service
Research Perspectives On The Public And Fire Management: A Synthesis Of Current Social Science On Eight Essential Questions, Sarah M. Mccaffrey, Christine S. Olsen
Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports
As part of a Joint Fire Science Program project, a team of social scientists reviewed existing fire social science literature to develop a targeted synthesis of scientific knowledge on the following questions: 1. What is the public’s understanding of fire’s role in the ecosystem? 2. Who are trusted sources of information about fire? 3. What are the public’s views of fuels reduction methods, and how do those views vary depending on citizens’ location in the wildland-urban interface or elsewhere? 4. What is the public’s understanding of smoke effects on human health, and what shapes the public’s tolerance for smoke? 5. …
A Comprehensive Guide To Fuel
Management Practices For Dry Mixed Conifer
Forests In The Northwestern United States,
2012
U.S. Forest Service
A Comprehensive Guide To Fuel Management Practices For Dry Mixed Conifer Forests In The Northwestern United States, Theresa B. Jain, Mike A. Battaglia, Han-Sup Han, Russell T. Graham, Christopher R. Keyes, Jeremy S. Fried, Johnathan E. Sandquist
Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports
This guide describes the benefits, opportunities, and trade-offs concerning fuel treatments in the dry mixed conifer forests of northern California and the Klamath Mountains, Pacific Northwest Interior, northern and central Rocky Mountains, and Utah. Multiple interacting disturbances and diverse physical settings have created a forest mosaic with historically low- to mixed-severity fire regimes. Analysis of forest inventory data found nearly 80 percent of these forests rate hazardous by at least one measure and 20 to 30 percent rate hazardous by multiple measures. Modeled mechanical treatments designed to mimic what is typically implemented, such as thinning, are effective on less than …
Climate Change, Forests, Fire, Water, And Fish: Building Resilient Landscapes, Streams, And Managers,
2012
United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service
Climate Change, Forests, Fire, Water, And Fish: Building Resilient Landscapes, Streams, And Managers, Charles Luce, Penny Morgan, Kathleen Dwire, Daniel Isaak, Zachary Holden, Bruce Rieman, Robert Gresswell, John Rinne, Helen M. Neville, R. E. Gresswell, J. B. Dunham, Amanda E. Rosenberger, Michael K. Young
Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports
Fire will play an important role in shaping forest and stream ecosystems as the climate changes. Historic observations show increased dryness accompanying more widespread fire and forest die-off. These events punctuate gradual changes to ecosystems and sometimes generate stepwise changes in ecosystems. Climate vulnerability assessments need to account for fire in their calculus. The biophysical template of forest and stream ecosystems determines much of their response to fire. This report describes the framework of how fire and climate change work together to affect forest and fish communities. Learning how to adapt will come from testing, probing, and pushing that framework …
Social Science At The Wildland-Urban Interface: A Compendium Of Research Results To Create Fire-Adapted Communities,
2012
Ohio State University
Social Science At The Wildland-Urban Interface: A Compendium Of Research Results To Create Fire-Adapted Communities, Eric Toman, Melanie Stidham, Sarah Mccaffrey, Bruce Shindler
Joint Fire Science Program Synthesis Reports
Over the past decade, a growing body of research has been conducted on the human dimensions of wildland fire. Building on a relatively small number of foundational studies, this research now addresses a wide range of topics including mitigation activities on private lands, fuels reduction treatments on public land, community impacts and resident behaviors during fire, acceptance of approaches to postfire restoration and recovery, and fire management policy and decisionmaking. As this research has matured, there has been a recognition of the need to examine the full body of resulting literature to synthesize disparate findings and identify lessons learned across …
