Research and Publications

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Climate influences on future fire severity: A synthesis of climate-fire interactions

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Climate change is increasing fire size, fire severity, and driving larger patches of high-severity fire. Many regions are predicted to experience an increase in fire severity where conditions are hotter and drier and changes in fire regimes are evident. Increased temperatures, drought conditions, fuels, and weather are important drivers of fire severity. Recent increases in fire severity are attributed to changes in climatic water deficit (CMD), vapor pressure deficit (VPD), evapotranspiration (ET), and fuels. Fire weather and vegetation species composition also influence fire severity. Future increases in fire severity are likely to impact forest resilience and increase the probability of forest type conversions in many ecosystems.

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Variable support and opposition to fuels treatments for wildfire risk reduction: Melding frameworks for local context and collaboration

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This research used in-depth interviews to explore variable support or opposition to three fuels-reduction projects occurring in the same region of north central Washington State, USA. Results indicate that differential support or opposition to each project stemmed from a unique combination of social factors operating in each locality (e.g., past history with fuels treatments, values for public land, environmental advocacy networks), the relationships that local populations had with agency members conducting each treatment, and the ways that managers engaged populations in the design of each treatment. We used existing frameworks for understanding collaborative potential/environmental conflict and for documenting the influence of local social context on adaptive wildfire actions to help explain emergent lessons about support or opposition to each project.

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Does a history of population co-occurrence predict plant performance, community productivity, or invasion resistance?

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Using shrub, grass, and forb species from six locations in the western Great Basin, North America, we compared establishment, productivity, reproduction, phenology, and resistance to invaders for experimental communities with either sympatric or allopatric population associations. Each community type was planted with six taxa in outdoor mesocosms, measured over three growing seasons, and invaded with the annual grass Bromus tectorum in the final season. For most populations, the allopatric or sympatric status of neighbors was not important. However, in some cases, it was beneficial for some species from some locations to be planted with allopatric neighbors, while others benefited from sympatric neighbors, and some of these responses had large effects. For instance, the Elymus population that benefited the most from allopatry grew 50% larger with allopatric neighbors than in single origin mesocosms. This response affected invasion resistance, as B. tectorum biomass was strongly affected by productivity and phenology of Elymus spp., as well as Poa secunda. Our results demonstrate that, while community composition can affect plant performance in semi-arid plant communities, assembling communities from sympatric populations is not sufficient to ensure high productivity and invasion resistance. Instead, we observed an idiosyncratic interaction between sampling effects and evolutionary history, with the potential for seed source of individual populations to have community-level effects.

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Ecological effects of pinyon-juniper removal in the western US: A synthesis of research Jan 2014-Mar 2021

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We found that there were large proportions of non-significant responses among all categories combined, with roughly half or more of all responses non-significant (48 percent for wildlife, 60 percent for vegetation-environmental), comparable to other recent systematic reviews of pinyon-juniper treatment effects. However, we also found that when there were significant responses, some important trends potentially emerged. Important undesirable outcomes included far more positive than negative responses of exotic grass and forb abundance among nearly all treatment types. Cutting treatments were also more likely to decrease biocrust cover and microbial activity. Potentially beneficial outcomes included mostly positive responses among sagebrush obligate species, including more positive than negative responses for mule deer and sage-grouse. Some treatment types (for example, mastication) also resulted in more positive than negative responses for native grasses and forbs (although, non-significant responses were the majority). We also highlighted many limitations of this review, including how responses often come from few studies, and how some response-treatment category combinations lack adequate response data. Moreover, the existing research is often insufficient to address many key questions about treatment effects, largely owing to short time-scales and limited spatial extents of observations, which do not match the size of treatments being implemented by land managers, nor capture long-term, post-treatment ecological dynamics. We also identify a lack of research that addresses key interactions that could undermine restoration objectives, including potential effects of climate change and grazing on post-treatment environments. Thus, we emphasize the importance of integrating these factors into future pinyon-juniper treatment research, and we stress the need for use of monitoring programs and research studies that partake in data collection and analysis over long durations and broad spatial scales.

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Trends, impacts, and cost of catastrophic and frequent wildfires in the sagebrush biome

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More frequent, larger, and severe wildfires necessitate greater resources for fire-prevention, fire-suppression, and postfire restoration activities, while decreasing critical ecosystem services, economic and recreational opportunities, and cultural traditions. Increased flexibility and better prioritization of management activities based on ecological needs, including commitment to long-term prefire and postfire management, are needed to achieve notable reductions in uncharacteristic wildfire activity and associated negative impacts. Collaboration and partnerships across jurisdictional boundaries, agencies, and disciplines can improve consistency in sagebrush-management approaches and thereby contribute to this effort. Here, we provide a synthesis on sagebrush wildfire trends and the impacts of uncharacteristic fire regimes on sagebrush plant communities, dependent wildlife species, fire-suppression costs, and ecosystem services. We also provide an overview of wildland fire coordination efforts among federal, state, and tribal entities.

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Future of America’s forest and rangelands: Forest Service 2020 Resources Planning Act Assessment

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The 2020 Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment summarizes findings about the status, trends, and projected future of the Nation’s forests and rangelands and the renewable resources that they provide. The 2020 RPA Assessment specifically focuses on the effects of both socioeconomic and climatic change on the U.S. land base, disturbance, forests, forest product markets, rangelands, water, biodiversity, and outdoor recreation. Differing assumptions about population and economic growth, land use change, and global climate change from 2020 to 2070 largely influence the outlook for U.S. renewable resources. Many of the key themes from the 2010 RPA Assessment cycle remain relevant, although new data and technologies allow for deeper and wider investigation. Land development will continue to threaten the integrity of forest and rangeland ecosystems. In addition, the combination and interaction of socioeconomic change, climate change, and the associated shifts in disturbances will strain natural resources and lead to increasing management and resource allocation challenges. At the same time, land management and adoption of conservation measures can reduce pressure on natural resources. The RPA Assessment findings and associated data can be useful to resource managers and policymakers as they develop strategies to sustain natural resources.

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Connecting dryland fine-fuel assessments to wildfire exposure and natural resource values at risk

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By connecting high-resolution estimates of fine fuel to climatic, biophysical and land-use factors, wildfire exposure, and a natural resource value at risk, we provide a pro-active and adaptive framework for fire risk management within highly variable and rapidly changing dryland landscapes.

Bar graph showing increase in nonforest area burned 2000-2020

More Area Burned in Non-Forest than Forest from 2000-2020 in the West

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Wildfires burned more area on non-forested lands than forested lands over the past 20 years. This was true for all land ownerships in CONUS and the western US. Burned area increased over the 20-year time period for both non-forest and forest. Across CONUS, annual area burned was higher on non-forest than forests for 14 of the past 21 years (Fig. 1), and total area burned was almost 3,000,000 ha more in non-forest than in forest. For the western US, total burned area was almost 1,500,000 ha more in non-forest than in forest. From a federal agency perspective, approximately 74% of the burned area on Department of the Interior (DOI) lands occurred in non-forest and 78% of the burned area on US Forest Service (FS) lands occurred in the forest.

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Fire in the western US: Big fires. Big challenges. The call for regional learning and action.

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Learn about the diverse inputs and outcomes from six large fires spanning five JFSP Regional Fire Science Exchanges. This webinar walks you through the jointly produced story map: Fire in the Western U.S.: Big fires. Big challenges. Big need for regional learning and action.

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2024 Joint Fire Science Program – Notice of Funding Opportunity

The interagency Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) is soliciting proposals from both government and non-government entities through several formal Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) announcements beginning July 13th and remaining open through September 28th at 5 pm MT.

Task Statement I – Accelerating science to action in fire-prone ecosystems: Spurring innovation in adaptation through knowledge exchange and place-based partnerships (view NOFO)

The objective of this task statement is to strengthen partnerships among scientists, practitioners, managers, and other interested parties to accelerate the identification and adoption of science-based management strategies that facilitate adaptation to changing fire regimes.

Task Statement II – Effective fire communication and outreach (view NOFO)

The objective of this task statement is to better understand public perception of wildfire management and effectiveness of fire-related communication strategies to inform effective public fire communication and outreach programs.

Task Statement III – Prescribed fire effects on water quality and quantity (view NOFO)

The objective of this task statement is to inform the use of fire in highly valued watersheds by evaluating the effects of prescribed fire on water quality and quantity.

Task Statement IV – Managing carbon emissions in ecosystems with deep organic soils (view NOFO)

The objective of this task statement is to inform effective strategies for managing carbon stores in deep organic soils that are increasingly impacted by wildfire.

Task Statement V – Social equity and wildland fire impacts, mitigation, response, and recovery (view NOFO)

The objective of this task statement is to gain better understanding of a broad range of direct and indirect wildfire impacts borne by different sectors of society, the time horizons over which these impacts occur, and factors that influence the ability of individuals and communities to prepare for, respond to, and recovery from wildfire.

Task Statement VI – Characterizing wildfire risk in wildland-urban interface and urban settings (view NOFO)

The objective of this task statement is to evaluate and improve existing methods to characterize wildfire risk to wildland urban interface (WUI) and urban settings.

GRIN – Graduate Research Innovation (GRIN) Award (view NOFO)

The JFSP will continue awarding the Graduate Research Innovation (GRIN) program for current master and doctoral students in the field of wildland fire and related physical, biological, and social sciences. Proposals must be directly related to the mission and goals of JFSP to be considered, and they must address management- or policy-related questions related to one or more of the following general topic areas: fuels management and fire behavior, changing fire behavior, emissions and air quality, fire effects and post-fire recovery, relative impacts of prescribed fire versus wildfire, or human dimensions of fire.

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