Research and Publications
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The research presented in this article utilized mixed-method, residential surveys of property owners in Kittitas County, Washington, to explore influences on support for wildfire mitigation requirements and performance of voluntary mitigations on private lands. We found a high degree of variability in support for regulatory approaches, including relatively low levels of support for building or retrofitting regulations and a moderate level of support for vegetation management regulations. Perceptions about wildfire risk sources or public land management, past performance of wildfire mitigation actions, and support for shared, locally managed mitigations all correlated with support for differing regulatory approaches. We also found that performance of voluntary mitigation actions correlated with increasing wildfire program participation, differed among part-time or full- time residents, and were influenced by proximity to nearby property boundaries. Our results suggest that the most supported strategy in the study area may be the establishment of local, tax funded districts that encourage voluntary mitigation actions tailored to local circumstances. We conclude the paper by comparing our results to existing lessons from wildfire social science.
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Quaking aspen forests are widely known and prized for their numerous values—biodiversity, habitat, forage, recreation, aesthetics, and others—including as a deterrent to wildfire. This reputation for stopping or slowing flames is explored here, alongside measures that may be taken to facilitate thriving aspen communities near human developments. It is clear that science supporting the premise of aspen as an effective firebreak is far from complete. Yet, how can we benefit from what we do know on this topic to increase the probability of preventing structural fire damage, while also encouraging the valued characteristics of aspen ecosystems?
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arge-scale disturbances, such as megafires, motivate restoration at equally large extents. Measuring the survival and growth of individual plants plays a key role in current efforts to monitor restoration success. However, the scale of modern restoration (e.g., >10,000 ha) challenges measurements of demographic rates with field data. In this study, we demonstrate how unoccupied aerial system (UAS) flights can provide an efficient solution to the tradeoff of precision and spatial extent in detecting demographic rates from the air.
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We use examples of plot data identified from a reference period (1961-1990) and mid-century (2056–2065) analogs across North American biomes to compare and illustrate the outcomes of projected vegetation change and seed transfer. These examples showcase that mid-century analogs may be located in any cardinal direction and vary greatly in spatial distance and abundance from no analog to hundreds depending on the site. The projected vegetative transitions will have substantial impacts on conservation programs and ecosystem services. Our approach highlights the complexity that climate change presents to managing ecosystems, and the need for predictive tools in guiding land management decisions to mitigate future impacts caused by climate change.
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In the United States, more than 1,400 native plant nurseries produce more than a billion seedlings for reforestation and restoration projects every year. Many years of monitoring and research have shown that seedling survival of native plants can be greater when the plants are grown in nurseries and outplanted compared to direct seeding or natural regeneration. Production of high-quality seedlings reduces costs and improves seedling survival and growth after outplanting.
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A recently published review, led by Kimberley Davis, Research Ecologist at the USDA Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research Station, and collaborators at the University of Montana and The Nature Conservancy, brings together results from 40 studies for a rigorous analysis of fuel treatment efficacy.
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Fires are a natural part of the Pacific Northwest’s ever-changing ecosystem. As people continue to live and build in fire-prone landscapes, they must take steps to protect their lives, homes, properties and communities. These safeguards are needed in rural, suburban and urban environments, which are all prone to wildfire devastation.
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Theory predicts that effective environmental governance requires that the scales of management account for the scales of environmental processes. A good example is community wildfire protection planning. Plan boundaries that are too narrowly defined may miss sources of wildfire risk originating at larger geographic scales whereas boundaries that are too broadly defined dilute resources. Although the concept of scale (mis)matches is widely discussed in literature on risk mitigation as well as environmental governance more generally, rarely has the concept been rigorously quantified. We introduce methods to address this limitation, and we apply our approach to assess scale matching among Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPPs) in the western US. Our approach compares two metrics: (1) the proportion of risk sources encompassed by planning jurisdictions (sensitivity) and (2) the proportion of area in planning jurisdictions in which risk can originate (precision). Using data from 852 CWPPs and a published library of 54 million simulated wildfires, we demonstrate a trade-off between sensitivity and precision. Our analysis reveals that spatial scale match—the product of sensitivity and precision—has an n-shaped relationship with jurisdiction size and is maximal at approximately 500 km2. Bayesian multilevel models further suggest that functional scale match—via neighboring, nested, and overlapping planning jurisdictions—may compensate for low sensitivity. This study provides a rare instance of a quantitative framework to measure scale match in environmental planning and has broad implications for risk mitigation as well as in other environmental governance settings.
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Before workshops on prescribed fire for private lands, we surveyed participants in six prescribed fires on private lands workshops in the Central Sierra Nevada from 2018 to 2019 (N = 172). We found that participants “want to use” pile burns and broadcast prescribed fires more than other land management treatments. There was also a strong interest in mechanical treatments in contrast to low interest in grazing. Some participants had “heard about” and “want to use” some pathways to apply prescribed fire on their lands, including government programs, contractors, friends and family, and Prescribed Burn Associations (PBAs). People had multiple objectives for their prescribed fire goals, and the majority wanted to promote ecosystem health, e.g., reduce fire hazards, foster natural land health, and reduce invasive plants. Perceived barriers were greatest for safety, cost, and resources while fewer participants perceived permits as a barrier.
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Study design, interview discussions, and field observations from both case studies reveal the importance of nuanced and responsive approaches for the use of 3D visualizations, with an emphasis on the implementation of protocols that ensure the risk of harm to the intended audience is minimal. We share five considerations for use of visualizations as communication tools with public and professional audiences, expanding existing research into post-fire spaces: (1) determine whether the use of visualizations will truly benefit users; (2) connect users to visualizations by incorporating local values; (3) provide context around model uncertainty; (4) design and share visualizations in ways that meet the needs of the user; (5) be cognizant of the emotional impacts that sharing wildfire visualizations can have.