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Studies show that effective strategies to mitigate the risk of structural damage in wildfires include defensible spaces and home hardening. Structures in the western United States are especially at risk. Several jurisdictions have adopted codes that require implementation of these strategies. However, construction and landscaping professionals are generally not required to obtain credentials indicating their competency in mitigating the risk of structural damage in a wildfire. We discuss the implications of this policy gap and propose a solution to bolster competency of professionals in wildfire protection as communities further expand in fire-prone areas.
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Novel rangeland fractional cover data enabled large-scale assessment of fire impacts. Timing in responses to rangeland wildfires differ among plant functional types. High severity wildfires led to the largest cover decrease of plant functional types. Moist prefire conditions led to greater decreases in herbaceous cover. Dry prefire conditions resulted in greater decreases in woody cover.
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Invasive annual grasses, wildfire, and climate change are changing ecosystem processes in the sagebrush biome at a pace and scale requiring an assessment of where processes can be saved, where they can be regained, and where they are lost. Confronting these threats is the primary focus of restoration and management efforts, guiding policy creation, project prioritization, and action on the ground. The new Defend the Core framework helps land managers, landowners, and policy makers to use the tools or management actions most likely to improve conditions.
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Collaborating at the planning stage of restoration projects can be slow. It takes time to build relationships, and meeting people “where they are at” is often the accomplishment. Success in collaboration comes from gathering the local knowledge to move forward with implementing projects. Long-standing collaborative groups often face challenges with keeping stakeholders and partners involved particularly when tracking past projects. Finding continued funding to maintain the projects implemented years earlier takes effort usually on behalf of the convening organization.
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Four case studies shared at the 2020 Invasive Annual Grass workshop provide lessons learned and opportunities to advance future management efforts to inform the direction for new science. Tackling the complex problem of invasive annual grass management will require an expansion of science-based case studies of real-world management efforts, strong science and management partnerships, and a platform for continuous learning and communication, such as a comprehensive database to document management outcomes along with Open Access journals that allow publishing of negative and null outcomes.
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Although important to consider in land management planning, abiotic properties cannot be directly influenced with management. In contrast, biotic properties of the ecosystem can be readily influenced by management. The formula for robust biotic resilience to wildfire and resistance to invasive annual grasses in the northern Great Basin sagebrush ecosystem is about maintaining and promoting perennial bunchgrasses. The management system must be resilient if we hope to promote ecosystem resilience in an ever-changing risk, seedling recruitment, and recovery environment. A successful strategy for promoting ecosystem resilience will require securing a resilient management system, and a shift in paradigm from random acts of opportunistic restoration to a sustained, organized, process-based approach for promoting ecosystem resilience.
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Moderate grazing decreases wildfire probability by decreasing fuel amount, continuity, and height and increasing fuel moisture content. Grazing, through its modification of fuels, can improve fire suppression efforts by decreasing flame lengths, rate of fire spread, and fire severity. Logistical, social, and administrative challenges exist to using grazing to decrease fire probability. Some of these challenges can be overcome by using off-season (i.e., fall-winter) grazing, but other challenges will require persistent efforts as well as science to support management changes.
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By mobilizing a timely and safe initial response, early detection technologies, strategic networks of fuel breaks, and Rangeland Fire Protection Associations help “minimize the bad days” on the fireline and improve suppression success on a vast and remote landscape.
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This article provides a broad overview of sagebrush plant community ecology, how that ecology has varied through time, the role of invasive annual grasses in influencing sagebrush plant community ecology, and thoughts on a productive path forward.
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Overall, scientists more engaged with SWFSC reported involvement in a wider variety of knowledge coproduction activities. However, some knowledge coproduction activities, especially those requiring greater time investment or facing institutional barriers (e.g., research collaboration) were less common among all participants. Most scientists involved in knowledge coproduction believed that SWFSC increased their participation in these activities outside the boundary organization context, in part because SWFSC provided opportunities to interact with and understand the needs of managers/practitioners, as well as build research collaborations. Findings indicate that boundary organizations, such as SWFSC, can foster knowledge coproduction, but that they may need to further explore ways to address challenges for knowledge coproduction activities that involve greater time commitment or institutional challenges.