Fact Sheet / Brief

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Integrating the sciences to build capacity for an "all lands" approach to forest restoration

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This study used a team with widely diverse expertise that gathered information from private, state, federal, and tribal landowners about their current forest and fire management practices and then built a computer model that can be used to facilitate collaborative decision making about forest management in fire-prone environments. The model allows stakeholders to compare alternative management scenarios to see how various approaches affect wildfire behavior, risk, and the associated delivery of valued ecosystem services. The model is now being used with two forest collaborative groups in central Oregon to help stakeholders understand the potential tradeoffs associated with management options.

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Engagement strategies – Helping facilitate development and implementation of adaptation options

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In this paper, the authors describe an approach to facilitate development and implementation of climate change adaptation options in forest management which they applied to a case study area in southwestern Oregon, USA. Their approach relied on participation of local specialists across multiple organizations to establish a science–manager partnership, development of climate change education in multiple formats, hands-on development of adaptation options, and application of tools to incorporate climate change in planned projects.

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Fire severity change with disturbance into fuel treatments

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Researchers measured 14 transects across two different fuel treatment types on three different units. For both fuel treatment types, only ladder fuels had been removed. They found that while severity was reduced at all sites, the spatial distribution of fire severity within the treatment areas varied by treatment type and unit as well as which fire severity metric they were analyzing. They found fuel treatments reduced fire severity anywhere from -7 m to 533 m into the treatment area. Kennedy and Johnson (2014) caution that local site conditions, topography and vegetation type will be other sources of variation in fire severity.

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Increases in wildfire-caused erosion could impact water supply and quality in the West

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U.S. Geological Survey scientists analyzed a collection of climate, fire and erosion models for 471 large watersheds throughout the western U.S. They found that by 2050, the amount of sediment in more than one-third of watersheds could at least double. In nearly nine-tenths of the watersheds, sedimentation is projected to increase by more than 10 percent.

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Modeling desert shrubland changes with an invasive grass introduction and climate change

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This brief summarizes work by researchers who modeled exactly how problematic the grass-fire cycle could be for non-fire-adapted desert shrublands under three sets of climate conditions. Specifically, three different degrees of inter-annual precipitation variability (i.e., none, medium, and extreme climate change variability; sigma = 0 to 0.8) and related invasive grass cover biomass was modeled to theoretically induce land degradation.

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Do fuel reduction treatments cause beetle mortality or resilience?

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This study examined bark beetle mortality for two-years after fuel reduction treatment in mid-elevation mixed conifer forests at the University of California Blodgett Research Forest. As part of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study, the experimental treatments included prescribed fire (fire), mastication, the combination of the two, and a control.

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Fire severity impacts winter snowpack

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Fire is a strong driver of changes in montane forest structure in California’s Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade mountain ranges, which provide much of the snowpack and associated water storage for the state of California. A recent study by Stevens presented one of the first direct investigations in California of how fire can influence snowpack depth.

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Conservation Efforts Database: Improving knowledge of landscape conservation actions

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The CONSERVATION EFFORTS DATABASE (CED) was codeveloped by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and the Great Northern Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GNLCC):

  • USFWS provided a comprehensive ecological assessment separated by threats and efforts, and database structure based on user needs.
  • USGS provided database and website design expertise building off of the Land Treatment Digital Library.
  • GNLCC provided ecological, database, and GIS expertise, greatly enhancing CED capabilities.

Many state and federal partners provided input and feedback, ranging from design recommendations to policy sideboards, ensuring the CED has broad applicability and interoperability.

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Wildland fire: Nature’s fuel treatment

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This bulletin summarizes the evaluation of more than 40 years of satellite imagery to determine what happens when a fire burns into a previously burned area. Results from this research are helping land managers to assess whether a previous wildland fire will act as a fuel treatment based on the length of time since the previous fire and local conditions such as ecosystem type, topography, and fire weather conditions. By factoring in the ecological benefits of fire, land managers are able to manage fire in a way that fosters more resilient landscapes.

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Grazing and sagebrush treatments: A 25-year case study in Utah

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This brief highlights sustainable grazing practices and sagebrush treatments that enhanced herbaceous understory for sage grouse in years with average winters, but populations declined following severe winters. Sage grouse populations on the Deseret Land and Livestock (DLL) ranch increased for nearly 15 years when the ranch coupled deferred rest rotation grazing with small sagebrush removal projects. Birds responded positively as evidenced by lek counts that were higher and more stable on DLL than in nearby northeast Utah and western Wyoming. Total sagebrush removal cumulatively modified approximately 15% of DLL’s sage grouse habitat as individual small scale projects added up through time. Lek counts on DLL declined on the ranch and elsewhere following extreme winter and spring conditions. The cumulative effects of sagebrush removal may have contributed to declines on DLL due to less sagebrush food and cover for birds during severe weather.

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