Webinar
In this webinar, Dr. Cameron Naficy presents findings from a synthesis of multiple projects conducted in 3 unique mixed-severity ecosystems from the Rocky Mountains of the U.S. and Canada. He briefly reviews a new reconstruction method his research group developed that combines extensive dendroecological plot networks and detailed forest structure mapping from high-resolution historical aerial imagery. Using these data, he describes the spatial and temporal patterns of fire frequency and severity for each study ecosystem, the fire-mediated stand dynamics and vegetation conditions that characterized each ecosystem, and some novel resilience mechanisms and ecological surprises associated with the mixed-severity fire regime model. This project demonstrates how historical data can be used to move beyond simple summaries of historical fire regime attributes and landscape condition by using historical data to reveal fundamental fire regime processes, drivers, and ecological outcomes.
This interactive webinar will explore how systems level trends impact the way we manage fire in unexpected ways. Hear why cutting trees in overstocked forests does far less than you might think to increase a community’s resilience to catastrophic fire; how the public framing of the “wildfire crisis” creates narratives that negatively impacts fire management; and how the unintended consequences of policy and demographics muzzle the most important ecological disturbance in almost 80% of America’s landscapes. The webinar will address both opinions and opportunities for re-creation of a restoration economy and fire’s New Deal.
Webinar recording
Fire is the first of three Great Constants in our lives. Change is the second. A web of change, consisting of population growth; density of homes built in outlying areas; new home construction; weather drying and heating; biomass build-up from fire suppression, management, etc. is converging on our communities, landscapes, economies, and collective resources. That convergence is creating negative impact and loss at unprecedented rates. This webinar discusses solutions to the fire problem.
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With increasing fire season duration and complexities in the fire management environment come opportunities to scale up the application of prescribed fire. In this webinar, we will explore the challenges climate change poses for fire managers, as well as the opportunities present in more numerous and longer prescribed burn windows with the increasing availability of fuels to burn.
Recordings from this event are now available.
Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) is a widespread species found throughout the US Southwest and southern Rocky Mountains. While the species has been widely studied in Arizona and New Mexico, comparatively little is known about Gambel oak at the northern extent of its range (Colorado, Utah, southern Wyoming). Research in this geographic region is particularly important given substantial differences in growth form across the species’ range (tree vs. shrub), and because potential habitat for Gambel oak is likely to spread northward under future climate scenarios. In this webinar, we will discuss the current state of knowledge on the ecology and management of Gambel oak in the southern Rocky Mountains, with a focus on silviculture, wildfire, and post-fire.
Webinar recording.
Unmanned Aircraft, commonly called “Drones,” are being used more and more for public safety, research, etc. Falling prices, rising capabilities, and a favorable regulatory framework are all fueling this growth. This webinar looks at actual, real-world, Wildfire missions where these aircraft are being used successfully, and diver into their advantages and limitations.
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“Learn and Burn” workshops are an excellent way for private landowners and others to gain hands-on burning experience and knowledge from expert mentors. This webinar will provide some lessons learned from coordinating these events, and tips to putting one on in the future. Participants will be provided with a template checklist, examples of past agendas, ideas for potential partners and funding opportunities, suggestions on how to measure program impact, and successes from past events. Are you thinking of planning one of these events?
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Millions of acres of fuels reduction treatments are being implemented each year in the fire adapted forests of the US. Typical these fuel reduction treatments target small diameter trees for removal producing large amounts of unmerchantable woody material and elevating surface fuel loadings. Often this material has no market value and is piled by hand or with heavy machinery and burned on site. We studied replicated experimental pile burns from two locations (Wenatchee, WA and Santa Clara, NM) over three years. We examined the effects of time since construction (i.e., pile age) and burn season (fall and spring) on fuel bed properties, combustion dynamics, fuel consumption, and charcoal formation for hand-constructed piles in thinned ponderosa pine-dominated sites. The webinar will also touch on pile decomposition rates and unplanned fire in areas with piled fuels.
The Reburn Project was motivated by a need to better understand wildfires as a type of fuel reduction treatment and to assess the impacts of fire suppression on forested landscapes. The original JFSP task statement (Influence of past wildfires on wildfire behavior, effects, and management) was created to inform the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy and to address how past wildfires influence subsequent wildfire spread and severity as well as to evaluate how past wildfires may support different fire management strategies. Our study focused on three study areas, located in the inland Pacific Northwest, central Idaho and interior British Columbia. Each study area was centered on a recent, large wildfire event in montane, forested landscapes.We first evaluated fire-on-fire interactions between past wildfires and subsequent large fire events (see Stevens-Rumann et al. 2016). Next, we created a landscape fire simulation tool that allowed us to explore the impact of fire management on the patterns of forest vegetation and fuels across landscapes. To do this, we created an iterative tool that uses historical ignition and weather data to evaluate potential burn mosaics compared to actual pre-wildfire landscapes under different wildfire management strategies.
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This webinar was originally presented August 29, 2018 11am AZ/12pm MDT by Kimiko Barrett of Headwaters Economics.
As wildfires increase in size and severity, the costs to protect homes and lives similarly rise. Yet protecting communities represents a relatively small portion of the total costs of a wildfire—other short- and long-term impacts yield a variety of costs that often go unrecognized. In an analysis of five case studies—the Hayman (2002), Old, Grand Prix, and Padua Complex (2003), Schultz (2010), Rim (2013), and Loma fires (2016)—suppression costs averaged nine percent of total wildfire costs; additional short-term expenses and long-term damages accounted for 91 percent of total wildfire costs. Nearly half of all wildfire costs are paid at the local level by government agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and homeowners. The remaining wildfire costs are paid at the state and federal level, or are paid by a combination of local, state, and federal organizations. Overall, short-term expenses such as suppression, relief aid, evacuation services, and home and property loss comprise around 35 percent of total wildfire costs. Long-term damages, which can take years to fully manifest, account for approximately 65 percent of total wildfire costs. Although wildfire costs greatly vary depending on factors within the built and unbuilt environment, increasing trends in climate change and development patterns favoring high-wildfire-risk areas suggest a parallel rise in total wildfire costs. Planning new communities and developments with consideration of wildfire risk is one way to accommodate growth while living alongside wildfires.