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Vegetation and substrate burn severity was characterized as moderate across the study site and did not differ among treatments. Contrasting with higher pre-fire shrub density in the mastication + burning treatment, 2-year post-fire live shrub density did not differ among treatments. Higher pre-fire fine woody fuel loading in the mastication treatment did not correspond to post-fire fuel loading among treatments, while the hand thinned treatment was the only treatment where fine fuel loading was not significantly reduced post-fire. Total plant species richness increased in all treatment types following wildfire, largely driven by an increase in exotic species. Native cover decreased, and exotic cover increased in oak and chaparral types, but greater exotic species cover in the mastication + burning treatment in chaparral was maintained following wildfire.
Efforts to conserve biodiversity increasingly focus on identifying climate- change refugia – areas relatively buffered from contem-porary climate change over time that enable species persistence. Identification of refugia typically includes modeling the distribu-tion of a species’ current habitat and then extrapolating that distribution given projected changes in temperature and precipita-tion, or by mapping topographic features that buffer species from regional climate extremes. However, the function of those hypothesized refugia must be validated (or challenged) with independent data not used in the initial identification of the refugia. Although doing so would facilitate the incorporation of climate- change refugia into conservation and management decision mak-ing, a synthesis of validation methods is currently lacking. We reviewed the literature and defined four methods to test refugia predictions. We propose that such bottom- up approaches can lead to improved protected- area designations and on- the- ground management actions to reduce influences from non- climate stressors within potential refugia.
In this webinar, Ed Kleiner, Comstock Seed, Gardnerville, NV, discusses the parameters of native seed collection including collection techniques, permitting, certification, and market trends which are moving toward local genetic sources and provisional seed zones.
Webinar recording.
Wotton, Canadian Forest Service, explains lightning fire ignition and the important processes that determine the day-to-day variation of this important source of summertime fire activity in Canada. This presentation is for both academic and operational audiences in Canada’s wildfire community.
Examples from models developed and used in Ontario’s fire occurrence prediction system were provided as well as some comparisons to similar model development in other regions of the country. Reviewing the history and operational use of these models in Ontario provides useful examples of the challenges and opportunities (and ultimately the long-term investment required) in getting research into operational use in wildland fire management.
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This represents the first phase of a project investigating policies that limit managers’ ability to conduct prescribed fire on US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in the 11 Western states. The goals for this phase of our work were to understand the extent to which various policies are limiting prescribed fire programs, strategies to maintain and increase prescribed fire activities, and opportunities for improving policies or policy implementation. To understand the diversity of challenges faced and strategies in use across the West, we conducted a legal analysis of the laws and policies that affect prescribed fire programs on Forest Service and BLM lands (available online at http://ewp.uoregon.edu/publications/working) and approximately 60 interviews with land managers, air regulators, state agency partners, and several NGO partners.
In this webinar, David Pilliod, Research Ecologist, USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, presents an overview of the Land Treatment Digital Library (LTDL), which catalogs legacy land treatment information on BLM lands in the western US. The LTDL can be used by managers and scientists for: compiling information for data-calls, producing maps, generating reports, an conducting analyses at varying spatial and temporal scales.
Webinar recording.
Description: The U.S. Forest Service’s Wildfire Crisis Strategy, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that is funding the agency’s initial investments to reduce wildfire risk under the Strategy, both call for considering equity and environmental justice when implementing projects. We present practical applications of our research on the environmental justice implications of hazardous fuels reduction, including new tools, that help address this need.
Presenters: Susan Charnley & Mark Adams; US Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station
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A group of people knowledgeable about wildland fire have produced a 52-page document that attempts to assemble and summarize areas of agreement and disagreement regarding the management of forested areas in the western United States. Calling themselves the Fire Research Consensus Working Group, they looked for areas of common ground to provide insights for scientists and land managers with respect to recent controversies over the role of low-, moderate-, and high-severity fires.
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Our results suggest that emissions from wildfires will substantially increase in future decades; however, increased levels of forest thinning could substantially reduce those emissions and harmful health impacts from large wildfires. We also found that increased use of prescribed burning could reduce the health impacts associated with large wildfires but would also increase the frequency of low levels
of emissions. Furthermore, the modeling results suggested that individual prescribed fires could have substantial health impacts if dispersion conditions are unfavorable. Our results suggest that increased management is likely to yield important benefits given expected increases in wildfire activity associated with climate change. However, there remain many challenges to projecting the effects of alternative
management regimes, especially ones that involve substantial increases in intentional burning.
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The Nature Conservancy and the Forest Service, Department of Agriculture have long-term goals to reintroduce fire into U.S. ecosystems at ecologically relevant spatial and temporal scales. Building on decades of collaborative work, a Master Participating Agreement was signed in March 2017 to increase overall fire management capacity through training and education. In October 2017, The Nature Conservancy hosted a cross-boundary fire training, education, research, and restoration-related event for 2 weeks at Sycan Marsh Preserve in Oregon. Eighty people from 15 organizations applied prescribed fire on over 1,200 acres (490 ha). Managers and scientists participated
in the applied learning and training exercise. The exercise was a success; operational and research objectives were met, as indicated by multiagency, multidisciplinary fire research, and effectiveness monitoring. This paper describes a paradigm shift of fire-adapted, cross-boundary, multiagency landscape-scale restoration. Participants integrated adaptive management and translational ecology so that applied controlled burning incorporated
the most up-to-date scientifically informed management decisions. Scientists worked with practitioners to advance their understanding of the challenges being addressed by managers. The model program has stimulated an exponential increase in landscape scale and ecologically relevant dry forest restoration in eastern Oregon. Collaboration between managers and scientists is foundational in the long-term success of fire-adapted restoration. Examples of effects of prescribed fire on ecosystem services in the project area, such as increased resilience of trees in drought years, are also provided.