Fire Ecology & Effects
View article.
This Science article reports on a growing body of research challenging the widespread notion that beetle-killed forests are more vulnerable to more severe fires than those that have escaped infestation. The findings are highlighting the complex causes of western wildfires and raising new questions about the efficacy of some fire prevention policies, such as plans to remove beetle-killed trees from vast swaths of forest.
Visit SageSTEP website.
SageSTEP is a long-term multidisciplinary experiment evaluating methods of sagebrush steppe restoration in the Great Basin.
You can find and access information on this project’s:
- Land management treatments
- Treatment effects on vegetation and fuels; soils and biogeochemistry; water runoff and erosion; wildlife and insects
- The economics and human perspectives of management treatments
- Association with climate change
- Research findings thus far and project future
View fact sheet.
This fact sheet summarizes findings from a study comparing insect populations in burned and unburned areas. The study showed greater reproductive success for isolated plant survivors of generalist species, and less success for specialist species. The more specialized your reproductive strategy, the harder fire is on your sex life.
View brief.
This brief highlights a study following fire in Utah’s Rush Valley, where researchers found that fire killed biological soil crust pretty thoroughly, which wasn’t a surprise. However, following the fire cyanobacteria, the helpful and essential ingredient in biocrusts, did not return soon after fire, but Firmicutes, another tenacious and aggressive bacteria, did move in.
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This research brief highlights a study investigating whether on not deer mice could help combat the invasive weeds infiltrating desert landscapes after fire.
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This report, developed by the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (WAFWA), Wildfire and Invasive Species Initiative Working Group (Working Group), summarizes the current state of Fire Operations and Fuels management functions in big sagebrush communities. The intent of this report is to illustrate the type and responsiveness of efforts being made. Finally, the report concludes by presenting future options and a series of recommendations that may inform future policy and allocation decisions.
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Results of this case study suggest that if applications and conditions of this study can be mimicked, livestock producers and natural resource managers can likely use fall prescribed fire in the mesic sagebrush steppe to affect cattle resource-use patterns for 5 years postfire.
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This review of the literature found that in general long-term rest and modern properly managed grazing produce few significant differences. However, some topic areas have not been adequately studied to accurately predict the influence of long-term rest compared to managed grazing. In some situations, not grazing can cause an accumulation of fine fuels that increase fire risk and severity and, subsequently, the probability of sagebrush steppe rangelands converting to exotic annual grasslands. Shifts in plant communities (i.e., exotic annual grass invasion and western juniper encroachment), caused in part from historical improper grazing, cannot be reversed by long-term rest.
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This review synthesizes the state of knowledge on fire effects on vegetation and soils in semi-arid ecosystems in the Great Basin Region. It identifies knowledge gaps and presents a framework for predicting plant successional trajectories following wild and prescribed fires and fire surrogate treatments. Possibly the three most important ecological site characteristics that influence a site’s resilience (ability of the ecological site to recover from disturbance) and resistance to invasive species are soil temperature/moisture regimes and the composition and structure of vegetation on the ecological site just prior to the disturbance event.
View abstracts.
Abstracts of recent papers on fire and fuels management in the West. Prepared by Craig Goodell, Fire Ecologist, USFS Pacific Northwest Region, Portland, OR.