Fuels & Fuel Treatments
This is the fifth of six webinars in our Fuel Breaks in Sagebrush Country: A Multidisciplinary Webinar Series and Discussion.
To learn about other webinars in the series, see the webinar series webpage.
This webinar features:
A fuels treatment success story in the Pine Nut Mountains of Nevada – Keith Barker, BLM
Successes and challenges with a suite of fuel break projects – Lance Okeson, BLM
This is the fourth of six webinars in our Fuel Breaks in Sagebrush Country: A Multidisciplinary Webinar Series and Discussion.
To learn about other webinars in the series, see the webinar series webpage.
This webinar features:
Targeted grazing: A large multiregional fuel breaks project – Pat Clark, ARS
Sheep grazing success in the WUI – Lyndsey Boyer, Carson City Parks, Recreation, and Open Space
This is the third of six webinars in our Fuel Breaks in Sagebrush Country: A Multidisciplinary Webinar Series and Discussion.
To learn about other webinars in the series, see the webinar series webpage.
This webinar features:
Science and data gaps: How we’re addressing them – Doug Shinneman, USGS
Current use of fire and fuels models – Russ Parsons, USFS
SageSTEP: What are the most effective treatments for constructing fuel breaks? Lisa Ellsworth and Claire Williams, Oregon State University
Webinar recording.
This is the second of six webinars in our Fuel Breaks in Sagebrush Country: A Multidisciplinary Webinar Series and Discussion.
To learn about other webinars in the series, see the webinar series webpage.
This webinar features the following topics and speakers:
Overview of fuel break ecological considerations – Eva Strand, University of Idaho
Control of cheatgrass and other weeds in fuel breaks – Tim Prather, University of Idaho
How to use the “Science Framework” for fuel break planning – Michele Crist, BLM
This is the first of six webinars in our Fuel Breaks in Sagebrush Country: A Multidisciplinary Webinar Series and Discussion.
To learn about other webinars in the series, see the webinar series webpage.
This webinar features the following topics and speakers:
Purpose of fuel breaks – Jeff Rose, BLM
BLM agency/policy perspective – Jolie Pollet, BLM
USFS agency/policy perspective and how it relates to Shared Stewardship – Daren Turner, USFS
Visit workshop webpage.
Idaho’s collaborative groups are committed to promoting forest restoration on federal lands. National elections and new Administrations may modify policy impacting public lands management. What is the potential impact on collaborative groups engaged in forest restoration? This regional event brings together leaders from the timber industry, local government, conservation organizations, community groups, and land management agencies from across Idaho. IFRP has structured this virtual conference to include informative presentations, panel discussions on current issues, and break-out sessions.
View video.
This sageSTEP short features Beth Newingham.
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The first installment of SageSTEP shorts features Bruce Roundy.
View article.
California’s high density, fire-excluded forests experienced an extreme drought accompanied by warmer than normal temperatures from 2012 to 2015, resulting in the deaths of millions of trees. We examined tree mortality
and growth of mixed-conifer stands that had been experimentally treated between 2011 and 2013 with two different thinning treatments, one with more structural variability (HighV) and one with less structural variability (LowV), applied alone or in combination with prescribed burning. Tree mortality between 2014 and 2018 varied by species ranging from 42% of white fir (Abies concolor) to 18% of sugar pine (Pinus lambertiana), 12% of
incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens) and 10% of yellow pine (P. ponderosa and P. jeffreyi). Lower overall tree mortality rates at this location relative to drier locations in the southern Sierra Nevada suggested that drought
effects may have been ameliorated by lower water deficits due to our site’s more northerly location and deep, productive soils in combination with reductions in tree competition following thinning and burning. Averaged
across burn treatments, thinning reduced the overall mortality rate between 2014 and 2018 from 34% to 11%. A total of 23% of the basal area was lost in the unthinned control treatments during this time period, while basal
area was unchanged in the thinned treatments, with growth offsetting mortality. There was no significant difference in mortality or basal area change between LowV and HighV, suggesting that leaving trees at variable spacing may not compromise growth or resilience of the stand during a drought. Overall tree mortality was greater in the prescribed burn treatments, most pronounced in the smaller tree size classes, and varied by species, with burning having a significant effect on incense cedar and all pines, but not white fir. Trees with greater competition (Hegyi index) were more likely to die, particularly when also burned. Burning, however, consumed surface fuels and lowered fire hazard. With predictions of warmer droughts and greater weather variability, reducing forest density (basal area) and keeping surface fuel loads low will be important for building greater resilience to future drought stress and wildfire.
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The Sagebrush Treatment Evaluation Project (SageSTEP) evaluated the ecological effects of prescribed fire and cut‐and‐leave treatments in sagebrush communities experiencing tree expansion in North American cold desert shrublands. We used 10 yr of data from the SageSTEP network to test how treatments interacted with pre‐treatment tree dominance, soil climate, and time since treatment to affect plant functional groups and dominant species. Non‐sprouting shrub (Artemisia spp.), sprouting shrub, perennial graminoid, and annual grass responses depended on tree dominance and soil climate, and responses were related to the dominant species’ life‐history traits. Sites with warm and dry soils showed increased perennial graminoid but reduced Artemisia shrub cover across the tree dominance gradient after prescribed burning, while sites with cool and moist soils showed favorable post‐burn responses for both functional types, particularly at low to moderate tree dominance. Cut‐and‐leave treatments sustained or increased native perennial plant functional groups and experienced smaller increases in exotic annual plants in both soil climates across the tree dominance gradient. Both treatments reduced biocrust cover. Selecting appropriate tree‐reduction treatments to achieve desired long‐term outcomes requires consideration of dominant species, site environmental conditions, and the degree of woodland expansion. Careful selection of management treatments will reduce the likelihood of undesirable consequences to the ecosystem.