Fuels & Fuel Treatments
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The key findings of this synthesis are organized along nine topical areas: types of crown fires; crown fire initiation; crown fire propagation; crown fire rate of spread; crown fire intensity and flame zone characteristics; crown fire area and perimeter growth; crown fire spotting activity; models, systems, and other decision aids for predicting crown fire behavior; and implications for fire and fuel management.
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In this literature synthesis and meta-analysis, researchers found that the overall mean effect of fuel treatments on fire responses is large and significant, equating to a reduction in canopy volume scorch from 100% in an untreated stand to 40% in a treated stand, a reduction in scorch height from 30.5 m to 16.1 m, or an inferred reduction in flame length from 3.4 m to 2.1 m. But our synthesis demonstrates that fuel treatments vary widely in effectiveness, which is largely explained by vegetation and treatment type.
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This special report from the Ecological Restoration Institute at Northern Arizona University was presented to the U.S. Department of Interior, Office of Wildland Fire. The goal of this synthesis was to find, analyze and synthesize the best available evidence that policy makers need to make decisions about how to spend the limited money available to address the nation’s growing fire problem.
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.
View guidebook.
This guide provides a set of tools that will help field biologists, land managers, and private landowners conduct rapid qualitative field assessments that address the kind of site and its current state. These tools include a list of questions to be addressed and a series of photographs, keys, tables, and figures to help evaluate a site. Conducting this assessment will help prioritize sites to be treated, select the best treatment, and predict outcomes.
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This guide describes the benefits, opportunities, and trade-offs concerning fuel treatments in the dry mixed conifer forests of northern California and the Klamath Mountains, Pacific Northwest Interior, northern and central Rocky Mountains, and Utah. It provides (1) exhaustive summaries and links to supporting guides and literature on the mechanics of fuel treatments, including mechanical manipulation, prescribed fire, targeted grazing and chemical use; (2) a decision tree to help managers select the best mechanical method for any situation in these regions; (3) discussion on how to apply prescribed fire to achieve diverse and specific objectives; (4) key principles for developing an effective monitoring plan; (5) economic analysis of mechanical fuel treatments in each region; and (6) discussion on fuel treatment longevity.
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The results of this study suggest that mowing, as a standalone
treatment, does not restore the herbaceous understory in degraded Wyoming big sagebrush plant communities. Mowing should not be applied in Wyoming big sagebrush plant communities with degraded understories without additional treatments to limit exotic annuals and promote perennial herbaceous vegetation.
Visit the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy website.
See also the National Cohesive Strategy’s Western Region website.
The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy is a strategic push to work collaboratively among all stakeholders and across all landscapes, using best science, to make meaningful progress towards the three goals:
- Resilient Landscapes
- Fire Adapted Communities
- Safe and Effective Wildfire Response
Vision: To safely and effectively extinguish fire when needed; use fire where allowable; manage our natural resources; and as a nation, to live with wildland fire.
Access NEPAssist tool.
NEPAssist is a tool that facilitates the environmental review process and project planning in relation to environmental considerations. The web-based application draws environmental data dynamically from EPA Geographic Information System databases and web services and provides immediate screening of environmental assessment indicators for a user-defined area of interest. These features contribute to a streamlined review process that potentially raises important environmental issues at the earliest stages of project development.
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This study suggests that both prescribed fire and its mechanical surrogates are generally successful in meeting short-term fuel-reduction objectives in seasonally dry forests in the western and southern United States, making treated stands more resilient to high-intensity wildfire. Although mechanical treatments do not serve as complete surrogates for fire, their application can help mitigate costs and liability in some areas. Desired treatment effects on fire hazards are transient, which indicates that after fuel-reduction management starts, managers need to be persistent with repeated treatment.