Post-fire Environment & Management

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Wind erosion following wildfire in Great Basin ecosystems

View fact sheet, pg. 28.

This fact sheet aim introduces the basic patterns, concepts, and terminology of wind erosion and provides a basic framework for erosion risk assessment and response.

View all topics reviewed in the Fact Sheet series.

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Assessing impacts of fire and post-fire mitigation on runoff and erosion from rangelands

View fact sheet, pg. 54.

This fact sheet provides an overview of the immediate and short-term hydrologic impacts of fire on infiltration, runoff, and erosion by water, and of the effectiveness of various mitigation treatments in the reduction of runoff and erosion in the years following the fire.

View all topics reviewed in the Fact Sheet series.

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Fuel control treatments in the sagebrush steppe: Recognizing and dealing with climate-related differences among sites

View webinar recording.

Bruce Roundy, Brigham Young University, discusses indicators of resilience and resistance of sagebrush steppe communities associated with soil temperature and water availability as learned from SageSTEP.

Assessment of the effects of non-native ungulate grazing on greater sage-grouse

Webinar recording.

This webinar describes a project that uses management-related variation in grazing by both feral horses and livestock as well as five years of field work to assess how both greater sage-grouse and the habitats on which they depend might be influenced by grazing.

The research team includes James S. Sedinger, Tessa L. Behnke, Levi Jaster and Phillip A. Street from the University of Nevada Reno.

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Where there’s smoke . . . there’s social science! Public perceptions of smoke & communication from multiple regions

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This Joint Fire Science Program project used a case-study approach to examine what influenced smoke perceptions and to experiment with possible communication strategies. Key findings regarding smoke perceptions include the influence of the source of fire smoke, the perceived trade-offs of risk vs. benefits from smoke, and how respondents view smoke and fuel reduction activities. Observations on communication strategies and suggestions for future interactions with both the public and within agencies will also be discussed.

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Recovery and adaptation after wildfire

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Becoming a fire-adapted community that can live with wildfire is envisioned as a continuous, iterative process of adaptation. Miranda Mockrin, a research scientist with the Forest Service combined national and case study research to examine how experience with wildfire alters the built environment and community- and government-level wildfire mitigation, planning, and regulations. Research suggests that adaptation to wildfire through WUI regulations depends on multiple factors, including past experience with fire and the geographic extent and scale of the fire event relative to the local community and its government. While communities did not often pursue changes in WUI regulations, experience with wildfire was frequently cited as the impetus for other adaptive responses, such as improving emergency response or fire suppression, and expanding education and interaction with homeowners, such as Firewise programs or government support for fuel mitigation on private lands.

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Informing recovery through mitigation planning

View webinar recording.

A key goal of both hazard mitigation and recovery is increasing resilience. Although these two activities differ in many respects, this shared objective of increased resilience allows mitigation and recovery planning to reinforce one another and leverage greater benefits within the development of plans, and programs or projects. Because both mitigation and recovery planning can be carried out pre-disaster, there is generally ample time to coordinate activities and promote more widespread attention to resilience.

Join the FEMA Region 10 Mitigation and Recovery Planning Team, and guest speakers as they review opportunities for integration, review examples, and identify resources.

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Online Grazing Management Courses

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This open-access short course provides fundamental information on rangeland ecology and management. It is hosted by the University of California Rangelands Research & Education Archive and is of interest to staff in government agencies and NGOs who manage local, state, and federal lands—including open space districts, county parks, water districts—and those who conduct education programs on these lands.

The four module course was developed by Dr. Mel George and Cody Sheehy in collaboration with UC Cooperative Extension Livestock and Natural Resource Advisors and University of California and California State University faculty. Course materials were developed with support from USDA Western SARE and RREA.

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Biophysical settings review in the Great Basin: What it is? How it works? Why it matters?

Webinar brief

Webinar recording

This webinar, led by LANDFIRE Fire Ecologist Kori Blankenship, provides an introduction to LANDFIRE BpS models and invites your participation in the current BpS review opportunities. Intermountain Basin Big Sagebrush Shrubland and Intermountain Basin Big Sagebrush Steppe ecosystems cover over 90 million acres in the western U.S. and provide critical habitat for the greater sage-grouse. Improving the models for these ecosystems helps LANDFIRE more accurately map fire regimes and vegetation departure, and enables us to provide a more current and robust product for use in land management planning activities.

 

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Assessing the impacts of post-fire drill seeding on archaeological resources: A case study from the Owyhee Uplands in southwest Idaho

Webinar brief.

Rangeland drills are commonly employed for post fire rehabilitation and emergency stabilization. With the assumption that adverse effects will occur, archaeological sites are flagged and avoided. This may cause a site stranding effect and greater potential for post fire erosion. To better understand and quantify the effects we evaluated four archaeological sites characterized as lithic scatters. Artifacts were documented and point-plotted using sub-centimeter GPS technology, subjected to drill seeding, and subsequently replotted and reevaluated. This presentation will detail the methods and results of this study and thoughts for future application. This webinar was presented by Kirk Halford, BLM, Boise.

Webinar recording

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