A coupled modelling approach to assess the effect of fuel treatments on post-wildfire runoff and erosion

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Sidman ◽  
D. Phillip Guertin ◽  
David C. Goodrich ◽  
David Thoma ◽  
Donald Falk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Spatial Modelling ◽  
Hydrological Response ◽  
Fuel Treatments ◽  
Coupled Modelling ◽  
Modelling Approach

The hydrological consequences of wildfires are among their most significant and long-lasting effects. As wildfire severity affects post-fire hydrological response, fuel treatments can be a useful tool for land managers to moderate this response. However, current models focus on only one aspect of the fire–watershed linkage (fuel treatments, fire behaviour, fire severity, watershed responses). This study outlines a spatial modelling approach that couples three models used sequentially to allow managers to model the effects of fuel treatments on post-fire hydrological responses. Case studies involving a planned prescribed fire at Zion National Park and a planned mechanical thinning at Bryce Canyon National Park were used to demonstrate the approach. Fuel treatments were modelled using FuelCalc and FlamMap within the Wildland Fire Assessment Tool (WFAT). The First Order Fire Effects Model (FOFEM) within WFAT was then used to evaluate the effectiveness of the fuel treatments by modelling wildfires on both treated and untreated landscapes. Post-wildfire hydrological response was then modelled using KINEROS2 within the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment tool (AGWA). This coupled model approach could help managers estimate the effect of planned fuel treatments on wildfire severity and post-wildfire runoff or erosion, and compare various fuel treatment scenarios to optimise resources and maximise mitigation results.

scholarly journals Impacts of climate change under CMIP5 RCP scenarios on the streamflow in the Dinder River and ecosystem habitats in Dinder National Park, Sudan

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 1331-1353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amir K. Basheer ◽  
Haishen Lu ◽  
Abubaker Omer ◽  
Abubaker B. Ali ◽  
Abdeldime M. S. Abdelgader
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
River Basin ◽  
National Park ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Rcp Scenarios ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Global Circulation Models ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Abstract. The fate of seasonal river ecosystem habitats under climate change essentially depends on the changes in annual recharge of the river, which are related to alterations in precipitation and evaporation over the river basin. Therefore, the change in climate conditions is expected to significantly affect hydrological and ecological components, particularly in fragmented ecosystems. This study aims to assess the impacts of climate change on the streamflow in the Dinder River basin (DRB) and to infer its relative possible effects on the Dinder National Park (DNP) ecosystem habitats in Sudan. Four global circulation models (GCMs) from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 and two statistical downscaling approaches combined with a hydrological model (SWAT – the Soil and Water Assessment Tool) were used to project the climate change conditions over the study periods 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s. The results indicated that the climate over the DRB will become warmer and wetter under most scenarios. The projected precipitation variability mainly depends on the selected GCM and downscaling approach. Moreover, the projected streamflow is quite sensitive to rainfall and temperature variation, and will likely increase in this century. In contrast to drought periods during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the predicted climate change is likely to affect ecosystems in DNP positively and promote the ecological restoration for the habitats of flora and fauna.

scholarly journals Estimation of wildfire size and risk changes due to fuels treatments

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 357 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Cochrane ◽  
C. J. Moran ◽  
M. C. Wimberly ◽  
A. D. Baer ◽  
M. A. Finney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Prescribed Fires ◽  
Fuel Treatments ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Management Policies ◽  
Fuels Treatments

Human land use practices, altered climates, and shifting forest and fire management policies have increased the frequency of large wildfires several-fold. Mitigation of potential fire behaviour and fire severity have increasingly been attempted through pre-fire alteration of wildland fuels using mechanical treatments and prescribed fires. Despite annual treatment of more than a million hectares of land, quantitative assessments of the effectiveness of existing fuel treatments at reducing the size of actual wildfires or how they might alter the risk of burning across landscapes are currently lacking. Here, we present a method for estimating spatial probabilities of burning as a function of extant fuels treatments for any wildland fire-affected landscape. We examined the landscape effects of more than 72 000 ha of wildland fuel treatments involved in 14 large wildfires that burned 314 000 ha of forests in nine US states between 2002 and 2010. Fuels treatments altered the probability of fire occurrence both positively and negatively across landscapes, effectively redistributing fire risk by changing surface fire spread rates and reducing the likelihood of crowning behaviour. Trade offs are created between formation of large areas with low probabilities of increased burning and smaller, well-defined regions with reduced fire risk.

Effects of wildfire on national park visitation and the regional economy: a natural experiment in the Northern Rockies

2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1155 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Duffield ◽  
Chris J. Neher ◽  
David A. Patterson ◽  
Aaron M. Deskins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Park ◽  
Net Present Value ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Demand Models ◽  
Value Loss ◽  
Park Service ◽  
Observed Behaviour

Federal wildland fire management policy in the United States directs the use of value-based methods to guide priorities. However, the economic literature on the effect of wildland fire on nonmarket uses, such as recreation, is limited. This paper introduces a new approach to measuring the effect of wildfire on recreational use by utilising newly available long-term datasets on the location and size of wildland fire in the United States and observed behaviour over time as revealed through comprehensive National Park Service (NPS) visitor data. We estimate travel cost economic demand models that can be aggregated at the site-landscape level for Yellowstone National Park (YNP). The marginal recreation benefit per acre of fire avoided in, or proximate to, the park is US$43.82 per acre (US$108.29 per hectare) and the net present value loss for the 1986–2011 period is estimated to be US$206 million. We also estimate marginal regional economic impacts at US$36.69 per acre (US$90.66 per hectare) and US$159 million based on foregone non-resident spending in the 17-county Great Yellowstone Area (GYA). These methods are applicable where time-series recreation data exist, such as for other parks and ecosystems represented in the 397-unit NPS system.

Landscape-scale effects of fire severity on mixed-conifer and red fir forest structure in Yosemite National Park

2013 ◽  
Vol 287 ◽  
pp. 17-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Van R. Kane ◽  
James A. Lutz ◽  
Susan L. Roberts ◽  
Douglas F. Smith ◽  
Robert J. McGaughey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Structure ◽  
National Park ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Yosemite National Park ◽  
Mixed Conifer

scholarly journals Above-Ground Net Primary Production, Leaf Area Index, and Nitrogen Dynamics in Early Post-Fire Vegetation, Yellowstone National Park

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 130-134
Author(s):  
Monica Turner ◽  
Rebecca Reed ◽  
William Romme ◽  
Mary Finley ◽  
Dennis Knight
Keyword(s):  
Primary Production ◽  
Leaf Area Index ◽  
Leaf Area ◽  
Yellowstone National Park ◽  
National Park ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Ecosystem Processes ◽  
Area Index

The 1988 fires in Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming, affected >250,000 ha, creating a striking mosaic of burn severities across the landscape which is likely to influence ecological processes for decades to come (Christensen et al. 1989, Knight and Wallace 1989, Turner et al.1994). Substantial spatial heterogeneity in early post-fire succession has been observed in the decade since the fires, resulting largely from spatial variation in fire severity and in the availability of lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia) seeds in or near the burned area (Anderson and Romme 1991, Tinker et al. 1994, Turner et al. 1997). Post­fire vegetation now includes pine stands ranging from relatively low to extremely high pine sapling density (ca 10,000 to nearly 100,000 stems ha-1) as well as non-forest or marginally forested vegetation across the Yellowstone landscape may influence ecosystem processes related to energy flow and biogeochemisty. We also are interested in how quickly these processes may return to their pre­ disturbance characteristics. In this pilot study, we began to address these general questions by examining the variation in above-ground net primary production (ANPP), leaf area index (LAI) of tree (lodgepole pine) and herbaceous components, and rates of nitrogen mineralization and loss in successional stands 9 years after the fires. ANPP measures the cumulative new biomass generated over a given period of time, and is a fundamental ecosystem property often used to compare ecosystems (Carpenter 1998). Leaf area (typically expressed as leaf area index [LAI], i.e., leaf area per unit ground surface area) influences rates of two fundamental ecosystem processes -­ primary productivity and transpiration -- and is communities (

scholarly journals Integration of nitrogen dynamics into the Noah-MP land model v1.1 for climate and environmental predictions

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 4113-4153 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Cai ◽  
Z.-L. Yang ◽  
J. B. Fisher ◽  
X. Zhang ◽  
M. Barlage ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Net Primary Productivity ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Land Surface Model ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Nitrogen Dynamics ◽  
Surface Model ◽  
Meteorological Model ◽  
Environmental Models

Abstract. Climate and terrestrial biosphere models consider nitrogen an important factor in limiting plant carbon uptake, while operational environmental models view nitrogen as the leading pollutant causing eutrophication in water bodies. The community Noah land surface model with multi-parameterization options (Noah-MP) is unique in that it is the next generation land surface model for the Weather Research and Forecasting meteorological model and for the operational weather/climate models in the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. In this study, we add capability to Noah-MP to simulate nitrogen dynamics by coupling the Fixation and Uptake of Nitrogen (FUN) plant model and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) soil nitrogen dynamics. This incorporates FUN's state-of-the-art concept of carbon cost theory and SWAT's strength in representing the impacts of agricultural management on the nitrogen cycle. Parameterizations for direct root and mycorrhizal-associated nitrogen uptake, leaf retranslocation, and symbiotic biological nitrogen fixation are employed from FUN, while parameterizations for nitrogen mineralization, nitrification, immobilization, volatilization, atmospheric deposition, and leaching are based on SWAT. The coupled model is then evaluated at the Kellogg Biological Station – a Long-term Ecological Research site within the U.S. Corn Belt. Results show that the model performs well in capturing the major nitrogen state/flux variables (e.g., soil nitrate and nitrate leaching). Furthermore, the addition of nitrogen dynamics improves the modeling of the carbon and water cycles (e.g., net primary productivity and evapotranspiration). The model improvement is expected to advance the capability of Noah-MP to simultaneously predict weather and water quality in fully coupled Earth system models.

Can Interpretive Messages Change Park Visitors’ Views on Wildland Fire?

2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Wiles ◽  
Troy E. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Attitude Change ◽  
National Park ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Knowledge Gain ◽  
Knowledge And Attitudes ◽  
Persuasive Argument ◽  
Attitude Scales ◽  
Guided Tour ◽  
Knowledge Scale

This study evaluated the effect of differently formulated interpretive messages embedded in a 90-minute guided tour on Mesa Verde National Park visitors’ knowledge and attitudes about wildland fire. Using a Solomon four-group experimental design, 31 different groups of visitors ( N=496) received affective arguments, cognitive arguments, a combination of arguments, or no persuasive argument. All persuasive programs led to significant increases (one to two points) on a five-question knowledge scale and two attitude scales, although the three treatments did not differ in their effects. Attitudes became slightly more positive about the ecological role of fire and less negative about the destructive nature of fire. A slight priming effect of the pre-test was found for one measure but there were no effects on other measures, supporting the external validity of study findings. Attitude and knowledge changes related to fire were greater for those who had weaker prior attitudes or lower prior levels of knowledge. Counter to hypotheses, the personal relevance of fire and need for cognition did not exhibit a significant relationship to knowledge gain or attitude change.

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