scholarly journals Walking through a 'phoenix landscape': hiker surveys reveal nuanced perceptions of wildfire effects

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 561
Author(s):  
Alexandra M. Weill ◽  
Lauren M. Watson ◽  
Andrew M. Latimer
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Fire Ecology ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
The Past ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Local Ecology

Public opinion of wildfire is often perceived to be negative and in support of fire suppression, even though research suggests public opinions have become more positive over the past few decades. However, most prior work on this topic has focused on homeowners in forested regions. In this study, we shift the lens to hikers in a chaparral- and oak-savannah-dominated landscape that burned at high severity in 2015. We surveyed hikers before and after their hike about their familiarity and perceptions of local fire, and wildfire in the nation at large. We found hikers were familiar with topics such as prescribed fire and basic fire ecology, but knew little about local ecology or fire regimes. Post-hike perceptions of fire and feelings about wildfire in the USA were complex and heterogeneous, not predominantly negative. Contrary to frequent media descriptions of post-fire landscapes as ‘devastated’ or ‘moonscapes,’ many participants described the burned landscape with awe and admiration. These results suggest that residents of fire-prone landscapes may benefit from programming that emphasises benefits and challenges of fire in the local landscape and incorporates visits to local burned sites throughout the recovery period.

scholarly journals Prescribed Fire Limits Wildfire Severity Without Altering Ecological Importance for Birds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quresh Latif ◽  
Victoria Saab ◽  
Jonathan Dudley
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Conifer Forests ◽  
Fuels Reduction ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Ecological Implications ◽  
Wildfire Effects ◽  
Ecological Importance

Abstract Background: Fire suppression and anthropogenic land use have increased severity of wildfire in dry conifer forests. Mangers use fuels reduction (e.g., prescribed fire) to limit high-severity wildfire and restore ecological function to fire-adapted dry conifer forests. Many species that evolved in these forests, however, are adapted to high-severity wildfire. To fully understand the ecological implications of fuels reduction treatments, we need to understand direct treatment effects and how treatments modulate subsequent wildfire effects on natural communities. We studied bird population and community patterns over 9 years, including unburned (2002–2003), after prescribed fire (2004–2007), and after wildfire (2008–2010). We used a before-after, control-impact (BACI) approach to analyze shifts in species occupancy and richness with respect to treated units following prescribed fire and burn severity following wildfire.Results: We found both positive and negative wildfire and prescribed fire effects on birds largely consistent with species life history traits; several woodpecker species, secondary cavity-nesting species, aerial insectivores, and understory species exhibited positive effects, whereas open cup canopy-nesting species and foliage- or bark-gleaning insectivores exhibited negative effects. Also as expected, wildfire affected more species more consistently through time than did prescribed fire. Wildfire burned units initially treated with prescribed fire less severely than untreated units, but wildfire effects on birds were similar regardless of treatment.Conclusions: Our results suggest managers can employ prescribed fire to reduce wildfire severity without necessarily altering the ecological importance of wildfire to birds. Additional study of the ecological implications of various fuels reduction practices, representing a range of intensities and fire regimes, would further inform forest management that includes biodiversity objectives.

scholarly journals E-cigarette and cigarette purchasing among young adults before and after implementation of California’s tobacco 21 policy

2020 ◽  
pp. tobaccocontrol-2019-055417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Schiff ◽  
Fei Liu ◽  
Tess Boley Cruz ◽  
Jennifer B Unger ◽  
Sam Cwalina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Based ◽  
Tobacco Product ◽  
Cigarette Use ◽  
Limited Data ◽  
Tobacco Products ◽  
Gas Stations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Vape Shops

BackgroundTobacco 21 (T21) laws, which raise the minimum legal age of sale of tobacco products to 21, have been proposed and implemented in states and cities across the USA. However, limited data are available on the effect of T21 laws on youth tobacco purchasing behaviours and access to tobacco products.MethodsParticipants in a population-based prospective cohort in southern California completed questionnaires before (n=1609, age=18–19 y) and after (n=1502, age=19–20 y) T21 was implemented in California (June 2016). We examined the prevalence of past 30-day cigarette and e-cigarette use, and among past 30-day users, purchase location of tobacco products before (pre-) versus after (post-) T21. We also examined whether, post-T21, participants were refused purchase of tobacco products due to their age, and the perceived relative ease of purchasing cigarettes and e-cigarettes (vs pre-T21).ResultsNegligible changes in cigarette and e-cigarette use were observed pre-T21 versus post-T21. At both time points, the majority of past 30-day users purchased cigarettes from gas stations and e-cigarettes from vape shops. Post-T21, the proportion of participants who reported purchasing cigarettes at gas stations decreased. Post-T21, most past 30-day cigarette or e-cigarette users were not refused purchase of cigarettes (65.4%) or e-cigarettes (82.0%) in the past 30 days, despite being under 21; half of the participants felt it was harder to purchase cigarettes (54.3%) and e-cigarettes (43.6%) post-T21.ConclusionPost-T21, few participants were refused purchase of any tobacco product, despite the illegality of such sales. Better enforcement of T21 is needed to improve the efficacy of T21 legislation.

scholarly journals The origins of prescribed burning in Scandinavian forestry: the seminal role of Joel Wretlind in the management of fire-dependent forests

2019 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-406
Author(s):  
Sarah Cogos ◽  
Samuel Roturier ◽  
Lars Östlund
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
The State ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Forest Manager ◽  
Forest District

AbstractIn Sweden, prescribed burning was trialed as early as the 1890s for forest regeneration purposes. However, the origins of prescribed burning in Sweden are commonly attributed to Joel Efraim Wretlind, forest manager in the State Forest district of Malå, Västerbotten County, from 1920 to 1952. To more fully understand the role he played in the development of prescribed burning and the extent of his burning, we examined historical records from the State Forest Company’s archive and Wretlind’s personal archive. The data showed that at least 11,208 ha was burned through prescribed burning between 1921 and 1970, representing 18.7% of the Malå state-owned forest area. Wretlind thus created a new forestry-driven fire regime, reaching, during peak years, extents close to historical fire regimes before the fire suppression era, and much higher than present-day burning. His use of prescribed fire to regenerate forests served as a guide for many other forest managers, spreading to all of northern Sweden during the 1950–1960s. Our analysis of Wretlind’s latest accounts also shows how he stood against the evolutions of modern forestry to defend a forestry system based on the reproduction of natural processes, such as fire.

Six Decades of Forest Fire Science in Canada

1990 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. E. Van Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Fire Ecology ◽  
Fire Management ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Fire Science ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Related Science ◽  
Changing Attitudes

This account of the history and accomplishments of forest fire research in Canada begins with a few basic statistics, and some background on changing attitudes to fire. A historical note on the contributions of Wright and Beall in the 1930's and 1940's follows. Fire science is then divided into six diverse categories: fire behavior, fire management systems, fire ecology, prescribed fire, fire economics, and fire suppression, with a note on developments and accomplishments in each. The references given are examples of the wide range of activity within the whole field of fire-related science and technology, but do not constitute a bibliography.

scholarly journals Fire and its interaction with ecological processes in box-ironbark forests

2012 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew F. Bennett ◽  
Greg J. Holland ◽  
Anna Flanagan ◽  
Sarah Kelly ◽  
Michael F. Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Fire Ecology ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Ecological Attributes ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Different Seasons ◽  
Experimental Management ◽  
The Many ◽  
Fire Intervals

Box-Ironbark forests extend across a swathe of northern Victoria on the inland side of the Great Dividing Range. Although extensively cleared and modified, they support a distinctive suite of plants and animals. Historical fire regimes in this ecosystem are largely unknown, as are the effects of fire on most of the biota. However, knowledge of the ecological attributes of plant species has been used to determine minimum and maximum tolerable fire intervals for this ecosystem to guide current fire management. Here, we consider the potential effects of planned fire in the context of major ecological drivers of the current box-ironbark forests: namely, the climate and physical environment; historical land clearing and fragmentation; and extractive land uses. We outline an experimental management and research project based on application of planned burns in different seasons (autumn, spring) and at different levels of burn cover (patchy, extensive). A range of ecological attributes will be monitored before and after burns to provide better understanding of the landscape-scale effects of fire in box-ironbark forests. Such integration of management and research is essential to address the many knowledge gaps in fire ecology, particularly in the context of massively increased levels of planned burning currently being implemented in Victoria.

scholarly journals Noninvasive genetic surveys before and after a megafire detect displacement of migratory mule deer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L Brazeal ◽  
Rahel Sollmann ◽  
Benjamin N Sacks
Keyword(s):  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Mule Deer ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Winter Range ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Western Us ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Summer Range ◽  
Capture Recapture ◽  
Carry Over

Due to climate change and past logging and fire suppression, the western US are experiencing increasingly large and frequent wildfires. Understanding how wildlife respond to these mega-fires is becoming increasingly relevant to protect and manage these populations. However, the lack of predictability inherent in such events makes studies difficult to plan. We took advantage of a large high-severity wildfire that burned adjacent to an ongoing study of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) on their summer range upslope of the fire to investigate their displacement onto our study area both immediately and upon their return to summer range the following year. We used spatial capture-recapture models in conjunction with noninvasive fecal DNA sampling to estimate density and non-spatial Pradel robust-design models to estimate apparent survival and recruitment rates. Compared to density before the fire, we observed an increase in deer density and an increase in per-capita recruitment rates one month after the fire. These findings suggest that the immediate response of at least some deer was to flee the fire upslope onto the study area rather than to downslope toward their winter range. These changes did not carry over into the following year, however, suggesting that deer formerly using the burned area as summer range may have returned there despite the high severity of the fire, or may have chosen new areas for their summer range. This suggests that, at least in the short term, the fire did not negatively affect the deer population.

Predictive modelling of burn probability and burn severity in a desert spring ecosystem

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 1014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie O. Sunderman ◽  
Peter J. Weisberg
Keyword(s):  
Fire Ecology ◽  
Bayesian Model Averaging ◽  
Riparian Forest ◽  
Model Averaging ◽  
Predictive Modelling ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Burn Probability ◽  
Desert Spring

Little is known about the fire ecology of desert springs, despite their importance for biodiversity and for provision of ecosystem services. Desert spring ecosystems are characterised by high and continuous fuel loads compared with surrounding uplands, suggesting that fire may play a significant ecological role. For the Ash Meadows spring complex in the south-western USA, we used ecological-niche factor analysis and a Bayesian model averaging regression technique to characterise the environmental conditions associated with spatially explicit burn probability and burn severity over a 24-year period. Burn probability and burn severity were both more strongly associated with fuel availability than with proximity to anthropogenic ignition sources; however, areas with more homogeneous vegetation cover were positively associated with high-severity burns but were negatively associated with burn probability. Burn probability was greater near areas of high anthropogenic influence, whereas areas further from anthropogenic alteration were more likely to experience high-severity fire. Riparian forest and emergent wetland vegetation were most likely to burn although they were among the rarest vegetation types. Human activities may strongly influence fire regimes in desert spring wetlands through groundwater pumping and introductions of exotic plants that alter fuelbed heterogeneity and shift the balance among woody and herbaceous vegetation.

Fire and False Brome: How Do Prescribed Fire and Invasive Brachypodium sylvaticum Affect Each Other?

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren P. Poulos ◽  
Bitty A. Roy
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Seedling Emergence ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
National Forest ◽  
Invasive Grass ◽  
Brachypodium Sylvaticum ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Forest Sites ◽  
Noxious Weed

Brachypodium sylvaticum, a shade-tolerant, forest dwelling, and aggressive invasive grass native to Eurasia, is a noxious weed in California, Oregon, and Washington. This species could cause ecosystem collapse by altering forest fire regimes. To examine interactions with fire, we divided two Willamette National Forest sites into eight units and randomly selected half for treatment with prescribed fire in spring 2011. We assessed the effect of B. sylvaticum on fire (severity and intensity) as well as the effect of fire on B. sylvaticum (cover, seedling emergence, and dispersal). We found that B. sylvaticum cover decreased fire severity but had no effect on intensity. Furthermore, fire severity influenced B. sylvaticum cover; in areas receiving low-severity fire, the grass increased from 21 ± 15.05 to 34 ± 15.81%, but in areas of high-severity fire, cover remained consistently around 0% (0 ± 0% cover in yr 1 to 0.2 5± 0.25% in yr 3). In the field, prescribed fire decreased seedling emergence by 32% compared to controls, but not in an associated greenhouse experiment. However, in the greenhouse, severely burned plots had zero emergence, compared to 0.29 ± 0.14 seedlings low-severity m−2 plot. Fire severity also influenced dispersal in the field; we monitored plots with < 0.5% cover B. sylvaticum initially; when these plots experienced low severity fire, they had greater B. sylvaticum cover (increasing 1,200%), suggesting increased dispersal with less severe fires. High-severity dispersal plots did not experience increased cover. High severity fires have the potential to control the grass, but low-severity fires will likely increase its cover.

scholarly journals Understanding and modelling wildfire regimes: an ecological perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandy P Harrison ◽  
Iain Colin Prentice ◽  
Keith J Bloomfield ◽  
Ning Dong ◽  
Matthias Forkel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Ecology ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Plant Traits ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Burnt Area ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
In Fire ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Wildfire Regimes

Abstract Recent extreme wildfire seasons in several regions have been associated with exceptionally hot, dry conditions, made more probable by climate change. Much research has focused on extreme fire weather and its drivers, but natural wildfire regimes – and their interactions with human activities – are far from being comprehensively understood. There is a lack of clarity about the ‘causes’ of wildfire, and about how ecosystems could be managed for the co-existence of wildfire and people. We present evidence supporting an ecosystem-centred framework for improved understanding and modelling of wildfire. Wildfire has a long geological history and is a pervasive natural process in contemporary plant communities. In some biomes, wildfire would be more frequent without human settlement; in others they would be unchanged or less frequent. A world without fire would have greater forest cover, especially in present-day savannas. Many species would be missing, because fire regimes have co-evolved with plant traits that resist, adapt to or promote wildfire. Certain plant traits are favoured by different fire frequencies, and may be missing in ecosystems that are normally fire-free. For example, post-fire resprouting is more common among woody plants in high-frequency fire regimes than where fire is infrequent. The impact of habitat fragmentation on wildfire crucially depends on whether the ecosystem is fire-adapted. In normally fire-free ecosystems, fragmentation facilitates wildfire starts and is detrimental to biodiversity. In fire-adapted ecosystems, fragmentation inhibits fires from spreading and fire suppression is detrimental to biodiversity. This interpretation explains observed, counterintuitive patterns of spatial correlation between wildfire and potential ignition sources. Lightning correlates positively with burnt area only in open ecosystems with frequent fire. Human population correlates positively with burnt area only in densely forested regions. Models for vegetation-fire interactions must be informed by insights from fire ecology to make credible future projections in a changing climate.

scholarly journals Is fire severity increasing in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA?

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad T. Hanson ◽  
Dennis C. Odion
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Fire Extent

Research in the Sierra Nevada range of California, USA, has provided conflicting results about current trends of high-severity fire. Previous studies have used only a portion of available fire severity data, or considered only a portion of the Sierra Nevada. Our goal was to investigate whether a trend in fire severity is occurring in Sierra Nevada conifer forests currently, using satellite imagery. We analysed all available fire severity data, 1984–2010, over the whole ecoregion and found no trend in proportion, area or patch size of high-severity fire. The rate of high-severity fire has been lower since 1984 than the estimated historical rate. Responses of fire behaviour to climate change and fire suppression may be more complex than assumed. A better understanding of spatiotemporal patterns in fire regimes is needed to predict future fire regimes and their biological effects. Mechanisms underlying the lack of an expected climate- and time since fire-related trend in high-severity fire need to be identified to help calibrate projections of future fire. The effects of climate change on high-severity fire extent may remain small compared with fire suppression. Management could shift from a focus on reducing extent or severity of fire in wildlands to protecting human communities from fire.

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