Using Fire to Increase the Scale, Benefits, and Future Maintenance of Fuels Treatments

2012 ◽  
Vol 110 (7) ◽  
pp. 392-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malcolm North ◽  
Brandon M. Collins ◽  
Scott Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Fuels Treatments

Social science to improve fuels management: a synthesis of research on assessing social acceptability of fuels treatments

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry C. Daniel ◽  
Michael Valdiserri ◽  
Carrie R. Daniel ◽  
Pamela Jakes ◽  
Pamela Jakes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Acceptability ◽  
Fuels Management ◽  
Fuels Treatments

scholarly journals Long-Term Effects of Fuels Treatments, Overstory Structure, and Wildfire on Tree Regeneration in Dry Forests of Central Washington

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 888
Author(s):  
Allison K. Rossman ◽  
Jonathan D. Bakker ◽  
David W. Peterson ◽  
Charles B. Halpern
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Tree Regeneration ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Permanent Plots ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Fuels Reduction ◽  
Forest Fuels ◽  
Fuels Treatments

The long-term effectiveness of dry-forest fuels treatments (restoration thinning and prescribed burning) depends, in part, on the pace at which trees regenerate and recruit into the overstory. Knowledge of the factors that shape post-treatment regeneration and growth is limited by the short timeframes and simple disturbance histories of past research. Here, we present results of a 15-year fuels-reduction experiment in central Washington, including responses to planned and unplanned disturbances. We explore the changing patterns of Douglas-fir regeneration in 72 permanent plots (0.1 ha) varying in overstory abundance (a function of density and basal area) and disturbance history—the latter including thinning, prescribed burning, and/or wildfire. Plots were measured before treatment (2000/2001), soon afterwards (2004/2005), and more than a decade later (2015). Thinning combined with burning enhanced sapling recruitment (ingrowth) into the overstory, although rates of ingrowth were consistently low and greatly exceeded by mortality. Relationships between seedling frequency (proportion of quadrats within a plot) and overstory abundance shifted from weakly negative before treatment to positive after thinning, to neutral in the longer term. However, these relationships were overshadowed by more recent, higher-severity prescribed fire and wildfire that stimulated seedling establishment while killing advanced regeneration and overstory trees. Our results highlight the dependence of regeneration responses on the history of, and time since, fuels treatment and subsequent disturbance. Managers must be aware of this spatial and temporal complexity and plan for future disturbances that are inevitable but unpredictable in timing and severity.

Dwarf mistletoe effects on fuel loadings in ponderosa pine forests in northern Arizona

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 662-670 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad Hoffman ◽  
Robert Mathiasen ◽  
Carolyn Hull Sieg
Keyword(s):  
Ponderosa Pine ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Fuel Loading ◽  
Dwarf Mistletoe ◽  
Forest Fuels ◽  
Ponderosa Pine Forests ◽  
Northern Arizona ◽  
Basaltic Soils ◽  
Four Levels ◽  
Fuels Treatments

Southwestern dwarf mistletoe ( Arceuthobium vaginatum (Willd.) J. Presl ssp. cryptopodum ) infests about 0.9 million ha in the southwestern United States. Several studies suggest that dwarf mistletoes affect forest fuels and fire behavior; however, few studies have quantified these effects. We compared surface fuel loadings and predicted fire behavior among four levels of dwarf mistletoe infestation (none, light, moderate, and severe) in a total of 239 plots on 11 sites on basaltic soils in northern Arizona. In each plot we measured tree attributes, dwarf mistletoe rating and surface fuel loading. Stands severely infested by dwarf mistletoe had lower (P < 0.05) tree density and higher snag density, but higher (P < 0.05) total surface fuel loadings and total fuel loadings >7.62 cm and <7.62 cm, than non-infested stands. However, there were no statistical differences in any canopy fuel variables among infestation classes. Predicted fire behavior indicated that the wind speed required to promote the spread of a surface fire into the canopy was lower in severely infested stands than in non-infested stands. These results suggest that stands in northern Arizona that are severely infested with dwarf mistletoe should be priority areas for fuels treatments.

Simulating landscape-scale effects of fuels treatments in the Sierra Nevada, California, USA

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra D. Syphard ◽  
Robert M. Scheller ◽  
Brendan C. Ward ◽  
Wayne D. Spencer ◽  
James R. Strittholt
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Plant Biomass ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Fuels Management ◽  
Fuels Treatments

In many coniferous forests of the western United States, wildland fuel accumulation and projected climate conditions increase the likelihood that fires will become larger and more intense. Fuels treatments and prescribed fire are widely recommended, but there is uncertainty regarding their ability to reduce the severity of subsequent fires at a landscape scale. Our objective was to investigate the interactions among landscape-scale fire regimes, fuels treatments and fire weather in the southern Sierra Nevada, California. We used a spatially dynamic model of wildfire, succession and fuels management to simulate long-term (50 years), broad-scale (across 2.2 × 106 ha) effects of fuels treatments. We simulated thin-from-below treatments followed by prescribed fire under current weather conditions and under more severe weather. Simulated fuels management minimised the mortality of large, old trees, maintained total landscape plant biomass and extended fire rotation, but effects varied based on elevation, type of treatment and fire regime. The simulated area treated had a greater effect than treatment intensity, and effects were strongest where more fires intersected treatments and when simulated weather conditions were more severe. In conclusion, fuels treatments in conifer forests potentially minimise the ecological effects of high-severity fire at a landscape scale provided that 8% of the landscape is treated every 5 years, especially if future fire weather conditions are more severe than those in recent years.

Evaluating wildland fire danger and prioritizing vegetation and fuels treatments

2007 ◽  
Vol 247 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul F. Hessburg ◽  
Keith M. Reynolds ◽  
Robert E. Keane ◽  
Kevin M. James ◽  
R. Brion Salter
Keyword(s):  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Danger ◽  
Fuels Treatments

Different interest group views of fuels treatments: survey results from fire and fire surrogate treatments in a Sierran mixed conifer forest, California, USA

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah McCaffrey ◽  
Jason J. Moghaddas ◽  
Scott L. Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Treatment Preferences ◽  
Conifer Forest ◽  
The Public ◽  
Overall Acceptability ◽  
Natural Resource Conservation ◽  
Natural Resource Conservation Service ◽  
Mixed Conifer Forest ◽  
Survey Responses ◽  
Fuels Treatments

The present paper discusses results from a survey about the acceptance of and preferences for fuels treatments of participants following a field tour of the University of California Blodgett Forest Fire and Fire Surrogate Study Site. Although original expectations were that tours would be composed of general members of the public, individual tour groups ultimately were much more specialised, with tours made up of individuals from five distinct groups including foresters, environmentalists, entomologists, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, teachers, and high school or undergraduate students. This proved fortuitous as most studies of ‘public’ perceptions to date have been of general members of the public and little work has been done assessing the views of groups who may have more specific knowledge or interest in fuels treatments. Such assessment is perhaps long overdue given the importance of understanding characteristics of different audience segments in developing effective outreach programs. Analysis showed that group membership was in fact the key element in differences in survey responses with significant differences found between groups on overall acceptability of treatments, treatment preferences based on different land ownership and management types, and which variables were most important in determining treatment preferences.

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