Forest Explorer Newsletter - September 2024
Effective beginning 5/30/2025
This website, and all linked websites under the control of the agency, is under review and content may change.
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Planning for Strategic Fire Zones |
 Photo Credit
USDA Forest Service photo
Malcolm North is the lead principal investigator at the Teakettle Experimental Forest, where thinning and prescribed burning treatments have been applied to fire-suppressed, old-growth, mixed-conifer forest, including this second application of prescribed fire in 2017. With the recent increase in wildfire size and severity in the Western U.S., managing wildfires is becoming increasingly complex. Roughly 15.5 million ha (about the size of state of Georgia) are estimated to have burned between 2018-2023 in the U.S., and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CALFIRE) estimates that approximately a million acres (a little larger than Rhode Island) have burned in California just nine months into 2024. Much of the increase in fire size and severity can be attributed to weather and drier than average precipitation years. However, a buildup in fuel loads and tree density are also feeding the fires.
Strategic Fire Zones (SFZs) are proactive areas in which fire is used as an ecological and cultural benefit within a defined zone to improve landscape resilience. The aim of SFZs is to use existing fire, such as one from a lightning ignition, and purposeful fire, such as prescribed and cultural burns, to treat the landscape and restore ecosystem services. SFZs have their own considerations, such as the existing fuel load on the landscapes, weather conditions, and structure location. Under the right conditions, SFZs could be a potential tool for meeting agency goals for landscape treatments to reduce high-severity wildfire risks. While SFZs are not a new idea, a recent publication led by Forest and Fire Ecologist Malcolm North suggests that by selecting for the right criteria and building off existing Potential wildland fire Operational Delineations (PODs) areas, the active management of beneficial fire on the landscape could reduce future risks of large, high-severity wildfires and their impacts on structures and ecosystem services. As the Forest Service continues it’s planning for wildland fire management as a part of the ongoing Wildfire Crisis Strategy, this work aims to reshape how we think about fire. |
Science Snapshots: Strawberry Guava Biocontrol |
 Photo Credit
USDA Forest Service photos
At the Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry (IPIF) Stu Mize, Sean Prentiss, and Eri Berg (not pictured) are part of a long-term monitoring effort to understand the effects of Tectococcus ovatus, a biocontrol scale insect, on invasive strawberry guava trees in Hawaiʻi. Tectococcus reduces the vigor and reproduction of strawberry guava by creating galls (abnormal growths) on the trees’ leaves and fruit. Stu, Sean, and Eri regularly collect leaf litter samples and fruit flies from experimental and control plots, then count categories of flies and galled leaves in the IPIF lab. The data generated from their detail-oriented work contributes to a bigger picture of how this tiny insect could influence changes in Hawaii’s land cover.
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Webinars, Events, and Information |
 Wildfire Crisis Strategy Planning, Project Prioritization and Monitoring
Dr. Pat Manley (PSW), Research Ecologist  Tentative Next Webinar: October 30th
Leveraging Forest Service Investment in the North American Bat Monitoring Program to Inform Forest Management
Ted Weller
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 Decision Tools for Local Governments: Responding to Ecosystems in DistressWednesday, October 9th, 10 - 11:15am PDT
Presenters:
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Station News |
 A Story of Loss and Hope: Fighting for Protection and Restoration of a Native Hawaiian TreeClimate change is one of the most consequential threats to our planet. Understanding and sharing the science behind climate change is a primary goal of the national climate assessments.
Pacific Southwest Research Station ecologist Flint Hughes will never forget hiking through the Ki’ula Forest in Hawaiʻi Island after a clearcut. At the time, he accompanied University of Hawaiʻi botany professor Dieter Mueller-Dombois, who convinced Hughes to see the forest for himself.
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 Growing the Next Generation of Forest Service ScientistsBefore Michelle Carr started with the Forest Service, she assumed everyone at the agency worked in the forest.
“I knew about Smokey and that was about it,” Carr said, chuckling.
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External News |
 Tiny leaf-eating insects have a huge impact on forests Read more: Earth.com (External Link) Journal article: Treesearch
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Publication Highlight |
 Photo Credit
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Chris Kennedy
The American pika is a small mammal that inhabits fields fringed by suitable vegetation in alpine and subalpine mountain areas extending south from central British Columbia and Alberta into the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico and the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Fifty-year population trajectory in a marginal American Pika (Ochotona princeps) population
The USDA Forest Service highlighted the American Pika as 1 of 3 species of mammal being negatively affected by climate change. This study presents information from repeated censuses of marginal pika populations at Bodie State Historic Park, California, conducted from 1972 to 2022. These censuses allow for a comprehensive portrayal of how American pikas may be responding to climate change.
Smith, Andrew T; Millar, Constance I; White, Easton R; Frey, Jennifer. 2024. Fifty-year population trajectory in a marginal American Pika (Ochotona princeps) population. Journal of Mammalogy. 84(1): 37. |
More PSW Publications via Treesearch
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Pacific Southwest Research StationThe Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) was founded in 1926 as a part of the Research and Development branch of U.S. Forest Service. Since its inception, PSW has expanded to serve California, Hawai'i, and the US-affiliated Pacific Islands. PSW develops and delivers science-based information, technologies, and applications to help people make informed decisions about natural resource management, conservation, and environmental protection. |