Treesearch

We compared the spatial characteristics of fire severity patches within individual fire “runs” (contiguous polygons burned during a given day) resulting from a 72,000 ha fire in centralIdaho in 1994. Our hypothesis was that patch characteristics of four fire severity classes (high, moderate, low, and unburned), as captured by five landscape metrics, would vary with the size of the run (ranging from 1 to 6,200 ha). Our results indicated that high severity patches (i.e., crown fires) were typically larger and more complex in larger runs than in smaller runs. Moderate severity, low severity,...

Reintroducing fire to manage vegetation and fuel may have poorly understood consequences for wildlife. Prescribed burning can reduce down wood and snags that provide critical habitat and mechanical thinning designed to reduce fire hazards may alter forest structures that are preferred by some species. Moreover, fine scale fuel treatments may alter wildlife and habitat dynamics within the larger landscape. In this paper, we provide a process-based heuristic for understanding varied wildlife responses to fire at multiple scales that integrates fire behavior, vegetation dynamics and long-term...

We examined the temporal patterns of the structural decay, insect infestation and woodpecker foraging patterns on white-fir and yellow pine following a prescribed burn in Lassen National Park, CA. Our objectives were to: 1) describe how pine and fir differ in their decay patterns and insect activity, and 2) determine how these differences reflect woodpecker foraging habitat quality. Preliminary results indicate that these two tree species differed in several aspects of structural decomposition, insect use and subsequent woodpecker foraging intensity. White fir tended to decay more quickly...

Little was known about the ecology, impacts, effects, and history of fire related to manyplants and communities within White Sands Missile Range. I began by identifying the knownaspects and the gaps in knowledge for White Sands Missile Range. I analyzed existing dataavailable for the Installation taken from the Integrated Training and Area Management(ITAM) program for 1988 to 1999. Burn plots were identified at 34 sites with fires occurringsometime within that 11 yr span. Selected plant species were analyzed to identify the responseto fire including change in frequency, cover, and structure...

Climate, topography, fuel loadings, and human activities all affect spatial and temporal patterns of fire occurrence. Because fire occurrence is a stochastic process, an understanding of baseline variability is necessary in order to identify constraints on surface fire regimes. With a suitable null, or neutral, model, characteristics of natural fire regimes estimated from fire history data can be compared to a “null hypothesis.” We generated random landscapes of fire-scarred trees via a point process with sequential spatial inhibition. Random ignition points, fire sizes, and fire years...

This paper reviews recent research from California on geographic variability in mixed conifer(MC) forest fire regimes. MC forests are typically described as having experienced primarilyfrequent, low to moderate severity burns prior to fire suppression that created a mosaic ofvegetation patches with variable structure. Research throughout California generally supportsthis view, but recent research demonstrates that fire regimes and vegetation patterns in theMC zone were more complex and displayed significant spatial and temporal variability atlandscape and regional scales. At the landscape...

The requirement to manage for key biodiversity attributes in dry forest ecosystems is mandated in the Forest Practices Code Act of British Columbia. These attributes include snags, large old trees, and large organic debris. In the Squamish Forest District dry forest restoration activities center on the use of thinning operations followed by prescribed fire to restore stand structure and species composition to conditions closer to the historic range of variability. Various strategies have been tested to retain or create key biodiversity attributes. These strategies include wrapping fire-scar...

Estas memorias resumen el resultado de un simposio diseñado para discutir los problemas actuales que confrontan las agencias con responsabilidad para la protección contra incendios forestales a nivel federal y estadual en los EE.UU., al igual que agencias en la comunidad internacional. Los temas discutidos en el simposio incluyen economía del fuego, teoría y modelos para la planificación estratégica de incendios, análisis económico y modelización del manejo de incendios, incendios forestales y manejo de bosques sustentables, políticas públicas y manejo de bosques, el tratamiento de...

These proceedings summarize the results of a symposium designed to address current issues of agencies with wildland fire protection responsibility at the federal and state levels in the United States as well as agencies in the international community. The topics discussed at the symposium included fire economics, theoretical and methodological approaches to strategic fire planning, wildland fires and sustainable forest management, incorporation of market and nonmarket economic evaluation techniques into fire management planning, public policies and wildland fires, tradeoffs between fuel...

A controlled, manipulative study utilizing exclosures was initiated in 1994 by Zeigenfuss and others (2002) to assess the effects of prescribed fire and ungulate herbivory in the bitterbrush communities of Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). Four sites were chosen randomly from all available bitterbrush communities in RMNP wherein exclosures were erected (March/May 1995) and paired grazed plots established. Prescribed burns were performed on half of each exclosed and grazed area in 1995 and 1996. Using the sites and exclosures already present in the bitterbrush communities, additional...