Treesearch

Wildfire risk has risen significantly due to climate change and the increase in housing development in the wildland urban interface (WUI), making household participation in fuel reduction crucial. However, homeowners’ perceived wildfire risk may diverge from professionals’ objective assessments. We use a choice experiment survey of Arizona homeowners in WUI areas to compare how willingness to pay (WTP) for public and private fuel reduction programs aligns with self-assessed versus professionally determined wildfire risk. Results show that while homeowners’ WTP for fuel reduction is...

The gas and tar composition of a wildland fire diffusion flame from longleaf pine needles is currently relatively unmeasured and more data are needed to fill in the gap between pyrolysis data and smoke plume data, thus improving physical and chemical modeling of wildland smoke formation. A pilot experiment to measure light gas and tar composition of such a flame is described for three flame zones: persistent flame (flame base), intermittent flame, and smoke plume. Flame gases from 24 experimental fires were collected in canisters and analyzed for CO2, CO, H2, CH4, and C2 to C7 hydrocarbon...

Extensive threats to ecosystems and a diversity of motivations for environmental care have driven a growing environmental stewardship movement. The impact of this movement has the potential to be large, but the defining features are poorly characterized. As a result, the contributions of many civic groups that care for the environment may be unrecognized. We develop an understanding of the network of environmental stewardship groups (ESGs) on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, in order to identify approaches to support effective, efficient, and equitable local environmental stewardship. To do this, we...

Fuel breaks, areas where vegetation has been modified or removed, are a common feature on national forests in southern California and elsewhere. They provide accessible locations for ground-based firefighters to perform fire-suppression activities. However, the cost to maintain nearly 4,000 miles of fuel breaks in southern California exceeds available funding, and the effectiveness of the fuel breaks varies. From 2012–2016, the Adaptive Management Services Enterprise Team (AMSET) developed and applied a process to the Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres, and San Bernardino National Forests to...

Spruce beetle, Dendroctonus rufipennis (Kirby) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is the most significant pest of spruce, Picea spp. (Pinales: Pinaceae), in western North America. Several doses of 3-methylcyclohex-2-en-1-one (MCH), the primary antiaggregation pheromone of D. rufipennis, alone and combined with non-host volatiles have been demonstrated effective for Picea protection. Herein, we evaluate the effects of MCH dose on D. rufipennis captures in baited trapping assays in Alaska and Colorado, United States. Twenty-five, 12-unit, multiple-funnel traps were baited with a D. rufipennis lure...

Large wood (LW) entrainment and transport observations of naturally occurring wood in rivers are critical for understanding wood dynamics. However, they remain limited and sparse, primarily originating from single-site studies. As a result, broader spatial or temporal variability of wood dynamics may not be adequately captured. We compiled a database of tracked, natural pieces of wood from 11 low-order and relatively steep streams in the Chilean Andes, Swiss Alps, United Kingdom and United States. From decades to single-year studies, we gathered 59,739 observations of tracked wood, which...

Udeuid (Manilkara udoido) is a culturally and ecologically important forest tree endemic to Babeldaob Island, Palau (Kitalong et al. 2014). Extensive mortality of mature udeuid trees was noted in late 2021. Dying trees had wilting and yellowing leaves, with main stems showing necrotic inner bark, black-stained xylem, and attacks by bark and ambrosia beetles. Losses exceeded 50% in several areas within the core range of udeuid. Because symptoms were suggestive of Ceratocystis wilt, samples of necrotic and stained inner bark and xylem, as well as beetle frass, were placed between fresh...

Cities increasingly hope to mobilize nature-based solutions in urban sustainability planning because of their wide-ranging ecosystem services. In this critical moment, where failure due to poor implementation could lead policymakers to turn away from nature-based solutions, we investigate the case of urban forestry and ask: how do strategic-level sustainability goals influences site-level decision-making? We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 urban foresters leading advanced programs at municipalities with adopted sustainability goals, framed as ecosystem services, across the US...

Understanding how plants access water is critical to biosphere‐atmosphere interactions. However, it remains challenging to resolve root water uptake in space and time. Here, we introduce (a) a mass balance method that uses depth‐distributed moisture changes in the vadose zone to spatially resolve patterns of evapotranspiration (ET) and (b) an application of this method to a unique data set of continuous moisture dynamics across a deeply weathered root zone in a seasonally dry forest in coastal California. These observations are made possible by a Vadose‐zone Monitoring System on a steep...

Groundwater is a major source of stream baseflow during the summer and can supply additional water to plant transpiration, which may be particularly important in Mediterranean environments where the growing season is decoupled from wet season precipitation. However, little is known about how forest management may affect groundwater level. We used a paired watershed design in a northern California coast redwood forest to study how intrinsic and extrinsic factors as well as harvesting affect groundwater level and the connectivity between soils, groundwater, and streams. Geomorphic variables...