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National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) data indicate that wildfires destroyed approximately 9,000 homes between 1985 and 1994 in the United States. The loss of homes to wildfire has had a significant impact on Federal fire policy. This fact sheet discusses the causes of home ignitions in the wildland-urban interface, home ignition zones, how to reduce home ignition potential, responsibility for reducing home ignition potential, and management consequences of the home ignition zone.Other publications in this series

The Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) provides accessible, up-to-date fire effects summaries, taken from current English-language literature, for almost 900 plant species, about 100 animal species, and 16 Kuchler plant communities found on the North American continent. This fact sheet discusses the development of FEIS and what is contained in the species summary.Other publications in this series

Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration; environmental consequences fact sheet 5: prescriptions and fire effects. Miller, Melanie. 2004. Res. Note RMRS-RN-23-5-WWW. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 2 p. While our understanding of the causes for variation in postfire effects is increasing, burn prescriptions may not always include parameters that control the long-term heat pulse from fire. This paper discusses (1) fuel consumption and fire effects, (2) prescription design considerations, and (3) planning a prescribed...

In 1993, the US Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida) as threatened, in part because of the rising threat to its habitat from stand-replacing wildfires. In 1997, we surveyed 33 owl sites that, in the previous four years, had burned at various levels ranging from light controlled burns to stand-replacing fires. We compared owl occupancy and reproduction in these burned sites to 31 unburned owl sites with similar habitat and topography. Although unburned sites showed higher proportions of both occupancy and reproduction, the negative relationship...

We explore the use of spatially correlated random treatments to reduce fuels in landscape patterns that appear somewhat natural while forming fully connected fuelbreaks between wildland forests and developed protection zones. From treatment zone maps partitioned into grids of hexagonal forest cells representing potential treatment sites, we selected cells to be treated at random using an algorithm that provides a varying degree of treatment clustering. One thousand or more such maps were used as sample replicates for parameter settings that included landscape size, fraction of area...

Pan evaporation (ETpan) has decreased at 64% of pans in the conterminous U.S. over the past half-century. Comparing trends in ETpan and water budget-derived actual evapotranspiration (ET*a), we observe the so-called ‘‘Pan Evaporation Paradox,’’ which we confirm is no more than a manifestation of the complementarity between actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and potential evapotranspiration (ETp). Examining trends in the components of ETa—the radiative energy and regional advective budgets—we show that both components must be considered together to explain the relationship between ETpan and ET*a.

The reliability of estimating salt content in saturated extracts from 1:5 (1spoil:5water) extract levels for bentonite mine spoil was examined by regression analyses. Nine chemical variables were examined that included pH, EC, Ca++, Mg++, Na+, K+, HCO3-, SO4-, and Cl-. Ion concentrations from 1:5 extracts were estimated with high predictability for Ca++, Mg++, Na+, SO4-, HCO3-, and EC conductivity. Overall, calculated ion concentrations from 1:5 extracts show significant relationships with saturation extracts, except for Cl- and K+. The significant relationships we found suggest that 1:5...

Lewis's woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) is a locally common but patchily distributed woodpecker species usually seen in open forests of western North America. The combination of its sporadic distribution, its diet of adult-stage free-living insects (primarily aerial), its preference to nest in burned landscapes, and its variable migratory behavior makes it a unique member of New World woodpeckers.

This publication is designed to help you minimize the risks of losing your home from wildfire. The first step is to understand wildife and how homes are destroyed. Next, consider the fire resistiveness of your house and the surrounding landscape, and take the necessary steps to minimize your home ignition potential. After taking care of your home and immediate surroundings, you can move out into your surrounding forest or rangeland and take additional steps to minimize your risk.

A map of extant slope failures is the most basic element of any landslide assessment. Without an accurate inventory of slope instability, it is not possible to analyze the controls on the spatial and temporal patterns of mass movement or the environmental, human, or geomorphic consequences of slides. Landslide inventory maps are tedious to compile, difficult to make in vegetated terrain using conventional techniques, and tend to be subjective. In addition, most landslide inventories simply outline landslide boundaries and do not offer information about landslide mechanics as manifested by...