Treesearch

Climate strongly influences global wildfire activity, and recent wildfire surges may signal fire weather-induced pyrogeographic shifts. Here we use three daily global climate data sets and three fire danger indices to develop a simple annual metric of fire weather season length, and map spatio-temporal trends from 1979 to 2013. We show that fire weather seasons have lengthened across 29.6 million km2 (25.3%) of the Earth’s vegetated surface, resulting in an 18.7% increase in global mean fire weather season length. We also show a doubling (108.1% increase) of global burnable area affected...

Fire has profound effects on ecosystem properties, but few studies have addressed the effect of repeated burns on soil nutrients, and none have been conducted in cold desert ecosystems where invasion by exotic annual grasses is resulting in greater fire frequency. In a 5 year study, we examined effects of repeated burning, litter removal, and post-fire seeding on carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) contents in soils, litter, and vegetation in a cheatgrass-dominated Wyoming big sagebrush ecological type. We developed a multivariate model to identify potential mechanisms influencing treatment...

Family forest owners within the United States could potentially make significant contributions to sequestration efforts. However, we expect that landowners will need assistance if they are to successfully implement carbon management techniques and/or navigate through complex carbon market requirements. State forestry agencies were surveyed to gather their perspectives on carbon management and carbon market participation, assess current demand for assistance, and identify the types of state-sponsored programs available to landowners. Currently, only a few states have carbon management or...

Figured black walnut lumber is a specialty wood product that commands a high price for manufacturing fine furniture and interior paneling. Two common figured grain patterns occur in walnut; they are known as "fiddle-back" or "curly" grain, depending on the number of horizontal lines visible in the grain of the finished wood. The occurrence of figured walnut in nature is rare and unpredictable. Trees that have consistent figured patterns throughout the log are of exceptional value. Conversely, trees with partial or spotty figured patterns are considered defective and are reduced in value....

Numerous federal and state agencies, research institutions and stakeholders have undertaken tremendous conservation and research efforts across 11 States in the western United States to reduce threats to Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) and sagebrush (Artemisia spp) habitats. In 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) determined that the Greater Sage-Grouse was warranted for protection under the Endangered Species Act, but that action was precluded by higher priority listing actions. As part of a 2011 court settlement, USFWS agreed to make an initial determination...

Success of invasive annual grasses is often linked to increases in resources, and restoration ecologists have suggested that decreasing nitrogen (N) availability and restoring more conservative N cycles with lower N turnover should decrease the competitive advantage of these invaders and facilitate establishment of native perennials. We developed a multivariate conceptual model of the likely effects of environmental factors (precipitation and temperature) and potential management treatments (repeated burning, litter manipulation, and seeding an annual competitor) on soil N availability and...

Discriminating amongst spatial configurations and climax size of trees in forests along varying physical gradients from time since last disturbance is a significant component of applied forest management. Understanding what has led to the existing vegetation’s structure has important implications for monitoring succession and eco-hydrological interactions within the critical zone: the near-surface environment where rock, soil, air, and biota interact and regulate ecosystem services. This research demonstrates the utilities of local indicators of spatial association (LISA) to (1) quantify...

The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the area where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland, and it is where wildfires have their greatest impacts on people. Hence the WUI is important for wildfire management. This document and associated maps summarize the extent of the WUI in the conterminous United States in 2010. The maps and summary statistics are designed to inform both national policy and local land management concerning the WUI. The data presented here summarize the 2010 WUI at a national scale and for each of the 48 conterminous...

It is not surprising to us that the topic of forest restoration is being discussed in the Journal of Forestry. It is a topic frequently bantered about in the literature; a quick search in Google Scholar for "forest restoration" generates more than 1 million hits. A significant portion of the debate centers on the search for succinct, holistic, universally accepted terminology, and we confess that we have recently contributed to that effort (Stanturf et al. 2014a, 2014b). Given the lack of consensus on definitions for each word, forest and restoration, it should not be surprising that once...

National forests have been asked to assess how climate change will impact nearby human communities. To assist their thinking on this topic, we examine the concepts of social vulnerability and adaptive capacity with an emphasis on a range of theoretical and methodological approaches. This analysis is designed to help researchers and decision-makers select appropriate research approaches suited to particular planning and management needs. We first explore key conceptual frameworks and theoretical divisions, including different definitions of vulnerability and adaptive capacity. We then focus...