Treesearch

Fire severity classifications are used in the post-fire environment to describe fire effects, such as soil alteration or fuel consumption, on the forest floor. Most of the developed classifications are limited because they address very specific fire effects or post-burn characteristics in the burned environment. However, because fire effects vary so much among soil, hydrology, vegetation, chemistry, particulate, and spatial distribution, it is important to realize that the impressions of burn severity are governed by the method used to classify the fire effects. The objective of this study...

Fire is an important driver in ecosystem evolution, composition, structure and distribution, and is vital for maintaining ecosystems of the Great Sandy Region (GSR). Charcoal records for the area dating back over 40, 000 years provide evidence of the great changes in vegetation composition, distribution and abundance in the region over time as a result of fire. Fires have shaped landscapes and ecosystems, creating fire-dependencies and fire disturbance-adapted flora and fauna with traits to survive fire, such as resprouting post-fire and serotiny of cones and fruit. However such traits are...

The Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC) is a composite departure measure that compares current vegetation structure and fire regime to historical reference conditions. FRCC is computed as the average of: 1) Vegetation departure (VDEP) and 2) Regime (frequency and severity) departure (RDEP). In addition to the FRCC rating, the Vegetation Condition Class (VCC) and Regime Condition Class (RCC) are produced to indicate the status of each. FRCC assessments are applied as ecological condition measures across the U.S. for land and fire management plans, National Environmental Policy Act documents,...

This presentation recapitulates the main points made at a technology and information transfer workshop held in advance of the conference that provided overviews of two software applications, developed by the authors, for use in assessing crown fire behavior and canopy fuel characteristics. These are the Crown Fire Initiation and Spread (CFIS) software system and the Canopy Fuel Stratum Characteristics Calculator. Both of these application tools are based on model formulations and performance evaluations that have appeared in the scientific peer-reviewed literature.

Historically, frequent, low-severity fires maintained opengrown structure of dry ponderosa pine forests (Hessburg and Agee 2003). Thus, an open forest structure may be a reasonable template for ecological restoration in those particular forest types (Allen and others 2002). In contrast, setting goals for ecosystem management and restoration targets in the vast majority of forests that are typified by mixed-severity fire, where forest structure historically varied across time and space, has proven more difficult (Halofsky and others 2011; Perry and others 2011).

Towers and poles supporting power transmission and telecommunication lines have collapsed due to heating from wildland fires. Such occurrences have led to interruptions in power or communication in large municipal areas with associated social and political implications as well as increased immediate danger to humans. Vegetation clearance standards for overhead conductors in the US have been specified to prevent ignition due to arcing from the power line to ground or to minimize potential fire ignition by hot sparks from a line fault that fall into vegetation on the ground. The California...

We reviewed the principles and key literature related to forest tenure and sustainable forest management, and then examined the status of sustainable forestry and land ownership at the aggregate national level for major forested countries. The institutional design principles suggested by Ostrom are well accepted for applications to public, communal, and private lands. The analyses of countries as a whole suggest that problems of forest land loss and sustainable forest management are related to the amount of public lands owned, as well as the difference between developed and developing...

Large wildland fires in conifer forests typically involve some degree of crowning, with their initiation and propagation dependent upon several characteristics of the canopy fuels. Recent outbreaks of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) in lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Dougl. var. latifolia E ngelm.) forests and spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby) in Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii Parry ex Engelm.) forests have affected vast areas across western and northern North America, which have subsequently produced forests containing relatively large amounts of...

This study examined the distribution of metals in residential soils from the scale of a residential yard to a metropolitan area by comparing residences along an urbanization gradient in the Baltimore–Washington area, USA. In addition, earthworms and terrestrial isopods were sampled from residential yards to measure body burdens of metals. Soil metal concentrations from lawns and planting bed (road, foundation, and yard) patches were compared (1) among land-use types (inner urban, outer urban, suburban, and rural); (2) between pre- and post-1940 built residential structures; and (3) among...

Systems to estimate forest fire potential commonly utilize one or more indexes that relate to expected fire behavior; however they indicate neither the chance that a large fire will occur, nor the expected number of large fires. That is, they do not quantify the probabilistic nature of fire danger. In this work we use large fire occurrence information from the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity project, and satellite and surface observations of fuel conditions in the form of the Fire Potential Index, to estimate two aspects of fire danger: 1) the probability that a 1 acre ignition will...