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Mixed-conifer forest resilience: from theory to practice

2021 Synthesis

Description

This synthesis summaries a set of papers the explore the relationship between landscape-level forest resilience and disturbance regimes and provides strategies for the effective forest management of Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forests.


Author

This synthesis was initially drafted in fulfillment of an upper-level college course at UC Berkeley by Christian Jordan, Kathryn Low, and Adam Taylor during Spring 2020 and was revised by Alison Paulson.

Contact

Alison Paulson, akpaulson@ucdavis.edu

Additional Information

Battisti, A., Carroll A., Fleming, R., Hantula, J. 2010. Forest Health in a Changing Environment. International Union of Forest Research Organizations: Forests and Society—Responding to Global Drivers of Change: 113- 134. 

Churchill, D.J., Larson, A.J., Dahlgreen, M.C., Franklin, J.F., Hessburg, P.F., and Lutz, J.A. 2013. Restoring forest resilience: From reference spatial patterns to silvicultural prescriptions and monitoring. Forest Ecology and Management 291:442–457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2012.11.007

Dolanc, C. R., Safford, H. D., Thorne, J. H., and Dobrowski, S. Z. 2014. Changing forest structure across the landscape of the Sierra Nevada, CA, USA, since the 1930s. Ecosphere 5(8): Article 101. https://doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00103.1

Dudney, J., Hobbs, R.J., Heilmayr, R., Battles, J.J., and Suding, K.N. 2018. Navigating novelty and risk in resilience management. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 33: 863-873. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2018.08.012

Forest Climate Action Team (FCAT). 2018. California Forest Carbon Plan: Managing Our Forest Landscapes in a Changing Climate. Sacramento, CA. 178p. 

Franklin, J.F., Mitchell, R.J., Palik, B.J. 2007. Natural Disturbance and Stand Development Principles for Ecological Forestry. USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station. GTR-NRS-19. https://doi.org/10.2737/NRS-GTR-19 

Gonzalez, P., Neilson, R. P., Lenihan, J. M., Drapek, R. J. 2010. Global patterns in the vulnerability of ecosystems to vegetation shifts due to climate change. Global Ecology and Biogeography 19: 755-768. 

Holling, C. S. 1973. Resilience and stability of ecological systems. Annual Review of Ecological Systems 4: 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.es.04.110173.000245 

Knapp, E. E., Lydersen, J. M., North, M. P., Collins, B. M. 2017. Efficacy of variable density thinning and prescribed fire for restoring forest heterogeneity to mixed-conifer forest in the central Sierra Nevada, CA. Forest Ecology and Management 406: 228–241. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.08.028 

Koontz, M. J., North, M. P., Werner, C. M., Fick, S. E., Latimer, A. M. 2020. Local forest structure variability increases resilience to wildfire in dry western U.S. coniferous forests. Ecology Letters 23: 483-494. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13447.

Levine, C.R. 2017. Forest resilience measured: Using a multi-timescale approach to quantify forest resilience in a changing world. PhD dissertation. University of California, Berkeley, California, USA. 

Maher, C. T., Oja, E., Marshall, A., Cunningham, M., Townsend, L., Worley-Hood, G., Robinson, L. R., Margot, T., Lyons, D., Fety, S. and Schneider, E. E., Jeronimo, S. M. A., Churchill, D. J., Larson, A. J. 2019. Real-time monitoring with a tablet app improves implementation of treatments to enhance forest structural diversity. Journal of Forestry 117: 280–292. https://doi.org/10.1093/jofore/fvz003  

Meyer, M., Long, J., Safford, H. (editors). 2021. Postfire restoration framework for national forests in California. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station General Technical Report PSW-GTR-270. Albany, CA. www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr 270/ 

Millar, C. I., Stephenson, N. L., and Stephens, S. L. 2007. Climate change and forests of the future: managing in the face of uncertainty. Ecological Applications 17(8): 2145-2151. https://doi.org/10.1890/06-1715.1

Millar, C. I., Swanston, C. W., Peterson, D. L. 2014. “Adapting to Climate Change.” Chapter 8 in Climate Change and United States Forests, Advances in Global Change Research. Eds: D. L. Peterson et al. Pgs. 183-222.  

Millar, C. I., Stephenson, N. L. 2015. Temperate forest health in an era of emerging megadistrubance. Science 349(6250): 823-826.  

North, M. P., Stevens, J. T., Greene, D. F., Coppoletta, M., Knapp, E. E., Latimer, A. M., Restaino, C. M., Tompkins, R. E., Welch, K. R., York, R. A., Young, D. J. N., Axelson, J. N., Buckley, T. N., Estes, B. L., Hager, R. N., Long, J. W., Meyer, M. D., Ostoja, S. M., Safford, H. D., Shive, K. L., Tubbesing, C. L., Vice, H., Walsh, D., Werner, C. M., Wyrsch, P. 2019. Tamm Review: Reforestation for resilience in dry western U.S. forests. Forest Ecology and Management 432: 209–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.09.007 

Nagel, L. M., Palik, B. J., Battaglia, M. A., D’Amato, A. W., Guldin, J. M., Swanston, C. W., Janowiak, M. K., Powers, M. P., Joyce, L. A., Millar, C. I., Peterson, D. L., Ganio, L. M., Kirschbaum, C., Roske, M. R. 2017. Adaptive silviculture for climate change: A national experiment in managerscientist partnerships to apply an adaptationframework. Journal of Forestry 115(3): 167–178. https://doi.org/10.5849/jof.16-039. 

Reyer, C. P. O., Rammig, A., Brouwers, N., and Langerwisch, F. 2015. Forest resilience, tipping points and global change processes. Journal of Ecology 103:1-4. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.12342  

Rissman, A. R., Burke, K. D., Kramer, H. A. C., Radeloff, V. C., Schilke, P. R., Selles, O. A., Toczydlowski, R. H., Wardropper, C. B., Barrow, L. A., Chandler, J. L., Geleynse, K., L’Roe, A. W., Laushman, K. M., and Schomaker, A. L. 2018. Forest management for novelty, persistence, and restoration influenced by policy and society. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 16(8), pp.454-462. doi:10.1002/fee.1818 

Schmidt, L., Hille, M.G., Stephens, S.L. 2006. Restoring Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest composition and structure with prescribed fires of varying intensities. Fire Ecology 2(2):20-33. https://doi.org/10.4996/fireecology.0202020 

Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Project (SNAMP). 2015. “Chapter 1: Introduction.”  

Stephens, S. L., B. M. Collins, C. J. Fettig, M. A. Finney, C. M. Hoffman, E. E. Knapp, M. P. North, H. Safford, and R. B. Wayman. 2018. Drought, tree mortality, and wildfire in forests adapted to frequent fire. BioScience 68(2): 77-88. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/bix146  

Stephens, S. L., Lydersen, J. M., Collins, B. M., Fry, D. L., and Meyer, M. D. 2015. Historical and current landscapescale ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forest structure in the Southern Sierra Nevada. Ecosphere 6(5): 79. https://doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00379.1

Stephens, S. L., Martin, R. E., Clinton, N. E. 2007. Prehistoric fire area and emissions from California’s forests, woodlands, shrublands and grasslands. Forest Ecology and Management 251: 205–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2007.06.005 

Tubbesing, C. L., Fry, D. L., Roller, G. B., Collins, B. M., Fedorova, V. A., Stephens, S. L., Battles, J. J. 2019. Strategically placed landscape fuel treatments decrease fire severity and promote recovery in the northern Sierra Nevada. Forest Ecology and Management 436: 45–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2019.01.010. 

Valor, T., Battipaglia, G., Piqué, M. Altieri, S., González-Olabarria, J.R., Casals, P. 2020. The effect of prescribed burning on the drought resilience of Pinus nigra ssp. salzmannii Dunal (Franco) and P. sylvestris L. Annals of Forest Science 77(13): 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13595-019-0912-1 

Westerling, A. L., Hidalgo, H. G., Cayan, D. R., Swetnam, T. W. 2006. Warming and earlier spring increase western U.S. forest wildfire activity. Science 313: 940-943. DOI:10.1126/science.1128834