Fire Management and Invasive Plants: a Handbook United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Manual

Brooks, ML and M Lusk. 2008 

This manual targets fire management staff and is designed to summarize the links between fire management and invasive plant invasions and management. It also provides practical guidelines that fire managers should consider with respect to invasive plants. Minimum recommendations   fall into two broad categories. First, prevent dispersal of invasive plants by:

1) locating fire camps and staging areas in areas relatively free of weeds and other invasive plant;
 2) washing vehicles and equipment before and after being used within a project area (i.e.,  treatment area, fireline); and
3) ensuring that any revegetation (e.g., seed mixes) or other organic material (e.g., straw mulch) that is introduced into the project area is certified as weed-free.

 Second,  minimize resource available to invasive plants by:
1) removing only enough vegetation to accomplish the management objectives (e.g, creating   a managed fuel zone, constructing a fireline; and
2) replacing highly flammable vegetation with less flammable vegetation as an alternative strategy to complete vegetation removal when creating a managed fuel zone.           

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