JFSP Fire Science Exchange Network
This brief discusses adjustments to current silvicultural systems in Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forests to align more closely with historical disturbance regimes, emphasizing ecological silviculture approaches like prescribed fire, mechanical treatments, and gap-based harvesting to enhance forest resilience and restoration.
Read MoreThis paper asserts that prescribed fire will be a key tool in the development of new approaches to reintroduce structural complexity in young forests and enable them to persist through future wildfires.
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Read MoreIn our efforts to predict fire danger, we coupled CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) FRAP (Fire and Resource Assessment Program) fire data with hourly climate data from four stations, and with regional indices of SAW wind speed, and with seasonal drought data from the Palmer Drought Severity Index. We found that different tools work better for SAW fires versus non-SAW fires.
Full Article will be available soon.
Read MoreIn our efforts to predict fire danger, we coupled CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) FRAP (Fire and Resource Assessment Program) fire data with hourly climate data from four stations, and with regional indices of SAW wind speed, and with seasonal drought data from the Palmer Drought Severity Index. We found that different tools work better for SAW fires versus non-SAW fires.
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Read MoreResearchers from Michigan State University and the USFS Fire Behavior Assessment Team used 15 years of immediate pre- and post-fire fuel and wildfire behavior data to identify the role of fire advancement mode and pre-fire environmental drivers (e.g., topography, fire weather, and fuel loadings) on fuel consumption and fire effects in California mixed-conifer forests.
Read MoreA new paper by USGS and partners investigated why some California wildfires are destructive and others are not.
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Read MoreIn a new study, USGS scientists and partners have found extensive drought-caused dieback in Southern California shrublands that subsequently burned in large wildfires.
Read MoreIn this important concept paper, Pausas and Keeley (2021) outline the mechanistic flow of complex drivers of wildfire for fire prone ecosystems. In brief, with ignitions, fuel continuity, and drought saturation points simultaneously lowered by the right weather, wildfire will be triggered.
Read MoreThis paper contrasts the two most important factors driving large fires: fuel-dominated vs. wind-dominated wildfires.
Read MoreThe authors show how live fuel moisture content in chaparral shrub species is highly variable. This brief offers new recommendations on how to best use live fuel moisture content as a measure of fire risk.
Read MoreUnderstanding the relative importance of biological and environmental characteristics conducive to a moderate severity wildfire can help managers predict outcomes to better guide when and where fires can safely be managed.
Read MoreAbstract: The objective of this project is to synthesize existing (extreme fire behavior) EFB knowledge in a way that connects the weather, fuel, and topographic factors that contribute to development of EFB. This synthesis will focus on the state of the science, but will also consider how that science is currently presented to the fire management community, including incident commanders, fire behavior analysts, incident meteorologists, National Weather Service office forecasters, and firefighters. It will seek to clearly delineate the known, the unknown, and areas of research with the greatest potential impact on firefighter protection.
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This study investigated the effect of burn season on direct and indirect tree mortality in mechanically thinned ponderosa and Jeffrey pine stands in California’s Tahoe National Forest.
Read MoreA Bayesian Network model was used to evaluate the relative importance of fuel and fuel treatments compared to weather and variables of the built and natural environment on wildfire risk at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) in San Diego County.
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The author examines social perceptions of risk of home ignition in the community of Forest Ranch, which is located in the Sierra-Cascade foothills near Chico in Butte County.
Read MoreA 2015 study by Meyer showed that the natural range of variation (NRV) concept and key fire severity indicators could be used to quantitatively evaluate the landscape-scale effects of large wildfires managed for resource objectives.
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The authors used spatial analyses to describe major wildfire patterns across a 5.8 million acre area of northwestern California.
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This study examined the historical fire intervals of two chaparral-dominated divisions of the Los Padres National Forest, California.
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Observations from the 2007 wildfire season in southern California led to several important implications for managing fire risk under these extreme environmental and social conditions.
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Authors of this paper present quantitative information on the differences in stand structure, fuel loading, and fire behavior in current and reconstructed riparian and upland areas in the Sierra Nevada.
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The California Fire Science Consortium is divided into 4 geographic regions and 1 wildland-urban interface (WUI) team. Statewide coordination of this program is based at UC Berkeley.
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This regional Fire Science Exchange is one of 15 regional fire science exchanges sponsored by Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP).
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