JFSP Fire Science Exchange Network
Sudden oak death (SOD), a forest disease caused by the pathogen Phytophthora ramorum, is a good example of a recently introduced disease with unknown implications for forest health and future disturbances. In the dry tanoak forests of northern California, the potential relationships between SOD and fire are of particular concern.
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A recent publication in BioScience by USGS, in collaboration with other scientists from North America, Australia, and South Africa, presents a multi-phase model describing the interrelationships between plant invaders and fire regimes.
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A study published in the Journal of Sustainable Forestry by scientists from the University of Nevada, Reno evaluated the effects of cut-‐to-‐ length harvesting with slash chipping on dead and downed surface fuels in a mixed conifer stand in California’s Lake Tahoe Basin.
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An increase in the frequency and spatial extent of stand-replacing fires in western North America has prompted concern for California spotted owls and other sensitive species associated with late-successional forests.
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Fire and invasive species may cause changes in biological, chemical, and physical properties of desert soils. Although soil may recover from the impacts of fire during succession, these changes are permanent under persistent invasive species.
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A century of fire exclusion in the western United States has altered oak woodland landscapes, resulting in severe compositional and structural changes that influence species diversity and distribution, fuel loading, and fire behavior and effects.
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Invasions of nonnative Tamarix spp. into desert riparian ecosystems in the southwestern U.S. and its replacement of native vegetation raises questions about potential shifts in fuel characteristics and fire behavior.
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McCaffrey (2004) investigated what types of information are most useful to increase public support concerning defensible space, prescribed burning, and thinning activities.
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This review paper describes geographical variation of mixed severity fire regimes in Pacific temperate forests and summarizes known information about fire effects and ecology in relation to the vegetation types characterized by such regimes.
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In a recent USFS publication, USGS scientist Dr. Jon Keeley led a team of scientists from various agencies and academic institutions in developing a framework that will inform fire management of ecosystems.
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There appears to be no indication that the frequency and severity of large fires have changed from historical fire regimes on landscapes as diverse as Rocky Mountain conifer forests and southern California chaparral.
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The National Fire and Fire Surrogates (FFS) study was designed to evaluate differences among alternative fuels reduction treatments in seasonally dry forests throughout the country, and to test the assumption that mechanical treatments might be used to accomplish the same stand structure and ecological goals as prescribed fire.
Read MorePost-fire fundamentals of the recovery process in California chaparral and sage scrub.
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Read MoreSatellite imagery has potential for assessing fire severity across broad landscapes and diverse vegetation types.
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This brief is based on a turn-‐of-‐the-century publication which is the first and most complete natural history of chaparral and its relationship to fire.
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Empirical analysis of fire history data by David Strauss and colleagues confirmed that a relatively small number of forest fires are responsible for a very high proportion of the total area burned.
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Chaparral plant communities recover after fire quite differently in Mediterranean-type climates versus non-Mediterranean-type climates.
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To better inform managers, there is a need for research to better explore many facets of WUI fires, including: hazard and risk assessment at small (e.g. community) scales; WUI fire behavior, including structure-to-structure spread; Structure exposure and vulnerability to both firebrands and heat; and Economic cost-benefit analyses of mitigation activities.
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A major emphasis of the review is the techniques for converting chaparral to grassland using different methods and their related effectiveness.
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Wells contended that fire was the selective force behind the convergent evolution of the obligate seeding strategy in Arctostaphylos and Ceanothus, and was accompanied by prolific speciation, due in part to a much greater number of sexual generations for seeders than for resprouters.
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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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