Managing fuel profiles in high severity burns: Research Brief

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Managing fuel profiles in high severity burns: Research Brief

This study measured wildland fuels (shrubs, downed logs, and fine woody debris) eleven years after high-severity fire converted a Sierra mixed-conifer forest to shrub-dominant vegetation. The findings of this study suggest that site preparation and vegetation control is an effective tool to reduce fuel loads and continuity of live and downed woody fuels in early seral environments created by high-severity fire.

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Roles of NGOs in wildfire relief and recovery: Research Brief

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Roles of NGOs in wildfire relief and recovery: Research Brief

Local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play important roles in community wildfire relief and recovery. This paper identifies challenges and opportunities for local NGOs involved in wildfire recovery drawing on three case studies from recent wildfires in Northern California.

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Using pyrosilviculture to make forests inclusive of fire at larger scales: Research Brief

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Using pyrosilviculture to make forests inclusive of fire at larger scales: Research Brief

This paper suggests pyrosilviculture, a combination of mechanical treatments and prescribed fire and/or managed wildfire, can be used strategically to modify future wildfires at larger spatial scales.

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California’s 1-million-acre goal: tracking our progress: Research Brief

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California’s 1-million-acre goal: tracking our progress: Research Brief

In this study, the authors integrated archival federal (FACTS) and state (CAL FIRE) forest activity databases dating from 1984 to 2019, analyzed current and historic management trends, and evaluated the archival record’s spatial accuracy against remotely sensed data. California’s progress toward the 1-million-acres of annually treated land is currently at 30%.

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Historical Review and Framework for Managed Fire Decision Making: Research Brief

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Historical Review and Framework for Managed Fire Decision Making: Research Brief

A new paper published in September in the journal Fire sheds light into the inherent socio-political complexities surrounding the managed fire decision making process. In the paper, the authors conduct an extensive review of the historical literature that pertains to managed fire decision making, described the range of factors managers consider in their decision, and present a conceptual framework of how decision factors fit together.

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Fitting Solutions to the Problems of California Wildfires Research Brief

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Fitting Solutions to the Problems of California Wildfires Research Brief

To demonstrate where resources might be better allocated across the state, these authors examined the distribution of area burned and structures lost across five different California vegetation types and how the distribution of fire has changed in these landscapes through time.

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Bet-Hedging Desert Restoration Practices during Drought: Research Brief

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Bet-Hedging Desert Restoration Practices during Drought: Research Brief

This brief compares the restoration treatments of outplanting and two abiotic treatments on disturbed sites in the Sonoran Desert of southeastern California. Overall results suggest that multiple treatment types, including abiotic treatments, can be implemented as a bet-hedging approach to achieve restoration benefits even if some treatments may fail.

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Field Guide for Estimating Desert Invasive Grass Fuel: Research Brief

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Field Guide for Estimating Desert Invasive Grass Fuel: Research Brief

The objective of this study was to assess feasibility of developing regression equations using a fast, non-destructive measure (cover) to estimate aboveground biomass for red brome, a widespread non-native annual grass in the Mojave Desert.

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Weather Impacts on Fire Thresholds: A Recipe for Big Fire: Research Brief

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Weather Impacts on Fire Thresholds: A Recipe for Big Fire: Research Brief

In 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.

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Mixed-conifer forest resilience: from theory to practice: Research Synthesis

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Mixed-conifer forest resilience: from theory to practice: Research Synthesis

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

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Blister rust, beetles, and fire threaten white pines: Research Brief

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Blister rust, beetles, and fire threaten white pines: Research Brief

In recent decades white pine blister rust, mountain pine beetle, and fire have increased in extent and caused tree mortality across the western USA. This study used long-term monitoring plots to determine mortality of four white pine species in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

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Fire and climate change: conserving seasonally dry forests is still possible: Research Brief

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Fire and climate change: conserving seasonally dry forests is still possible: Research Brief

A recent paper by Scott Stephens and co-authors asserts that conservation of western forests is still possible, and describes sensible, evidence-based strategies to improve forest ecosystem resilience.

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Burn weather and fuel structure help to determine post-fire tree mortality: Research Brief

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Burn weather and fuel structure help to determine post-fire tree mortality: Research Brief

Understanding post-fire tree mortality is important for planning restoration fire treatments that modify fire behavior and effects and models that reflect multiple spatial and temporal scales are effective tools.

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Forest Restoration and Fuels Reduction: Convergent or Divergent? Research Brief

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Forest Restoration and Fuels Reduction: Convergent or Divergent? Research Brief

Do fuel reduction treatments result in restored conditions that align with those found in historically frequent-fire forests of the west? A recent paper sets out to answer that question by examining the principles behind fuel reduction and forest restoration projects and identifying situations where the two approaches align and where they may diverge.

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Forest mid-story interactions with prescribed fire behavior: Research Brief

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Forest mid-story interactions with prescribed fire behavior: Research Brief

The study used models to predict fire behavior differences according to two primary factors: mid-story density (i.e. the ladder fuel layer) and live fuel moisture. This is relevant for prescribed burns because both of these factors can be modified when conducting burns.

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Drought and bark beetle induced tree mortality elevates wildfire severity of California’s Sierra Nevada forests: Research Brief

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Drought and bark beetle induced tree mortality elevates wildfire severity of California’s Sierra Nevada forests: Research Brief

This article uses field data from two wildfires (the 2015 Rough Fire and 2016 Cedar Fire) that burned in areas of recent severe tree mortality to examine whether and under what conditions the pre-fire tree mortality affected wildfire severity.

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Post-fire Restoration Framework for California’s National Forests: Research Brief

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Post-fire Restoration Framework for California’s National Forests: Research Brief

Restoration of landscapes affected by uncharacteristically large and severe wildfires in California requires a science-based framework to address a complexity of issues and concerns. The authors describe a set of ecological restoration principles, a landscape assessment process, and a framework for decision-making to plan and implement restoration projects.

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