In dry frequent-fire forests of the western US, forest restoration goals are often focused on promoting resilience to disturbances. This brief highlights ways to manage dry western forests for improved resilience.
Read MoreWildfires in California burn across a broad diversity of land cover types with different implications for each unique ecosystem. This paper shows that most of California’s recent wildfires burn outside of forests and forest management is just one piece of a very large, very nuanced problem.
Read MoreWith narrowing and potentially non-existent opportunities during other times of year, winter may currently be the most realistic and advantageous time to conduct prescribed burns. This study evaluated the effectiveness and feasibility of winter burning to demonstrate its potential utility in mixed conifer forests.
Read MoreThis 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.
Read MoreLocal 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.
Read MoreThis 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.
Read MoreIn 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%.
Read MoreIn this study, pyrosilviculture is presented as a conceptual management framework that merges prescribed fire and silvicultural systems for promoting resilient and sustainably managed forests.
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreTo 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.
Read MoreThis 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
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 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
Read MoreIn 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.
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreThis paper provides statistical comparisons of wildfires and Rx burning in the three Sierra Nevada NPS parks and six adjacent USFS forests for the period from 1968 through 2017.
Read MoreUnderstanding 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.
Read MoreDo 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read More
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.
View the about page to learn more >
This regional Fire Science Exchange is one of 15 regional fire science exchanges.
Link to another exchange:
