Prescribed burning and the drought: go or no go? Research Brief

Prescribed burning and the drought: go or no go? Research Brief

Research Brief/Management Consideration. One topic that is generating a great deal of interest among fire management professionals as California enters the fall prescribed fire season is whether we should be burning during this fourth year of drought.  This brief discusses what managers should consider before doing a prescribed burn.

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Principles of Effective Federal Fire Management Plans: Research Brief

Principles of Effective Federal Fire Management Plans: Research Brief

The six features of effective federal fire management plans are: consistent and compatible, 
collaborative, clear and comprehensive, spatially and temporally scalable, informed by the best
available science, flexible and adaptive. Additional tools and strategies are discussed.

Meyer, M. D., Roberts, S. L., Wills, R., Brooks, M., & Winford, E. M.. 2015. Principles of effective USA federal fire management plans. Fire Ecology 11(2): 59–83. doi: 10.4996/fireecology.1102059.

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Response of California Spotted Owls to Fire and Salvage Logging in Southern California: Research Brief

Response of California Spotted Owls to Fire and Salvage Logging in Southern California: Research Brief

In this study, the average core area of the owls’ pre-fire forest habitat was 106 ha with a greater proportion of hardwoods compared to an average core area of 180 ha in the Sierra in which conifers dominate. 

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5-Years of Small Mammal Response to Fire Severity in a Southern California Mixed Conifer Forest: Research Brief

5-Years of Small Mammal Response to Fire Severity in a Southern California Mixed Conifer Forest: Research Brief

In this 5-year study, the post-fire populations and microhabitat preferences of four small mammal species were compared. The study analyzed preferences in unburned, moderate and high-severity fire in mixed conifer forest.

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The “Interval Squeeze”- Fire and Climate Change Combine to Accelerate Woody Plant Loss in Dry Climates: Research Brief

The “Interval Squeeze”- Fire and Climate Change Combine to Accelerate Woody Plant Loss in Dry Climates: Research Brief

Hotter, drier climates resulting from climate change will reduce the ability of woody plants to recover after fire. When combined with shorter fire return intervals, the resulting “interval squeeze” increases the risk for individual species extirpation.  

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Fire and fuel treatment effects on understory plant diversity in California mixed-conifer forests: Research Brief

Fire and fuel treatment effects on understory plant diversity in California mixed-conifer forests: Research Brief

The authors surveyed understory vegetation across a gradient of increasing canopy loss, ranging from unmanaged forest to fuel treatments, fuel treatments followed by low-moderate severity wildfire, and high-severity wildfire only.

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Listening and Learning from Traditional Knowledge and Western Science: A Dialogue on Contemporary Challenges of Forest Health and Wildfire: Journal Article

Journal of Forestry Abstract: "Native Americans relied on fire to maintain a cultural landscape that sustained their lifeways for thousands of years. Within the past 100 years, however, policies of fire exclusion have disrupted ecological processes, elevating risk of wildfire, insects, and disease, affecting the health and availability of resources on which the tribes depend..."
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Longer-term post fire vegetation dynamics and predicted invasive species habitat suitability: Presentation PDF

Presented at the Mojave Desert Fire Science and Management Workshop. Barstow, CA 2014.
This presentation explains the use and implication of utilizing modeling tools to predict invasive species distribution after a fire. 
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Prehistoric and historic fire in the Mojave Desert: Presentation PDF

Presented at the Mojave Desert Fire Science and Management Workshop. Barstow, CA 2014.

Conclusions from this presentation include statements about the prehistoric, historic, and current characteristics in the Mojave desert area. For example, high elevation and riparian vegetation types contain many species that evolved with fire, whereas lower elevation vegetation is characterized by species that evolved with very little fire.

Presenter: Matthew Brooks

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Precipitation Regime Classification for the Mojave Desert:Presentation PDF

The goals of this project were to provide a more detailed representation of the rainfall patterns in the Mojave and to compare the current precipitation regime and patterns with both historic patterns and predicted future patterns.

Presenter: Jerry Tagestad et al.
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Modeling Probability of Ignition & Fire Severity Across The Mojave Ecoregion: Presentation PDF

Presented at the Mojave Desert Fire Science and Management Workshop. Barstow, CA 2014.
This presentation discusses the process of model development to map the ignition probability and fire severity. 
Presenter: Emma Underwood et al.
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Fire In The Mojave Ecoregion: Past, Present, And A Little Bit Into The Future: Presentation PDF

This presentation discusses findings from two large scale integrated projects. The overarching goals of these projects were to use models and create tools about resource issues such as non-native species, postfire vegetation, ignition likelihood and fire severity.
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Effectiveness of post-fire aerial seedings in the Northeastern Mojave Desert: Presentation PDF

This presentation was given at the Mojave Desert Fire Science and Management Workshop. Barstow, CA 2014.

Results from multiple studies on seeding in the Mojave Desert are presented in this presentation. 

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Research that Benefits Native People - A Guide for Tribal Leaders: Curriculum Module

"...Access to data allows tribal leaders to make informed decisions, be proactive about shaping the future of their communities, secure funding for programs to benefit the community, and refine the programs currently offered to tribal citizens. "
Visit the NCAI website to learn more about their "Research that Benefits Native People" curriculum.

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Fire Burners to Firefighters: The Nez Perce and Fire: Journal Article

Abstract: "This article presents results from an interview-based case study examining burning practices of the Nez Perce tribe in the Inland Northwest in both their contemporary and historical policy context. Despite the lack of a prominent fire tradition, our interviews uncovered a legacy of knowledge and cultural traditions linked to fire and a variety of contemporary fire practices on the reservation performed by land-management professionals and individual tribal members. Many of these practices, particularly those involving broadcast burning, have diminished over the years. We examine the reasons for this and the potentials for mitigating some of the practical and policy constraints to such burning. We conclude that the nontribal community still has much to learn about fire from those who have lived in fire-adapted landscapes longer than anyone else."

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Participatory Research in Conservation and Rural Livelihoods: Book

Description:   "Participatory Research in Conservation and Rural Livelihoods starts from the understanding that all people create knowledge and that the   creation of sustainable livelihoods and of conditions that protect and sustain rural ecosystems are interrelated. Interdependent science, that is, science undertaken collaboratively by local and professional   scientists, can create new knowledge to achieve conservation goals.   Local experts and professional researchers demonstrate that   interdependent science can produce more accurate and locally appropriate data. Conservation scientists and practitioners will both benefit from  reading this book."
Link to site for purchasing >

Fortmann, Louise (ed). 2008. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.       

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