In Search of Answers

I hope you’ll read our recent Fire Science Digest on Bark Beetles.  Our intent with this publication was to present the differing views and uncertainty about fire management in beetle-killed forests. It’s not the final and definitive word on the subject by a long shot. 

We'll continue to make research investments in the complex relationships surrounding fire management in beetle-killed forests.  Our promise is to keep you supplied with the latest research on this and many other topics as new information becomes available.  While we're at it we'd like to point you to a few more resources and science perspectives:

Utah State University's excellent web page on bark beetles and fire.

Video from The University of Colorado - 

Colorado's Forests and the Pine Beetle Epidemic

Professor Jeff Mitton and researchers from the University of Colorado explain the connection between the unprecedented mountain pine beetles epidemic and climate change in Colorado.

Part of the series "Climate and Colorado's Future," produced by the Office of University Outreach at the University of Colorado Boulder, Sovereign Pictures, and Landlocked Films. 

           

And another batch of recent publications.... 

Fuels and Fire Behavior Dynamics in Bark Beetle-Attacked Forests in Western North America and Implications for Fire Management (pdf)

Jenkins, MJ, Page, WG, Hebertson, EG, Alexander, ME. 2012. Forest Ecology and Management. 275:23-34. (prepress version) 

Wildfire Provides Refuge from Local Extinction But is an Unlikely Driver of Outbreaks By Mountain Pine Beetle (pdf)

Powell,EN, Townsend, PA, Raffa, KF. 2012.  Ecological Monographs, 82(1):69-84

Do Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreaks Change the Probability of Active Crown Fire in Lodgepole Pine Forests? (pdf)

Simard, M, Romme, WH, Griffin, JM, Turner, MG. 2011. Ecological Monographs, 81(1):3-24

Let us know what you think of this offering by leaving your comment or send an email or give me a call. 

Keep smilin'

Tim Swedberg

Email: tswedber@blm.gov   

Office: (208) 387 - 5865

Twitter: @FirescienceGov

Visit us on Facebook

Why The Black Covers?

Fire History and Climate Change

When you see a Black Series publication from Firescience.Gov, you can be assured that we've assembled the most current fire science information on any given topic or issue.

Today, we offer managers the Fire History and Climate Change Synthesis. It should be on every fire or resource manager's bookshelf, or iPad, or hard drive. Our thanks to William T. Sommers, Stanley G. Coloff, and  Susan G. Conard, for writing this important publication. This work is the result of JFSP Project 09-2-01-09.

You can download the publication by individual chapter, or you can request a free CD.

Let us know what you think of this offering by leaving your comment below. 

Keep smilin'

Tim

Tim Swedberg
Communication Director
Joint Fire Science Program


Email: tswedber@blm.gov
Office: (208) 387 - 5865
Twitter:@FireScienceGOV
Visit us on Facebook
www.firescience.gov

Synthesizing Knowledge and Science for Mixed Conifer Forests

A Guest Post by Dr. Zander Evans

JFSP recently released the latest in its series of fuel treatment syntheses that covers the mixed conifer forests of California, Central and Southern Rockies, and the Southwest. The southern mixed conifer fuel treatment syntheses uses nearly 380 scientific articles, agency reports, and other references to answer questions about historic conditions, fire regimes, the impact of altered fire regimes, fuels treatment effectiveness, and treatment impacts. A central goal for the guide is to combine existing peer-reviewed literature and information gathered from dozens of interviews with managers.

The synthesis highlights the importance of heterogeneity in mixed conifer forests. Pre-settlement fires in mixed conifer forests burned on intervals that averaged between eight and 25 years for the Sierra Nevada, Southern Rockies, and Southwestern mixed conifer. Low-severity fires were more frequent in some mixed conifer forests; but, in general, mixed conifer forests have historically tended to be heterogeneous mixtures in which species composition, forest structure, and fuel loads change over short distances. Since the late 1800s, logging, fire suppression, road building, and livestock grazing have reduced the frequency of fire and increased tree densities-resulting in more homogeneous forests.

Currently, many fuel treatments seek to restore heterogeneity, i.e., the mosaic of openings and stands of varying densities across the landscape. Rather than just removing trees to create evenly spaced crowns, managers are experimenting with creating gaps and openings to change fire behavior. Innovative managers are creating more landscape heterogeneity by implementing prescribed burns across large mixed conifer forests, such as early season prescriptions using aerial ignition to burn upslope where remaining snow can control the fire. Of course fuel treatments are also designed to reduced wildfire hazard and in most mixed conifer forests, thinning that treats both the canopy and understory (crown and low thinnings) combined with prescribed fire is the most effective way to do that. 

Stephens Lab | University of California Berkeley

However, land management objectives or external constraints can make other tools, such as mastication or prescribed fire alone, more appropriate. Treatments must be maintained for their fuel reduction effect to be sustained, and no single treatment will reverse a long history of fire exclusion. The synthesis also discusses numerous complications and barriers to implementing fuels treatments in mixed conifer forests such as smoke management, wildlife habitat protections and retirement of experts, that can make these treatments more complicated, though not impossible.

We hope you find this guide useful, and look forward to your feedback.

Zander Evans is Research Director for www.forestguild.org. He can be reached at zander@forestguild.org, by phone at 505-983-8992, ext.36, and via Twitter @forestguild