The efficacy of Red Flag Warnings in mitigating human-caused wildfires

/
The efficacy of Red Flag Warnings in mitigating human-caused wildfires

In our efforts to predict fire danger, we coupled CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) FRAP (Fire and Resource Assessment Program) fire data with hourly climate data from four stations, and with regional indices of SAW wind speed, and with seasonal drought data from the Palmer Drought Severity Index. We found that different tools work better for SAW fires versus non-SAW fires.

View Research Brief

Full Article will be available soon.

Read More

Climate and weather drivers in southern California Santa Ana Wind and non-Santa Wind fires

/
Climate and weather drivers in southern California Santa Ana Wind and non-Santa Wind fires

In our efforts to predict fire danger, we coupled CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) FRAP (Fire and Resource Assessment Program) fire data with hourly climate data from four stations, and with regional indices of SAW wind speed, and with seasonal drought data from the Palmer Drought Severity Index. We found that different tools work better for SAW fires versus non-SAW fires.

View Research Brief

View Full Article (Open Access)

Read More

Human and climatic influences on wildfires ignited by recreational activities in national forests in Washington, Oregon, and California

/
Human and climatic influences on wildfires ignited by recreational activities in national forests in Washington, Oregon, and California

Fire is strongly linked to outdoor recreation in the United States. Recreational uses of fires, whether in designated campgrounds or the backcountry, include warmth, cooking, and fostering a comfortable atmosphere. However, through inattention, negligence, or bad luck, recreational fires sometimes ignite wildfires. This paper evaluates whether the density of wildfire ignited by recreation or ceremony on U.S. Forest Service lands, and the size of such wildfires, is influenced by proximity to designated campgrounds, visitor density, previous and current drought conditions, and the type of vegetation surrounding the ignition point.

View Research Brief

View Full Article

Read More

Using Stand Density Index (SDI) as a stocking guide in frequent fire forests

/
Using Stand Density Index (SDI) as a stocking guide in frequent fire forests

Quantification of competition levels in forest stands benefits assessments of stand health, vulnerability to stressors, and prediction of future stand dynamics. Because different forests have different carrying capacities that can be maintained given differences in site productivities, it is important to consider stocking in terms that are relative to these maximum levels. Stand Density Index (SDI) is a common metric of competition in temperate forests of Western North America, originating in 1933 and gaining widespread use within the field of forestry throughout the 20th century. The authors of this study synthesized the large body of published literature on SDI since its introduction in 1933.

Read More

Fire suppression biases fires to be more extreme

/
Fire suppression biases fires to be more extreme

Decades of fire suppression have increased fuel loads and fire severity, leading to the “fire suppression paradox”—by suppressing fires we make fires harder to put out in the future. However, in this study, the authors show a separate impact of fire suppression that may cause even greater increases in average fire severity than climate change or fuel accumulation.

View Research Brief

View Full Article (Open Access)

Read More

Climate change is narrowing and shifting prescribed fire windows

/
Climate change is narrowing and shifting prescribed fire windows

In this study, the authors used observed weather and climate data, as well as climate model simulations, to project shifts in the frequency and seasonality of burn windows in the Western United States. Real-world burn plans were used to calculate median upper and lower prescription values for weather, climate, and vegetation parameters. These upper and lower median values determined days that were suitable for prescribed fire (RxDay) at a given location, in both the past and in a warmer climate future.

View Research Brief

View Full Article

Read More

Trends in prescribed fire weather windows from 2000 to 2022 in California

/
Trends in prescribed fire weather windows from 2000 to 2022 in California

This study analyzed a 2-km hourly gridded weather dataset over a 23-year period to investigate the influence of climatological trends on prescribed fire weather windows. The authors explored how prescribed fire windows changed over this period for two California counties: Sonoma County near the coast and Plumas County in the Sierra Nevada, which contrast in land ownership types, vegetation, and climate. These counties represent diverse prescribed fire considerations in regions where recent catastrophic wildfire has drawn interest from land managers. Using burn prescriptions written by experienced local fire practitioners, the authors identified the degree of weather-driven change in prescribed fire opportunities for these two distinct areas within California.

View Research Brief

View Full Article (open access)

Read More

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

/
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.

View Research Brief PDF >

Read More

Forest recovery following extreme drought in California: Research Brief

/
Forest recovery following extreme drought in California: Research Brief

This study compares post-drought forests to historical forests to understand if the recent tree mortality event shifted forests closer to or further from resilient conditions.

View Research Brief PDF >

Photo credit: Historic conditions in a ponderosa pine stand circa 1917. Source: Sierra National Forest Photo HP0313

Read More

Interactions Between Fire and Climate in the California Sierra Nevada: Research Synthesis

/
Interactions Between Fire and Climate in the California Sierra Nevada: Research Synthesis

Given the changing disturbance regimes and climate, there is a critical need to take decisive and extensive actions in the next 1-2 decades to conserve Sierra Nevada forests. This synthesis provides a summary of how climate change and fire are impacting our Sierra Nevada Mixed Conifer forests and how active management can help mitigate some of these impacts.

View Research Synthesis PDF >

Read More

Use Cross-scale Metrics to Help Manage for Resilience: Research Brief

/
Use Cross-scale Metrics to Help Manage for Resilience: Research Brief

In our changing world, community change may be a resilience response indicating a process of adaptation rather than of failure. Falk and colleagues (2019) argue that resilience goals should be updated to better apply to 21st century ecosystems.

View Research Brief PDF >

Read More

How to Manage for Resilience During Climate Change? Research Brief

/
How to Manage for Resilience During Climate Change? Research Brief

This research suggests that collaborative learning among stakeholders (aka knowledge coproduction) would be a good way to develop context specific resiliency metrics and goals, making the term more useful by operationalizing it.

View Research Brief PDF >

Read More

How Sierra Nevada Tree Mortality changed with Management, Precipitation and Forest Density: Research Brief

/
How Sierra Nevada Tree Mortality changed with Management, Precipitation and Forest Density: Research Brief

This paper compares tree mortality patterns in treated (thinned and/or burned) forested stands to untreated stands and how these treatments affect forest response to drought.

View Research Brief PDF >

Read More

Interval Squeeze In Action: Modeling Woody Plant Species Survival Under Three Climate Scenarios: Research Brief

/
Interval Squeeze In Action: Modeling Woody Plant Species Survival Under Three Climate Scenarios: Research Brief

To test the Interval Squeeze Model concept on real, fire sensitive woody species, these authors created a process-based model of a plant population that could be used for any serotinous, fire-killed species.

View Research Brief PDF >

Read More

Vulnerability of chaparral plant functional types to multiple stressors: climate, fire and land use: Recorded Presentation

/
Vulnerability of chaparral plant functional types to multiple stressors: climate, fire and land use: Recorded Presentation

Presenter: Janet Franklin (UC Riverside)

View recorded presentation>

View Powerpoint PDF >


Presented at the 3rd California Chaparral Symposium: Global Change and the Vulnerability of Chaparral Ecosystems. May 14-16, 2018. Arcadia, CA.  

Read More

Global change and the vulnerability of chaparral shrubs to acute drought versus chronic drought: Recorded Presentation

/
Global change and the vulnerability of chaparral shrubs to acute drought versus chronic drought: Recorded Presentation

Presenter: Stephen Davis (Pepperdine Univ.)

View recorded presentation>

View Powerpoint PDF >

Presented at the 3rd California Chaparral Symposium: Global Change and the Vulnerability of Chaparral Ecosystems. May 14-16, 2018. Arcadia, CA.  

Read More

Human Presence Diminishes the Importance of Climate in Determining U.S. Fire Activity: Research Brief

/
Human Presence Diminishes the Importance of Climate in Determining U.S. Fire Activity: Research Brief

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers with the Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Geological Survey showed that, across the U.S. on landscapes dominated by humans, climate has played a relatively small role in determining wildfire activity.

View Research Brief PDF >

Read More

Are historical fire regimes compatible with future climate? Implications for forest restoration: Research Brief

/
Are historical fire regimes compatible with future climate? Implications for forest restoration: Research Brief

Future climate-induced shifts in fire regimes and plant distributions could uncouple vegetation from the fire regimes for which they are adapted. The brief discusses changes to fire-adapted plant communities under modeled climate change scenarios and their implications on the Kaibab Plateau landscape.

View Research Brief PDF >

Read More