First-entry fires create forest structures resilient to wildfire: Research Brief
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The authors of the paper explore the effectiveness of using wildfires as a tool to restore historical forest structures.
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Natural experiment shows SPLAT fuel treatment efficacy: Research Brief
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Strategically placed landscape area fuel treatments (SPLATs) in the Sierra Nevada were put to the test in this study when the American Fire burned through previously treated areas. Both fire effects and initial post-fire conifer regeneration were investigated.
Read MoreComparing Community Smoke Exposure from Wildfires to Prescribed Fire in the United States: Research Brief
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The objective of this research synthesis was to examine the differences in community level exposures to smoke from both wildfire and prescribed fire.
Read MoreA Century of Fire Ignition Causes in California: Sources are Changing: Research Brief
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This paper builds our understand of how the spatial distribution of different ignition sources have varied over time and space.
Read MoreNational Park Service Guidance for Invasive Plant Management Planning: Research Brief
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National guidance is provided for new and updated invasive plant management plans that meet federal standards
Read MoreCommunity Conversations: Applying Traditional Knowledge to Fire Management: Research Brief
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The authors use this paper to highlight some challenges and solutions in applying TK and western knowledge (WK) to current approaches of wildland fire, fuels, and natural and cultural resource management.
Read More12,000 Years of Chaparral Management by California Native People: Research Brief
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By mastering the art of prescription burning over thousands of years, native California tribes sustainably maximized chaparral ecosystem services like food, medicine, and building materials.
Read MoreWhat Type-converts Chaparral to Grassland in SoCA? Research Brief
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The authors show a direct connection between a diverse set of drivers and type-converted chaparral in Southern California. Example drivers include high frequency fire, land-use disturbance, moisture availability, and site flatness.
Read MoreResearchers & Professionals- Partnering For Ecosystem Conservation is Essential: Research Brief
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Discussions of successes, struggles, and failures with partner-specific tools are vital to the successful implementation of “translational ecology” a formal term for biological conservation partnerships.
Read MoreExtreme Drought Causes Chaparral Type Conversion: Research Brief
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The rugged, chaparral dominated Angeles National Forest (ANF, California) is a beautiful and popular recreation destination. However, it is being damaged by a combination of overwhelming anthropogenic stressors, including climate change-induced mega-droughts, unnaturally shortened fire intervals, very poor air quality (e.g., high levels of nitrogen deposition), and the invasion of non-native groundcover plants.
Read MoreHumans and Fire in the CA South Coast Bioregion: Research Brief
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The ecosystems within the South Coast bioregion have accumulated very different sets of modern fire management problems that are vegetation, weather, and location specific.
Read MoreSpatial predictions of conifer regeneration after wildfire may help managers prioritize reforestation efforts: Research Brief
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Recent work by researchers from U.C. Berkeley and the U.S. Forest Service has produced a spatially-explicit predictive model that can be used to forecast where regeneration of (non-serotinous) conifers is most likely to occur after wildfire. This predictive model combines seed availability with climatic, topographic, and burn severity data to forecast the spatial patterns of post-fire conifer regeneration
Read MoreUsing historical forest density estimates to inform management of contemporary Sierra Nevada forests: Research Brief
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This brief discusses and compares the two methods used to estimate historic tree densities of the Sierra Nevada. The study suggests that density estimates from distance-based estimators support the historical density estimates derived from timber inventories and reconstructions.
Read MoreHow to Protect Old Trees When Reintroducing Fire: Research Brief
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This brief is based on a synthesis that covers recent research documenting effects of introducing fire in fire suppressed forests, provides necessary background information to understand the breadth of the problem, provides realistic management solutions to reduce impacts and defines monitoring techniques to identify treatment effects.
Read MoreUnderstanding Spatial Controls of Mixed-Severity Fire: Research Brief
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Understanding the relative importance of biological and environmental characteristics conducive to a moderate severity wildfire can help managers predict outcomes to better guide when and where fires can safely be managed.
Read MoreWhere the WUI is: Implications for wildfire mitigation and outreach communities: Research Brief
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The WUI is often synonymous with fire risk to buildings, but this research suggests that this is not the case in all fire-prone states. While fire outreach was often present near areas where buildings are destroyed by wildfire, many communities are established after major fires.
Read MoreNon-Native Plants, Fuels, and Desert Revegetation: Research Brief
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To revegetate disturbed desert lands, practitioners often reestablish fertile islands as a first step in restoring native plants and associated fauna on disturbed desert sites. This research brief discusses the pros and cons of this approach considering native and non-native species.
Read MoreComplex Biodiversity Patterns in California Chaparral: Research Brief
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This brief describes the various patterns and drivers of chaparral plant diversity, including community- (alpha), successional- (beta), and landscape-scale (gamma) drivers.
Read MoreIncreasing fire severity causes lichen diversity losses: Research Brief
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Though often inconspicuous, lichens play critical ecological roles in many terrestrial ecosystems. This paper discusses how lichens respond to fire severity and how fast lichens recolonize after fire.
Read MoreChaparral Bird Communities Harmed by Shrub Removal: Research Brief
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To help managers make science-based decisions that incorporate wildlife information, this study experimentally compared the effects of two pre-fire vegetation reduction treatments (prescribed burning and shrub mastication) on the chaparral bird community.
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