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Forest changes during fire exclusion are rapid and have profound effects

Science Spotlights Posted on: October 12, 2018
The 20th Century was a period of enormous change for western forests. Fire used to maintain distinct forest vegetation communities – pine, dry mixed-conifer, mesic mixed-conifer, and spruce-fir – in close proximity to one another along steep vertical gradients in the topographically diverse forests of the American Southwest. How did these forests change in response to fire exclusion? In what ways and how rapidly? What are the consequences of these changes? It is important to provide context for the condition of today’s forests, but more importantly, how can this information help today’s managers?

Tree demography records and last recorded fire dates from the Pinaleño Demography Project, Arizona USA

Datasets Posted on: March 15, 2018
This data publication includes tree measurements taken from 2008-2013 across a gradient of forest types in the Pinaleño Mountains in southeastern Arizona, USA. Tree data include: species, pith date, and last recorded fire date. These data were collected as part of the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) Growth and Demography of Pinaleño High Elevation Forests research project.

Tree demography records and last recorded fire dates from the Pinaleño Demography Project, Arizona USA

Documents and Media Posted on: November 06, 2017
Enter summary (recommended) or leave this area entirely blank (delete this content) Text in the summary field displays in listings and provides more information to people browsing the site. Text in the summary field does not appear in the body of the page. Document Type: Other Documents

Forests transformed by fire exclusion help us understand climate resilience

Science Spotlights Posted on: November 06, 2017
The onset of fire exclusion in western North American forests in the late 1800s began one of the largest unintended landscape ecology experiments in human history. The current ecology of these forests and the ecological impacts of returning fire to these forests is strongly influenced by the amount of forest change that has occurred during the fire-free period. Understanding how different forest types responded to fire exclusion is important for implementing management strategies that restore fire as a natural process, promote forest health, and maintain well-functioning forests for future generations.  

Disturbance and productivity interactions mediate stability of forest composition and structure

Publications Posted on: April 14, 2017
Fire is returning to many conifer-dominated forests where species composition and structure have been altered by fire exclusion. Ecological effects of these fires are influenced strongly by the degree of forest change during the fire-free period. Response of fire-adapted species assemblages to extended fire-free intervals is highly variable, even in communities with similar historical fire regimes.

Wildland fire: Nature’s fuel treatment

Media Gallery Posted on: September 14, 2016
In recent decades, many landscapes across the western United States have experienced substantial fire activity. These fires consume fuels and alter vegetation structure, which may be able to serve as a natural fuel treatment in the same manner as mechanical treatments or prescribed fire. Knowing that fire occurrence, size, and severity are limited by recent wildfires should provide greater flexibility and confidence in managing fire incidents and managing for resource benefit. Specifically, fire managers can use the findings from this study to help predict whether a previous fire will act as a fuel treatment based on fire age, forest type, and expected weather.

Wildland fire: Nature’s fuel treatment

Science Spotlights Posted on: September 14, 2016
In recent decades, many landscapes across the western United States have experienced substantial fire activity. These fires consume fuels and alter vegetation structure, which may be able to serve as a natural fuel treatment in the same manner as mechanical treatments or prescribed fire. Knowing that fire occurrence, size, and severity are limited by recent wildfires should provide greater flexibility and confidence in managing fire incidents and managing for resource benefit. Specifically, fire managers can use the findings from this study to help predict whether a previous fire will act as a fuel treatment based on fire age, forest type, and expected weather.

Wildland fire deficit and surplus in the western United States

Science Spotlights Posted on: August 25, 2016
The natural role of fire has been disrupted in many regions of the western United States due to the influence of human activities, which have the potential to both exclude or promote fire, resulting in a “fire deficit” or “fire surplus”, respectively. Consequently, land managers need to better understand current departures from natural levels of fire activity, especially given the desire to maintain and restore resilient landscapes. 

A 20-year reassessment of the health and status of whitebark pine forests in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex, Montana

Publications Posted on: August 16, 2016
Whitebark pine plays a prominent role in high elevation ecosystems of the northern Rocky Mountains. It is an important food source for many birds and mammals as well as an essential component of watershed stabilization. Whitebark pine is vanishing from the landscape due to three main factors: white pine blister rust, mountain pine beetle outbreaks, and successional replacement by more shade-tolerant species.

Data supporting publication of fortifying the forest: thinning and burning increase resistance to a bark beetle outbreak and promote forest resilience

Datasets Posted on: June 08, 2016
This package contains data used for the publication "Fortifying the forest: thinning and burning increase resistance to a bark beetle outbreak and promote forest resilience" (Hood et al. 2016). This study includes measurements from 1996-2012 at the Lubrecht Fire-Fire Surrogate Study Site, which was established in 2000 and includes four treatments, an untreated control, prescribed burn, a thinning, and a thinning followed by prescribed burn.

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