Keyword: forest fuels

The effects of thinning and similar stand treatments on fire behavior in Western forests.

In the West, thinning and partial cuttings are being considered for treating millions of forested acres that are overstocked and prone to wildfire. The objectives of these treatments include tree growth redistribution, tree species regulation, timber harvest, wildlife habitat improvement, and wildfire-hazard reduction. Depending on the forest type and its structure, thinning has both positive and negative impacts on crown fire potential.

Forest fuel management

Twentieth-century forest management practices of fire exclusion have caused a buildup of forest fuels that, combined with current weather patterns, threaten the ecological health of the Colorado Front Range. The year 2002 clearly demonstrated the potential for catastrophic wildfire in the area. During that year's fire season, the Hayman fire moved across 13 8,000 acres of the Pike National Forest, located south and west of Denver.

Theory of precipitation effects on dead cylindrical fuels

Numerical and analytical solutions of the Fickian diffusion equation were used to determine the effects of precipitation on dead cylindrical forest fuels. The analytical solution provided a physical framework. The numerical solutions were then used to refine the analytical solution through a similarity argument. The theoretical solutions predicted realistic rates of water exchange and the internal distribution of the water.

Fire ecology of the forest habitat types of eastern Idaho and western Wyoming

Provides information on fire as an ecological factor in the forest habitat types occurring in eastern Idaho and western Wyoming. Identifies Fire Groups based on fire's role in forest succession. Describes forest fuels and suggests considerations for fire management.

Chapter 12: Forest fuels and predicted fire behavior in the first 5 years after a bark beetle outbreak with and without timber harvest (Project INT-EM-F-11-04)

Unprecedented levels of tree mortality from native bark beetle species have occurred in a variety of forest types in Western United States and Canada in recent decades in response to beetle-favorable forest and climatic conditions (Bentz 2009, Meddens and others 2012).

Aids to determining fuel models for estimating fire behavior

Presents photographs of wildland vegetation appropriate for the 13 fuel models used in mathematical models of fire behavior. Fuel model descriptions include fire behavior associated with each fuel and its physical characteristics. A similarity chart cross-references the 13 fire behavior fuel models to the 20 fuel models used in the National Fire Danger Rating System.

Beaufort scale of wind force as adapted for use on forested areas of the northern Rocky Mountains

The Beaufort scale of wind force, internationally employed by weather agencies, was not designed for use on mountainous and forested areas like those of the Rocky Mountains of northern Idaho and western Montana.

Treatments that enhance the decomposition of forest fuels for use in partially harvested stands in the moist forests of the northern Rocky Mountains (Priest River Experimental Forest)

The moist forests of the Rocky Mountains typically support late seral western hemlock, moist grand fir, or western redcedar forests. In addition to these species, Douglas-fir, western white pine, western larch, ponderosa pine, and lodgepole pine can occur creating a multitude of species compositions, structures, and successional stages that can be arrayed in a variety of fine to coarse mosaics.

Photo series for quantifying forest fuels in Mexico: montane subtropical forests of the Sierra Madre del Sur and temperate forests and montane shrubland of the northern Sierra Madre Oriental

Single wide-angle and stereo photographs display a range of forest ecosystems conditions and fuel loadings in montane subtropical forests of the Sierra Madre del Sur and temperate forests and montane shrubland of the northern Sierra Madre Oriental of Mexico. Each group of photographs includes inventory information summarizing overstory vegetation composition and structure, and biomass of understory, woody material, and litter and duff.

Listening and learning from traditional knowledge and western science: A dialogue on contemporary challenges of forest health and wildfire

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.