We're pleased to announce that Fire Ecology 11(2) is now available for viewing on the journal website http://fireecologyjournal.org. The issue begins with another classic article, this one written by Robert R. Humphrey on the role of fire in semi-desert grasslands. As the introduction to the article by Mitchel McLaren notes, Humphrey's article, first published in the Journal of Range Management in 1953, provides a deeper understanding of the role of fire in the ecology of desert grasslands of the U.S. Southwest. The original research articles begin with Miller and Quayle's calibration and validation of immediate post-fire satellite-derived data to three severity metrics in the Sierra Nevada and northwestern California, USA. They modified calibrations for extended (1 yr) calibrations to be used for initial assessments using an adjustment factor to account for changes in ash cover. Plots <30 m from mapped polygon boundaries were less accurately classified than plots ≥30 m inside mapped polygons. High severity patches (≥75 % or ≥90 % basal area mortality) ≥30 m inside mapped polygons were correctly classified >92 % of the time. Morgan and others investigated vegetation response to burn severity, native grass seeding, and salvage logging in eastern Washington, USA. Rapid post-fire growth dominated by native herbs and shrubs suggests that this forest's vegetation and soils are highly resilient to disturbance. Very few non-native species were found, regardless of salvage logging and seeding. Overall, burn severity and post-fire seeding with native grasses were more influential than salvage logging on understory plant abundance one to six years after fire.  In the southern Sierra Nevada of California, USA, Meyer and others assessed the principles of effective fire management plans on federal lands. They describe the underlying framework of fire management plans, assess their consistency with guiding principles, and provide recommendations for development of future fire management plans. They recommend that future fire management plans be: (1) consistent and compatible, (2) collaborative, (3) clear and comprehensive, (4) spatially and temporally scalable, (5) informed by the best available science, and (6) flexible and adaptive. Perkins presents results of a study evaluating the effect of fire on whitebark pine seedling establishment, survival, and growth in western Montana, USA. Plots recently burned showed nearly three times greater seed germination and growth compared to unburned plots. Seedling growth was about 60 % greater in a recently burned site compared to an adjacent unburned site. Soil nitrate and soil-available phosphorus were greater in burned sites, but high nitrogen concentrations in the leaves of seedling s in the unburned plots indicated that nitrogen was not a limiting factor. Higher phosphorus, increased light availability, and earlier snowmelt after fire may be important factors in post-fire success of whitebark pine. Hubbert and others, in the Lake Tahoe Basin, USA, evaluated the effect of pile burning of three contrasting fuelbed types (large wood, mixed-diameter slash, and small diameter slash) on soil physical and chemical properties and resulting near-stream surface and sub-surface water chemistry. Post-fire soil water repellency was greatest for large wood piles, but increased for all pile types when soils were dry. Soil bulk density within the burn piles showed moderate increases, but water infiltration rates decreased more than four-fold after burning large-wood and mixed-diameter piles. Nitrate, ortho-phosphate, and sulfate concentrations were low and decreased downslope for the piles. Pile burning had a limited effect on downslope water quality despite changes in soil physicochemical properties. The impacts of fire on snowshoe hare population in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA, were studied by Cheng and others. Hare numbers were low throughout the park, and densities exceeding 0.5 hares per hectare (a commonly suggested threshold for supporting Canada lynx) occurred at only 7 % of sites. Although variable, hare densities were 10 to 20 times higher in a 1988 burn compared to lodgepole pine stands in other burn treatments. Canopy cover was positively associated with hare densities, and positively associated with understory cover up to 80 % cover, beyond which hare density declined. Hare and lynx distribution are likely to shift substantially in coming decades as the spatiotemporal patterns of fire, and regenerating forest, change across the park. 

     This year is the second year that Fire Ecology has been ranked relative to other journals. In the Reuters ISI Web of Knowledge (proprietary), our 2014 impact factor has increased 23 % over 2013. In the category "Ecology," we are ranked 62nd out of 140 journals, so we are in the top half (we were top two-thirds in 2013). In "Forestry," we are ranked 24th out of 64, so we're in the top half (little change from last year). In the Scimago (open access sponsored by Scopus) "Forestry" ranking, we remain in the top quartile, and in the top half of "Ecology" and "Environmental Science" journals. So, although we have a ways to go, this is an excellent start for Fire Ecology. Now that we have been added to the ranking lists, our submissions have been increasing. In the first half of 2015, we received double the number of manuscripts received across all of 2014. So we are on track, in 2015, to have four times the 2014 submissions. 

     We hope you enjoy Issue 11(2)!