| |
|
Volume 12 Issue 1 April 2016
|
Letter From the Editor
 |
|
|
Photo by Scott Stephens |
By Jim Agee, Managing Editor
We're pleased to announce that
Fire Ecology
12(1) is now available for viewing and downloading on the journal website:
fireecologyjournal.org
. The issue begins with another classic article, this one written by Elers Koch concerning fire policy in the northern Rocky Mountains, with an introduction by Andrew Larson. The article was originally published in the 1935
Journal of Forestry,
with Koch arguing for a minimum fire protection model in the backcountry areas of national forests in Idaho, USA. His article was accompanied by a response from Earl Loveridge, a fire official from Washington, D.C. Loveridge soon was able to implement the universal fire suppression policy known as the 10 AM Policy, which lasted until 1972. In that year, the White Cap Creek drainage in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness, the same area where Koch argued for limited suppression, became the first Forest Service exception to the 10 AM Policy.
Our original research articles begin with a paper on the effects of prescribed fire on resistance to drought in the Sierra Nevada of California, USA, by van Mantgem and others. Conifer species in the burned plots had significantly reduced probability of mortality than those in unburned plots. Stand density was lower in burned plots, suggesting that reduced competition may be responsible for the differential drought mortality response.
Burrows and Middleton studied mechanisms allowing a fire sensitive plant,
Banksia quercifolia, to survive in a frequently burned landscape of southwestern Australian forests. The landscape fire frequency was 1.7 yr, almost half of the juvenile period of the species. Unlike surrounding vegetation, thickets of immature
B. quercifolia were not flammable under conditions of mild weather and moist fuels, so they burned at a lower frequency than surrounding vegetation. When thickets had developed sufficiently to burn, the plants had reached maturity and readily regenerated from seed.
O'Leary and others developed a new method of comparing snowmelt timing with annual area burned within a defined region of the Rocky Mountains, USA. They used fire perimeter data from the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) website and weekly snow extent provided by the Rutgers Global Snow Lab analysis of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) daily snow maps. Their results indicated a significant correlation between early spring snowmelt and total annual area burned, providing evidence that snowmelt timing may be a driving factor for wildland fires in this region.
Rivera-Huerta and others evaluated patterns and trends in burned area and fire severity over the 1984 to 2010 period in the Sierra San Pedro Mártir in Baja California, Mexico. Until recently, free-burning fire was allowed within the park, and only 3 % of area burned was high severity fire. There were no temporal trends in burned area or the proportion of high severity fire, but the mean size of high severity patches is increasing. Fire suppression policies enacted recently are allowing increases in forest fuels and may result in increasing amounts of high severity fire, a trend that has already resulted in significantly increased high severity fire in similar forests of the Sierra Nevada, Alta California, USA.
Livingston and Varner compared fuel moisture differences of four native grass species and four non-native grass species in northern California, USA, grasslands across the 2012 growing season. They found no significant differences between native and non-native groups, but moisture content of individual grass species did significantly differ. One non-native annual,
Cynosurus echinatus, had the lowest moisture content in August, and one aggressive perennial non-native,
Phalaris aquatica, had the highest moisture content for all months, suggesting that some non-native species have the capacity to alter fire behavior by either increasing or decreasing fire intensity and rate of spread.
Martin and Hamman evaluated the effect of ignition patterns on fire behavior and severity and resulting fire effects on prairies of the Pacific Northwest, USA. They studied the effects of heading and backing fires. Surface temperatures did not differ between ignition patterns, but a greater area burned at moderate severity in backing fires. Ignition patterns differentiated plant communities by changing species richness within life form categories. Native perennial forbs were associated with heading fires in a site with high pre-existing native plant species richness. Native and exotic forbs were associated with backing fires at a site with low pre-existing native plant species richness. Mangers should consider ignition patterns when planning burn prescription to achieve particular ecological objectives.
In the Forum article for this issue, Drury and others describe the Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS), a web-based software and data integration framework that organizes fuel and fire software applications into a single online application. IFTDSS is designed to make fuels treatment planning and analysis more efficient and effective. Users can simulate fire behavior and effects using the scientific algorithms found in stand-alone desktop applications including FlamMap, Behave, FOFEM, and Consume. The authors outline how IFTDSS can be used to identify areas of high hazard and risk, evaluate the potential burning risk and hazard levels for valued resources, and simulate the effectiveness of fuels treatments in reducing the potential harm to values at risk.
We conclude issue 12(1) with a book review. Lachlan McCaw reviews
Firestick Ecology: Fairdinkum Science in Plain English, by Vic Jurskis (2015, Connor Court Publishing). Jurskis argues for fire having a fundamental role in maintaining ecosystems throughout the vast Australian continent.
|
|
|
|
|
on your computer, tablet or phone.
|
Special Publication:
2005-2015
|
|
In recognition of our 10 years of publication, we chose some of our favorite articles for a
"Best of Fire Ecology" compilation.
Abstracts for these papers were included in our conference program.
If you missed the conference, you can
|
|
520 Authors, and Counting!
Did you know you can search our journal by Author? We have 520 authors published to date, and each year that number grows. You can search by Author, and receive contact information and a listing of all their publications in Fire Ecology.
|
All of our Abstracts are now in Spanish!
Click on the PDF link for the abstract in Spanish.
|
|
Upcoming Events
Join us in Tucson!
AFE and SW Fire Science Consortium are partnering to host the 3rd Southwest Fire Ecology Conference.
Beyond Hazardous Fuels: Managing Fire for Social, Economic, and Ecological Benefits
Nov. 28-Dec. 3, 2016
Tucson, Arizona
Now accepting oral & poster presentations abstracts and proposals for specials sessions, workshops, and meetings. See website for details:
|
|
Let's stay in touch!
Contact Us:
|
L
Not yet an AFE member?
Membership Expired?
Join or renew your membership in this premier professional association today!
Association for Fire Ecology
|
|
About the Cover:
This photo of old-growth Jeffrey pine-mixed conifer forest was taken three years after a 2003 wildfire in the northern Sierra San Pedro Mártir, northwestern Mexico. In the foreground are sprouting shrubs. Areas of forest that burned mostly at low intensity with the forest canopy intact can be seen in the photo center. Behind the middle-ground forest are two large patches of montane chaparral that burned with high severity but did not include any trees.
Photo credit: Scott Stephens.
|
|
The Passing of the Lolo Trail, with an Introduction by Andrew J. Larson
In 1935, Elers Koch argued in a Journal of Forestry article that a minimum fire protection model should be implemented in the backcountry areas of national forests in Idaho, USA. As a USDA Forest Service Supervisor and Assistant Regional Forester, Koch had led many major fire-fighting campaigns in the region, beginning with the great 1910 fires of Idaho and Montana. He argued in his classic article for wilderness values, and against throwing millions of dollars into unsuccessful attempts to suppress backcountry fires.
|
|
|
Does Prescribed Fire Promote Resistance to Drought in Low Elevation Forests of the Sierra Nevada, California, USA?
Prescribed fire is a primary tool used to restore western forests following more than a century of fire exclusion, reducing fire hazard by removing dead and live fuels (small trees and shrubs). It is commonly assumed that the reduced forest density following prescribed fire also reduces competition for resources among the remaining trees, so that the remaining trees are more resistant (more likely to survive) in the face of additional stressors, such as drought.
Mechanisms Enabling a Fire Sensitive Plant to Survive Frequent Fires in South-West Australian Eucalypt Forests
A fire sensitive plant, Banksia quercifolia R.Br., that often occurs as thickets embedded in forest landscapes in south-west Australia was exposed to repeated broad-scale fires at short intervals. Fire severity and patchiness was mapped using satellite imagery and the response of the B. quercifolia population monitored. Over the study period, the mean interval of fire in the landscape in which B. quercifolia occurred was 1.7 yr-almost half the juvenile period of the species-and the landscape fire frequency was six fires per decade.
A New Method Comparing Snowmelt Timing with Annual Area Burned
The interactions between climate and wildland fire are complex. To better understand these interactions, we used ArcMap 10.2.2 to examine the relationships between early spring snowmelt and total annual area burned within a defined region of the Rocky Mountains of the western United States. Our research methods used Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) fire perimeter data and weekly snow extent provided by the Rutgers Global Snow Lab analysis of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) daily snow maps.
View entire article (PDF)
Patterns and Trends in Burned Area and Fire Severity from 1984 to 2010 in the Sierra De San Pedro Mártir, Baja California, Mexico
Yellow pine (Pinus spp. L.) and mixed conifer (YPMC) forests of California, USA (Alta California), have been negatively affected since Euro-American settlement by a century or more of logging, fire exclusion, and other human activities. The YPMC forests in northwestern Mexico (northern Baja California) are found in the same climate zone as those of Alta California and support mostly the same dominant species, yet they are much less degraded, having suffered little logging and only 30 years of fire suppression.
Fuel Moisture Differences in a Mixed Native and Non-Native Grassland: Implications for Fire Regimes
Non-native plants have far-reaching effects on many terrestrial ecosystems. There are several examples of non-native species altering fire regimes, either by increasing or decreasing the potential intensity and severity of fires. To investigate this phenomenon, we sampled fuel moisture content of four native grass species (Festuca californica Vasey, Danthonia californica Bol., Elymus glaucus Buckley, and Bromus carinatus Hook. & Arn.) and four non-native grass species (Phalaris aquatica L., Cynosurus echinatus L., Arrhenatherum elatius [L.] J. Presl & C. Presl, and Anthoxanthum odoratum L.) in northern California grasslands across the 2012 growing season.
Ignition Patterns Influence Fire Severity and Plant Communities in Pacific Northwest, USA, Prairies
In the prairies of the Pacific Northwest, USA, fire has been reintroduced as a tool for reducing non-native, invasive plant cover and promoting the growth and establishment of native plant communities. Head fires and backing fires are the two primary ignition patterns used to complete most prescribed burns, but the relative effectiveness of these two methods on invasive plant control and native enhancement is unknown.
|
Forum: Issues, Management, Policy, and Opinions |
|
The Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System: Functionality for Fuels Treatment Planning
The Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS) is a web-based software and data integration framework that organizes fire and fuels software applications into a single online application. IFTDSS is designed to make fuels treatment planning and analysis more efficient and effective. In IFTDSS, users can simulate fire behavior and fire effects using the scientific algorithms and processes found in desktop applications including FlamMap, Behave, FOFEM, and Consume.
|
|
Firestick Ecology: Fairdinkum Science in Plain English
The ecology and management of fire in the Australian landscape elicits strong opinions from many groups including farmers, land managers, academics, and organisations concerned with the conservation of nature. Public discourse on fire management is always spirited and sometimes acrimonious, particularly in the wake of major bushfires that result in loss of life or property and have significant impacts on infrastructure and natural resources. This debate plays out in print and electronic media, in community forums, and in the pages of scientific and professional journals.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
