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Nguyen, Chung Hoai, Christina Ani Setyaningsih, Svea Lina Jahnk, Asmadi Saad, Supiandi Sabiham, and Hermann Behling. "Forest Dynamics and Agroforestry History since AD 200 in the Highland of Sumatra, Indonesia." Forests 13, no. 9 (September 13, 2022): 1473. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f13091473.
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Understanding past forest dynamics and human influence is essential for future forest management and ecosystem conservation. This study aims to provide insights into the forest dynamics and agroforestry history in the highlands of Sumatra for the last 1800 years. We carried out palaeoecological multi-proxy analyses of pollen, spores, non-pollen palynomorphs, macro-charcoal, and X-ray fluorescence on a limnic sediment core taken from Danau Kecil in the submontane area of Kerinci Seblat National Park in Sumatra, Indonesia. Our results provide an 1800-year record of forest dynamics under climate change and human influence including the transition from forest opening to shifting cultivation and eventually permanent agroforestry. Indicators for forest openings and secondary forest formation have been present since the beginning of records (AD 200). This is followed by the possible initiation of sugar palm (Arenga) cultivation (AD 400). Since AD 500, potential agroforestry and forest gardening practices have promoted major timber trees such as Lithocarpus/Castanopsis, Bischofia, and Dipterocarpaceae combined with sugar palm (Arenga). Permanent agroforestry systems were possibly established since AD 1760, evinced by an increase in commodity trees such as Dipterocarpaceae for resin production. With the Dutch invasion ca. AD 1900, agroforestry intensified and expanded to the Kerinci Valley. This was followed by land use intensification and potential rice cultivation around Danau Kecil since the 1940s. This study provides the first details on past forest dynamics around Danau Kecil since AD 200, showing among others how appropriate forest management and a closed canopy could reduce fire vulnerability in submontane rainforest.
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EVANS, A. M., and A. J. FINKRAL. "From renewable energy to fire risk reduction: a synthesis of biomass harvesting and utilization case studies in US forests." GCB Bioenergy 1, no. 3 (June 2009): 211–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1757-1707.2009.01013.x.
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Pearson, Charlotte L., Darren Dale, and Keith Lombardo. "An investigation of fire scars in Pseudotsuga macrocarpa by Scanning X-Ray Fluorescence Microscopy." Forest Ecology and Management 262, no. 7 (October 2011): 1258–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2011.06.023.
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Bisson, Peter A., Bruce E. Rieman, Charlie Luce, Paul F. Hessburg, Danny C. Lee, Jeffrey L. Kershner, Gordon H. Reeves, and Robert E. Gresswell. "Fire and aquatic ecosystems of the western USA: current knowledge and key questions." Forest Ecology and Management 178, no. 1-2 (June 2003): 213–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0378-1127(03)00063-x.
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Huddle, Julie A., and Stephen G. Pallardy. "Effect of fire on survival and growth of Acer rubrum and Quercus seedlings." Forest Ecology and Management 118, no. 1-3 (June 1999): 49–56. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0378-1127(98)00485-x.
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Brose, Patrick, David Van Lear, and Roderick Cooper. "Using shelterwood harvests and prescribed fire to regenerate oak stands on productive upland sites." Forest Ecology and Management 113, no. 2-3 (January 1999): 125–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0378-1127(98)00423-x.
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Proffitt, Kelly M., Jesse DeVoe, Kristin Barker, Rebecca Durham, Teagan Hayes, Mark Hebblewhite, Craig Jourdonnais, Philip Ramsey, and Julee Shamhart. "A century of changing fire management alters ungulate forage in a wildfire-dominated landscape." Forestry: An International Journal of Forest Research 92, no. 5 (April 12, 2019): 523–37. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/forestry/cpz017.
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Abstract Forestry practices such as prescribed fire and wildfire management can modify the nutritional resources of ungulates across broad landscapes. To evaluate the influences of fire and forest management on ungulate nutrition, we measured and compared forage quality and abundance among a range of land cover types and fire histories within 3 elk ranges in Montana. We used historical fire data to assess fire-related variations in elk forage from 1900 to 2015. Fire affected summer forage more strongly than winter forage. Between 1900–1990 and 1990–2015, elk summer range burned by wildfire increased 242–1772 per cent, whereas the area on winter range burned by wildfire was low across all decades. Summer forage quality peaked in recently burned forests and decreased as time since burn increased. Summer forage abundance peaked in dry forests burned 6–15 years prior and mesic forests burned within 5 years. Forests recently burned by wildfire had higher summer forage quality and herbaceous abundance than those recently burned by prescribed fire. These results suggest that the nutritional carrying capacity for elk varies temporally with fire history and management practices. Our methods for characterizing nutritional resources provide a relatively straightforward approach for evaluating nutritional adequacy and tracking changes in forage associated with disturbances such as fire.
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Molina, Eliana, Osvaldo Valeria, Maxence Martin, Miguel Montoro Girona, and Jorge Andrés Ramirez. "Long-Term Impacts of Forest Management Practices under Climate Change on Structure, Composition, and Fragmentation of the Canadian Boreal Landscape." Forests 13, no. 8 (August 15, 2022): 1292. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f13081292.
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Forest harvesting and fire are major disturbances in boreal forests. Forest harvesting has modified stand successional pathways, which has led to compositional changes from the original conifer-dominated forests to predominantly mixed and hardwood forests. Boreal fire regimes are expected to change with future climate change. Using the LANDIS-II spatially explicit landscape model, we evaluated the effects of forest management scenarios and projected fire regimes under climate change in northeastern Canadian boreal forests, and we determined the subsequent alteration in stand- and landscape-level composition, succession, and spatial configuration of boreal forests. We observed that, in contrast to successional pathways that followed fire, successional pathways that followed forest harvesting favored mixed forests with a prevalence of shade-intolerant hardwoods for up to 300 y after harvesting. This trend was exacerbated under climate change scenarios where forests became dominated by hardwood species, particularly in ecoregions where these species were found currently in low abundance. Our results highlight the failure of existing forest management regimes to emulate the effects of natural disturbance regimes on boreal forest composition and configuration. This illustrates the risks to maintaining ecosystem goods and services over the long term and the exacerbation of this trend in the context of future climate change.
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Leavesley, Adam J. "Burning Issues – Sustainability and Management of Australia’s Southern Forests." Pacific Conservation Biology 18, no. 2 (2012): 146. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/pc120146.
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THE day we know how every Australian plant and animal responds to three fire intensities, three fire frequencies, and two fire seasons is the day that fire managers will finally have a decent handle on this most complex of processes. In the meantime though, where the science runs out fire management is directed by best guesses. In Australia, these guesses fall into three paradigms: the ecological paradigm; the indigenous paradigm; and the forestry paradigm. The ecological paradigm is species-centred and based on Ockham’s Razor — the assumption that the simplest answer is the most likely. The indigenous paradigm is based on the assumption that aboriginal people were the dominant drivers of fire regimes before Europeans arrived and that the best thing that we can do to manage fire now is to try to emulate what we think they used to do. The forestry paradigm is based on the assumption that traditional timber production practices are the best way to meet fire management aims. In practice, most fire management programs are an amalgam of all three paradigms with priority given to one or another depending on the circumstances and worldview of the practitioners.
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Roberts, Lance Jay, Ryan Burnett, and Alissa Fogg. "Fire and Mechanical Forest Management Treatments Support Different Portions of the Bird Community in Fire-Suppressed Forests." Forests 12, no. 2 (January 28, 2021): 150. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f12020150.
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Silvicultural treatments, fire, and insect outbreaks are the primary disturbance events currently affecting forests in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, a region where plants and wildlife are highly adapted to a frequent-fire disturbance regime that has been suppressed for decades. Although the effects of both fire and silviculture on wildlife have been studied by many, there are few studies that directly compare their long-term effects on wildlife communities. We conducted avian point counts from 2010 to 2019 at 1987 in situ field survey locations across eight national forests and collected fire and silvicultural treatment data from 1987 to 2016, resulting in a 20-year post-disturbance chronosequence. We evaluated two categories of fire severity in comparison to silvicultural management (largely pre-commercial and commercial thinning treatments) as well as undisturbed locations to model their influences on abundances of 71 breeding bird species. More species (48% of the community) reached peak abundance at moderate-high-severity-fire locations than at low-severity fire (8%), silvicultural management (16%), or undisturbed (13%) locations. Total community abundance was highest in undisturbed dense forests as well as in the first few years after silvicultural management and lowest in the first few years after moderate-high-severity fire, then abundance in all types of disturbed habitats was similar by 10 years after disturbance. Even though the total community abundance was relatively low in moderate-high-severity-fire habitats, species diversity was the highest. Moderate-high-severity fire supported a unique portion of the avian community, while low-severity fire and silvicultural management were relatively similar. We conclude that a significant portion of the bird community in the Sierra Nevada region is dependent on moderate-high-severity fire and thus recommend that a prescribed and managed wildfire program that incorporates a variety of fire effects will best maintain biodiversity in this region.
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Elliot, William J., Mary Ellen Miller, and Nic Enstice. "Targeting forest management through fire and erosion modelling." International Journal of Wildland Fire 25, no. 8 (2016): 876. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf15007.
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Forests deliver a number of important ecosystem services, including clean water. When forests are disturbed by wildfire, the timing, quantity and quality of runoff are altered. A modelling study was conducted in a forested watershed in California, USA, to determine the risk of wildfire, and the potential post-fire sediment delivery from ~4-ha hillslope polygons within a 1500-km2 basin following a wildfire event. Wildfire intensity was estimated with fire spread models. The estimation of soil burn severity was based on predicted flame length. Sediment delivery was estimated from each hillslope polygon using a Geographic Information System erosion model. Polygons that generated the greatest amount of sediment, affected other values at risk in the basin, or were critical for reducing fire spread were ‘treated’ by reducing the amount and type of fuel available for a wildfire. The fire and erosion models were run a second time for treated conditions to see whether the treatment resulted in a reduced fire intensity and probability, and hence a reduced erosion rate. The estimated erosion rates the first year after the fire dropped from 46 Mg ha–1 before treatment to 26 Mg ha–1 for polygons that had received fuel treatments.
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Cerano-Paredes, Julián, Dante A. Rodríguez-Trejo, José M. Iniguez, Rosalinda Cervantes-Martínez, José Villanueva-Díaz, and Osvaldo Franco-Ramos. "Fire History (1896–2013) in an Abies religiosa Forest in the Sierra Norte of Puebla, Mexico." Forests 12, no. 6 (May 28, 2021): 700. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f12060700.
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The oyamel forests, as Abies dominated forests are commonly known as, register their largest distribution (95% of their population) along the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt (TMVB). Although efforts have been made to study these forests with various approaches, dendrochronology-based studies have been limited, particularly in pure Abies forests in this region. The objective of this study was to reconstruct fire regimes in an Abies religiosa forest in the Sierra Norte in the state of Puebla, Mexico. Within an area of 50-ha, we collected 40 fire-scar samples, which were processed and analyzed using dendrochronological techniques to identify 153 fire scars. The fire history was reconstructed for a period of 118 years (1896–2013), with low severity surface fires occurring mainly during in the spring (92.8%) and summer (7.2%). Over the past century, fires were frequent, with an mean fire interval (MFI) and Weibull median probability of (WMPI) of five years when considering all fire scars and less than 10 years for fires covering larger areas (fires recorded by ≥25% of samples). Extensive fires were synchronized with drought conditions based on Ring Width Indexes, Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). After 1983, we observed a change in fire frequencies attributed to regulated management. Longer fire intervals within the last several decades are likely leading to increased fuel accumulations and could potentially result in more severe fires in the future, threatening the sustainability of these forests. Based on our finding, we recommend management actions (silvicultural or prescribed fire) to reduce fuels and the risk of severe fires, particularly in the face of climatic changes.
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Bergeron, Yves. "Is regulated even-aged management the right strategy for the Canadian boreal forest?" Forestry Chronicle 80, no. 4 (August 1, 2004): 458–62. http://dx.doi.org/10.5558/tfc80458-4.
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Over the past decade, there has been an increasing interest in the development of forest management approaches that are based on an understanding of historical natural disturbance dynamics. The rationale for such an approach is that management to favour landscape compositions and stand structures similar to those of natural ecosystems should also maintain biological diversity and essential ecological functions. In fire-dominated landscapes, this approach is possible only if current and future fire frequencies are sufficiently low, in comparison to pre-industrial fire frequency, that we can substitute fire with forest management. I address this question by comparing current and future fire frequency to historical reconstruction of fire frequency from studies in the Canadian boreal forest. Current and simulated future fire frequencies using 2× and 3×CO2 scenarios are lower than the historical fire frequency for most sites, suggesting that forest management could potentially be used to recreate the forest age structure of fire-controlled pre-industrial landscapes. Current even-aged management, however, tends to reduce forest variability: for example, fully regulated, even-aged management will tend to truncate the natural forest stand age distribution and eliminate overmature and old-growth forests from the landscape. The development of silvicultural techniques that maintain a spectrum of forest compositions and structures at different scales in the landscape is one avenue to maintain this variability. Key words: boreal forest, even aged management, fire regime, old-growth forests, climate change, partial cutting
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Dixon, Kelly M., Geoffrey J. Cary, Graeme L. Worboys, Julian Seddon, and Philip Gibbons. "A comparison of fuel hazard in recently burned and long-unburned forests and woodlands." International Journal of Wildland Fire 27, no. 9 (2018): 609. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf18037.
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Fuel hazard is often assumed to increase with fuel age, or the time-since-fire. However, studies on fuel hazard in long-unburned forests are scarce. We measured overall fuel hazard in Eucalyptus forests and woodlands in south-eastern Australia at 81 sites where time-since-fire spans 0.5 years to at least 96 years. Overall fuel hazard was higher in forests and woodlands burned 6–12 years previously than those unburned for at least 96 years. The probability of high, very high or extreme overall fuel hazard – which is an operational threshold considered to equate with almost no chance of wildfire suppression in severe fire-weather – was highest 0.5–12 years post-fire, and lowest where fire had not occurred for at least 96 years. Frequent burning can maintain forest understorey in an early successional ‘shrubby’ state, leading to higher overall fuel hazard than forests where a lack of fire is associated with the senescence of shrubs. Protecting long-unburned sites from fire and managing to transition a larger proportion of forest to a long-unburned state may benefit fuel-hazard management within these forests in the long-term.
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Pierce, Jennifer, and Grant Meyer. "Long-term fire history from alluvial fan sediments: the role of drought and climate variability, and implications for management of Rocky Mountain forests." International Journal of Wildland Fire 17, no. 1 (2008): 84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf07027.
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Alluvial fan deposits are widespread and preserve millennial-length records of fire. We used these records to examine changes in fire regimes over the last 2000 years in Yellowstone National Park mixed-conifer forests and drier central Idaho ponderosa pine forests. In Idaho, frequent, small, fire-related erosional events occurred within the Little Ice Age (~1450–1800 AD), when greater effective moisture probably promoted grass growth and low-severity fires. This regime is consistent with tree-ring records showing generally wetter conditions and frequent fires before European settlement. At higher elevations in Yellowstone, cool conditions limited overall fire activity. Conversely, both Idaho and Yellowstone experienced a peak in fire-related debris flows between ~950 and 1150 AD. During this generally warmer time, severe multidecadal droughts were interspersed with unusually wet intervals that probably increased forest densities, producing stand-replacing fires. Thus, severe fires are clearly within the natural range of variability in Idaho ponderosa pine forests over longer timescales. Historical records indicate that large burn areas in Idaho correspond with drought intervals within the past 100 years and that burn area has increased markedly since ~1985. Recent stand-replacing fires in ponderosa pine forests are likely related to both changes in management and increasing temperatures and drought severity during the 20th century.
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Palaiologou, Palaiologos, Kostas Kalabokidis, Alan A. Ager, and Michelle A. Day. "Development of Comprehensive Fuel Management Strategies for Reducing Wildfire Risk in Greece." Forests 11, no. 8 (July 22, 2020): 789. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f11080789.
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A solution to the growing problem of catastrophic wildfires in Greece will require a more holistic fuel management strategy that focuses more broadly on landscape fire behavior and risk in relation to suppression tactics and ignition prevention. Current fire protection planning is either non-existent or narrowly focused on reducing fuels in proximity to roads and communities where ignitions are most likely. A more effective strategy would expand the treatment footprint to landscape scales to reduce fire intensity and increase the likelihood of safe and efficient suppression activities. However, expanding fuels treatment programs on Greek landscapes that are highly fragmented in terms of land use and vegetation requires: (1) a better understanding of how diverse land cover types contribute to fire spread and intensity; and (2) case studies, both simulated and empirical, that demonstrate how landscape fuel management strategies can achieve desired outcomes in terms of fire behavior. In this study, we used Lesvos Island, Greece as a study area to characterize how different land cover types and land uses contribute to fire exposure and used wildfire simulation methods to understand how fire spreads among parcels of forests, developed areas, and other land cover types (shrublands, agricultural areas, and grasslands) as a way to identify fire source–sink relationships. We then simulated a spatially coordinated fuel management program that targeted the fire prone conifer forests that generally burn under the highest intensity. The treatment effects were measured in terms of post-treatment fire behavior and transmission. The results demonstrated an optimized method for fuel management planning that accounts for the connectivity of wildfire among different land types. The results also identified the scale of risk and the limitations of relying on small scattered fuel treatment units to manage long-term wildfire risk.
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Šturm, Tomaž, and Tomaž Podobnikar. "A probability model for long-term forest fire occurrence in the Karst forest management area of Slovenia." International Journal of Wildland Fire 26, no. 5 (2017): 399. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf15192.
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The aim of this study is to develop a long-term forest fire occurrence probability model in the Karst forest management area of Slovenia. The target area has the greatest forest fire occurrence rates and the largest burned areas in the country. To discover how the forest stand characteristics influence forest fire occurrence, we developed a long-term linear regression model. The geographically weighted regression method was applied to build the model, using forest management plans and land-based datasets as explanatory variables and a past forest fire activity dataset as a predicted variable. The land-based dataset was used to represent human activity as a key component in fire occurrence. Variables representing the natural and the anthropogenic environment used in the model explained 39% of past forest fire occurrences and predicted areas with the highest likelihood of forest fire occurrence. The results show that forest fire occurrence probability in a stand increases with lower wood stock, lower species diversity and lower thickness diversity, and in stands dominated by conifer trees under normal canopy closure. These forests stand characteristics are planned to be used in forest management and silviculture planning to reduce fire damage in Slovenian forests.
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Donovan, Victoria, Caleb Roberts, Carissa Wonkka, David Wedin, and Dirac Twidwell. "Ponderosa Pine Regeneration, Wildland Fuels Management, and Habitat Conservation: Identifying Trade-Offs Following Wildfire." Forests 10, no. 3 (March 22, 2019): 286. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f10030286.
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Increasing wildfires in western North American conifer forests have led to debates surrounding the application of post-fire management practices. There is a lack of consensus on whether (and to what extent) post-fire management assists or hinders managers in achieving goals, particularly in under-studied regions like eastern ponderosa pine forests. This makes it difficult for forest managers to balance among competing interests. We contrast structural and community characteristics across unburned ponderosa pine forest, severely burned ponderosa pine forest, and severely burned ponderosa pine forest treated with post-fire management with respect to three management objectives: ponderosa pine regeneration, wildland fuels control, and habitat conservation. Ponderosa pine saplings were more abundant in treated burned sites than untreated burned sites, suggesting increases in tree regeneration following tree planting; however, natural regeneration was evident in both unburned and untreated burned sites. Wildland fuels management greatly reduced snags and coarse woody debris in treated burned sites. Understory cover measurements revealed bare ground and fine woody debris were more strongly associated with untreated burned sites, and greater levels of forbs and grass were more strongly associated with treated burned sites. Wildlife habitat was greatly reduced following post-fire treatments. There were no tree cavities in treated burned sites, whereas untreated burned sites had an average of 27 ± 7.68 cavities per hectare. Correspondingly, we found almost double the avian species richness in untreated burned sites compared to treated burned sites (22 species versus 12 species). Unburned forests and untreated burned areas had the same species richness, but hosted unique avian communities. Our results indicate conflicting outcomes with respect to management objectives, most evident in the clear costs to habitat conservation following post-fire management application.
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Menon, ARR, and RG Vishnu-Menon. "MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR PREVENTION OF FOREST FIRE AND ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION IN TROPICS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO WESTERN GHATS OF KERALA REGION, INDIA." JOURNAL OF TROPICAL FOREST SCIENCE 34, no. 1 (January 26, 2022): 24–33. http://dx.doi.org/10.26525/jtfs2022.34.1.24.
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Management of forest fire is one of the top priority activities of forest departments, both in tropics and temperate regions. Extensive amount and intensive efforts are deployed to combat fire. The results of a case study on forest fire prone mapping conducted at Periyar tiger reserve in Western Ghats of Kerala, India, was highlighted, and based on the study, the implementation of fire management strategies were discussed. The fire risk map was validated with the forest fire inventory points of Forest Survey of India. Forest fire is a frequent occurrence in tropical forests, especially in moist deciduous and dry deciduous regions. Though forest fire management is one of the major activities of forest departments, the forest fire mitigation is not 100% successful. The magnitude of forest fire, its frequency, potential location, etc., can be assessed using Geoinformatics techniques, by giving different weightage status to fire controlling factors. A case study was conducted on these lines and control measures were highlighted using different management strategies. The implementation of the desired action plan for sustainable development and conservation of forests can be successful only by getting the full support and confidence of the stakeholders. The stakeholder support for environmental management aspects is possible only by convincing them that they are directly or indirectly getting the benefits by the proposed action. Usually, most of the environmental management activities may lead to nontangible benefits, which is apparently non-visible, hence getting stakeholder support may not be an easy task. Various marketing strategies needs to be used to convince the beneficiaries to implement good conservation practices for the betterment of the local inhabitants.
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Weber, M. G., and S. W. Taylor. "The use of prescribed fire in the management of Canada's forested lands." Forestry Chronicle 68, no. 3 (June 1, 1992): 324–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.5558/tfc68324-3.
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Present uses of prescribed fire in Canada are reviewed. Fire has been a natural component of many forested North American landscapes for millennia, making it an obvious choice as an effective forest management tool. It can be used in harmony with known fire adaptations of ecosystems to be managed. Prescribed fire uses are separated into six categories: (1) hazard reduction which evolved into (2) silviculture (including fire use for site preparation, managing competing vegetation, stand conversion, and stand rehabilitation) (3) wildlife habitat enhancement (4) range burning (5) insect and disease control (6) conservation of natural ecosystems. Some historic developments of prescribed fire use are presented including area burned under prescription by province and territory. Prescribed fire emerges as a cost effective practice that is ecologically compatible with many forest, wildlife, and park management objectives. Its continued use in the management of Canadian forests seems to be assured, as long as it is constantly developed and adapted to the changing needs and priorities of the general public.
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Schuster, Ervin G., and Michael A. Krebs. "A Sensitivity Analysis of the National Fire Management Analysis System." Western Journal of Applied Forestry 19, no. 1 (January 1, 2004): 5–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/wjaf/19.1.5.
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Abstract A sensitivity analysis was conducted of the National Fire Management Analysis System (NFMAS) to better understand the relationship between data input and model outcomes, as reflected by changes in C+NVC and MEL program options. Five input variables were selected for sensitization: Unit Mission Costs, Average Acre Costs, Net Value Change, Production Rates, and Escaped Fire Limits. A stratified random sample of 32 national forests was selected, according to the distribution of national forests within Forest Service regions and fire frequency classes, on the basis of historical fire data. NFMAS database tables were obtained and manipulated, with each variable increased and decreased at six levels (±25, ±50, and ±100%). Results indicated that Production Rates was always the most influential variable, Unit Mission Costs was always least influential, and the influence of the other variables depends on the choice of model outcome. In general, greater sensitivity changes resulted in greater changes in model outcome, but no consistent pattern of influence could be found regarding program option.West. J. Appl. For. 19(1):5–12.
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Keeley, Jon E., and Thomas W. McGinnis. "Impact of prescribed fire and other factors on cheatgrass persistence in a Sierra Nevada ponderosa pine forest." International Journal of Wildland Fire 16, no. 1 (2007): 96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf06052.
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Following the reintroduction of fire Bromus tectorum has invaded the low elevation ponderosa pine forests in parts of Kings Canyon National Park, California. We used prescribed burns, other field manipulations, germination studies, and structural equation modelling, to investigate how fire and other factors affect the persistence of cheatgrass in these forests. Our studies show that altering burning season to coincide with seed maturation is not likely to control cheatgrass because sparse fuel loads generate low fire intensity. Increasing time between prescribed fires may inhibit cheatgrass by increasing surface fuels (both herbaceous and litter), which directly inhibit cheatgrass establishment, and by creating higher intensity fires capable of killing a much greater fraction of the seed bank. Using structural equation modelling, postfire cheatgrass dominance was shown to be most strongly controlled by the prefire cheatgrass seedbank; other factors include soil moisture, fire intensity, soil N, and duration of direct sunlight. Current fire management goals in western conifer forests are focused on restoring historical fire regimes; however, these frequent fire regimes may enhance alien plant invasion in some forest types. Where feasible, fire managers should consider the option of an appropriate compromise between reducing serious fire hazards and exacerbating alien plant invasions.
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Witté, Isabelle, Daniel Kneeshaw, and Christian Messier. "Do partial cuts create forest complexity? A new approach to measuring the complexity of forest patterns using photographs and the mean information gain." Forestry Chronicle 89, no. 03 (June 2013): 340–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.5558/tfc2013-064.
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Forest management generally simplifies forest structure and composition with some negative impacts in terms of biodiversity and resilience. Thus, maintaining structural complexity is increasingly cited as an objective of sustainable forest management. Different initiatives have been proposed to use partial cuts to increase the complexity of forests. Using “the length of description” of forest patterns as a novel measure of complexity in forests, the effects of two intensities of partial cuts were compared to those found in 34-year-old secondary forests and 86-year-old primary (post-fire) forests. Our results show that partial cuts increase the complexity of forest patterns as compared to mature and secondary forests.
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Johnson, Morris C., and David L. Peterson. "Forest fuel treatments in western North America: Merging silviculture and fire management." Forestry Chronicle 81, no. 3 (June 1, 2005): 365–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.5558/tfc81365-3.
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For many years silviculture and fire management have mostly been separate forestry disciplines with disparate objectives and activities. However, in order to accomplish complex and multiple management objectives related to forest structure, fuels, and fire disturbance, these two disciplines must be effectively integrated in science and practice. We have linked scientific and management tools to develop an analytical approach that allows resource managers to quantify and evaluate the effectiveness of alternative fuel treatments in dry interior forests of western North America. The principal tool is the Fire and Fuels Extension of the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FFE-FVS) for characterizing fuel succession and fire behaviour, and for quantifying and visualizing stand structure. FFE-FVS provides a user-friendly framework that facilitates rapid evaluation of thinning and surface fuel treatments intended to reduce crown fire potential and fireline intensity. This approach quantifies fire hazard at small and large spatial scales, assists with treatment priorities and schedules, and generates stand and landscape visualizations that facilitate decisions about appropriate fuel treatments. Key words: fire behaviour, fire hazard, fuel treatments, silviculture
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Nappi, A., P. Drapeau, and J. P. L. Savard. "Salvage logging after wildfire in the boreal forest: Is it becoming a hot issue for wildlife?" Forestry Chronicle 80, no. 1 (February 1, 2004): 67–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.5558/tfc80067-1.
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In recent years, the increase in wood demand, the reduction in the availability of timber resources and the northern expansion of timber harvesting, along with the general perception that wildfires create ecological disasters, have favoured an increase in salvage logging in burned boreal forests. Concurrently, pioneer studies have shown that these post-fire forests may represent important habitats for several wildlife species and that intensive salvage logging, by removing standing snags, has several impacts on wildlife. However, the effects of salvage logging on biodiversity have yet to be considered in post-fire management plans. We examine the issue of salvage logging for wildlife in the boreal forest, with particular reference to Québec as an example. We describe our current state of knowledge on the use of burned forests by some wildlife and on the impacts of salvage logging on these habitats. We conclude that snag retention at multiple spatial and temporal scales in recent burns, which will be salvage-logged, is a prescription that must be implemented to meet the principles of sustainable forest management and the maintenance of biodiversity in the boreal forest. Key words: boreal forest, post-fire forests, salvage logging, snags, wildlife, birds, cavity-nesting birds, woodpeckers, mammals, invertebrates, xylophagous insects, biodiversity
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Girardin, Martin P., Adam A. Ali, and Christelle Hély. "Wildfires in boreal ecosystems: past, present and some emerging trends." International Journal of Wildland Fire 19, no. 8 (2010): 991. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wfv19n8_fo.
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With the emergence of a new forest management paradigm based on the emulation of natural disturbance regimes, interest in fire-related studies has increased in the boreal forest management community. A key issue in this regard is the improvement of our understanding of the variability in past disturbances and its linkages with climate and ecosystems. The surge in research activity has further been exacerbated by the increasing awareness of climate change, which has already exposed boreal forests to greater fire risk in recent decades. It is anticipated that further warming and drying will further enhance fire frequency and area burned in many boreal forests. Better predictions of future fire activity will contribute to better long-term forest planning in managed boreal forests. The 12 papers presented in this special issue exemplify this increased research activity by bringing together studies from diverse disciplines and presenting the latest advances regarding methodological approaches for reconstruction and modelling of past, present and future fire activity. Here we aim to summarise, evaluate and set into context some of the new insights arising from these studies and also to discuss some considerations to be taken into account in future research activities.
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Tian, Xiaorui, Wenbin Cui, Lifu Shu, and Xuezheng Zong. "Effects of Climate Change on Burn Probability of Forests in Daxing’anling." Forests 10, no. 8 (July 24, 2019): 611. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f10080611.
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Projecting the burn probability (BP) under future climate scenarios would provide a scientific basis for the implementation of forest fire adaptation technology. This study compared the changes in the climate, fire weather, and burn probability during the fire season in Daxing’anling, China. A burn probability model was established and used to simulate the daily fire occurrence and spread at baseline (1971–2000) and into the 2030s (2021–2050) based on the outputs from five global climate models (GCMs) (GFDL-ESM2M, Had GEM2-ES, IPSL-CM5A-LR, MIROC-ESM-CHEM, and Nor ESM1-M) under four climate scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8.5). The results showed that the average daily maximum temperature in the fire season will be increased by 2.1 °C (+16.6%) in the 2030s compared with the baseline and precipitation in the fire season will be increased by 7.1%. The average fire weather index (FWI) of the fire season in the 2030s will be increased by 4.2%, but this change is not significant. There will be 39 fires per year in the 2030s, representing an increase of 11.4%. The accuracy of simulated burned areas was 71.2% for the 1991–2010 period. The simulated and observed burned areas showed similar interannual fluctuations during period 1971–2010. The potential burned areas in the 2030s will increase by 18.8% over those in the baseline period and the BP will increase by 19.4%. The implementation of proactive fire management in areas with high predicted BP values will be key for an effective mitigation of future wildfire impacts.
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Chang, Yu, Hong S. He, Ian Bishop, Yuanman Hu, Rencang Bu, Chonggang Xu, and Xiuzhen Li. "Long-term forest landscape responses to fire exclusion in the Great Xing'an Mountains, China." International Journal of Wildland Fire 16, no. 1 (2007): 34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf05093.
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Understanding of long-term forest landscape dynamics under fire exclusion, which have not been studied in north-eastern China, is increasingly needed for designing sound forest management and protection plans. In the present study, we examine whether long-term fire exclusion leads to catastrophic fires and whether the fire regimes altered by fire exclusion have changed the course of natural succession of dominant tree species. We designed two simulation scenarios – fire exclusion and no fire exclusion – and used LANDIS to study the long-term (300 years) fire regime dynamic and the succession of dominant tree species in terms of species abundance, age structure and spatial pattern. Our simulated results show that fire exclusion can lead to catastrophic fires with return intervals ranging from 50 to 120 years, increase the proportion of coniferous forests and decrease the proportion of deciduous forests, simplify tree species composition, and alter forest age structures and landscape patterns. Based on these simulated results, we suggest that prescribed burning or coarse woody debris reduction, uneven age management, and a comprehensive wildlife habitat suitability analysis should be incorporated in forest management plans in this region.
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Trang, P. T., M. E. Andrew, T. Chu, and N. J. Enright. "Forest fire and its key drivers in the tropical forests of northern Vietnam." International Journal of Wildland Fire 31, no. 3 (February 17, 2022): 213–29. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf21078.
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Fire increasingly threatens tropical forests in northern Vietnam as climate changes and human population grows. Understanding fire occurrence patterns may support more effective forest management and reduce fire risk. We investigated spatiotemporal patterns and drivers of wildfire across three provinces in northern Vietnam and assessed the effectiveness of the Modified Nesterov index (MNI) fire danger rating system. We explored fire occurrence and size within and between years and forest types using descriptive analyses and developed spatiotemporal Maximum Entropy (Maxent) models incorporating variables representing potential drivers of fire, including weather, fuel, topography and human activity. Most fires occurred late in the dry season and fires were most common in natural forest. Maxent models successfully predicted fire occurrence (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values 0.67–0.79). While the contributions of drivers varied among provinces, MNI, temperature, elevation and distance to road were consistently important. The model for combined provinces showed that fire probability was greater under higher temperature and MNI, in areas with lower population, farther from roads, at higher elevations and in natural forests. This study suggests that an assessment integrating multiple drivers better predicts fire occurrence than a system based on weather alone and may support improved fire management and education in northern Vietnam.
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Saint-Germain, Michel, and David F. Greene. "Salvage logging in the boreal and cordilleran forests of Canada: Integrating industrial and ecological concerns in management plans." Forestry Chronicle 85, no. 1 (January 1, 2009): 120–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.5558/tfc85120-1.
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Fire has been part of the North American boreal and cordilleran ecosystems for thousands of years. Because fire and harvesting compete directly for the same wood supply, and provinces have, within the last few decades, tended to reach their annual allowable cut, salvage logging has emerged as a practice to minimize the impact of fire on long-term wood supply. In most parts of the boreal and cordilleran forests, fire-killed boles rapidly degrade after their death, as wood-boring insects, stain, wood-decay fungi and checking lead to significant loss of grade or volume in the months following the fire. Because of this impending degradation, salvage operations are often hurried and other considerations, including the potential ecological impacts of salvage logging, have seldom been taken into consideration when defining harvesting strategies. The ecological consequences of rapid salvage have been widely studied only in the last 5 years, and it is now clear that salvage logging can have negative impacts on natural regeneration by seed, water quality, and fire-associated animal species. In this paper, we review both industrial and ecological constraints to salvage logging and discuss how both can be integrated in salvage plans. In particular, we focus on the issues of salvage timing and retention. At this point, some type of retention of merchantable stands, even if only for a few years, appears to be the only way to alleviate the negative ecological impacts of post-fire logging. On-site operational constraints, e.g., stands that cannot be harvested due to lack of accessibility, represent an important starting point for any retention strategy. Key words: boreal forest, forest fires, salvage logging, biodiversity, natural disturbances, regeneration after fire
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Saunders, Mike R., David P. Mann, Shannon Stanis, Jan K. Wiedenbeck, Daniel C. Dey, and Thomas M. Schuler. "Prescribed Fire Causes Wounding and Minor Tree Quality Degradation in Oak Forests." Forests 14, no. 2 (January 25, 2023): 227. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f14020227.
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Despite the adaptation of many oak (Quercus) species to repeated surface fire, many public land managers in eastern North America resist using prescribed fire as a regeneration tool because of fire’s perceived negative impacts on timber values through the wounding of overstory trees. We retrospectively quantified fire-associated wounds in 139 oak-dominated stands across four national forests, each with a history of zero to six prescribed fires within the last 30 years. For trees >25.4 cm dbh (n = 8093), fire-associated wounds within the first 3.67 m of height were categorized by type, measured for defect size and graded both accounting for and then ignoring the fire-associated wounds. Most fire-associated wounds (n = 3403) were catfaces (32.5%), seams (30.5%) or bark slough (30.1%), although catfaces had 2.1–6.4 times the average volume loss of any other wound type (9.90 ± 0.72 bd ft). Among the 2160 wounded trees sampled, 741 had multiple (≥2) wounds. Although 29.1% of all trees had at least one wound associated with prescribed fire, only 7.0% of those trees exhibited a reduction in tree grade. The likelihood of wounding was greater in stands receiving more prescribed burns, but unaffected by tree diameter for either thin- or thick-barked species. Considering both the likelihoods of wounding and grade reduction, white oak (Q. alba), chestnut oak (Q. montana), hickory (Carya sp.), shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata) and yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) trees were more resistant to prescribed fire damage than other species. While our findings cannot be related directly to individual fire parameters, such as fireline intensity or fire duration, these results do provide estimates of the cumulative effects of multiple management-based prescribed fires that can be incorporated into fire effects models.
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Liu, Qi, Bolin Fu, Zhili Chen, Li Chen, Lixi Liu, Wudi Peng, Yaquan Liang, and Lin Chen. "Evaluating Effects of Post-Fire Climate and Burn Severity on the Early-Term Regeneration of Forest and Shrub Communities in the San Gabriel Mountains of California from Sentinel-2(MSI) Images." Forests 13, no. 7 (July 5, 2022): 1060. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f13071060.
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Studying the early changes in post-fire vegetation communities may improve the overall resilience of forests. The necessity for doing so was demonstrated by the Bobcat Fire, which seriously threatened the central San Gabriel Mountains and the Angeles National Forest in California. This study aimed to monitor and quantify the effects of climatological and topographic conditions along with burn severity on early (within 1 year) post-fire forests and shrubs community regeneration. In this study, we used Sentinel-2(MSI) intensive time-series imagery (July 2020–October 2021) to make a confusion matrix combined with 389 vegetation sample points on Google Earth Pro. The overall accuracy (OA) and the Kappa coefficient, calculated from the confusion matrix, were used as evaluation parameters to validate the classification results. With multiple linear regression models and Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) historical images, we analyzed the effects of climate and slope aspects on the regeneration of post-fire forest and shrub communities. We also quantitatively analyzed the regeneration rates based on five burn severity types. The results show that the normalized burning rate (NBR) was the most accurate vegetation classification indicator in this study (OA: 92.3–99.5%, Kappa: 0.88–0.98). The vegetation classification accuracy based on SVM is about 6.6% higher than K-Means. The overall accuracy of the burn area is 94.87%. Post-fire climate factors had a significant impact on the regeneration of the two vegetation communities (R2: 0.42–0.88); the optimal regeneration slope was 15–35°; and the fire severity changed the original competition relationship and regeneration rate. The results provide four main insights into the regeneration of post-fire vegetation communities: (1) climate factors in the first regenerating season have important impacts on the regeneration of forest and shrub communities; (2) daytime duration and rainfall are the most significant factors for forests and shrubs regeneration; (3) tolerable low burn severity promotes forests regeneration; and (4) forests have a certain ability to resist fires, while shrubs can better tolerate high-intensity fire ecology. This study could support the implementation of strategies for regionalized forest management and the targeted enhancement of post-fire vegetation community resilience.
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Penman, T. D., and A. L. Towerton. "Soil temperatures during autumn prescribed burning: implications for the germination of fire responsive species?" International Journal of Wildland Fire 17, no. 5 (2008): 572. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf07092.
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Prescribed fire is a widely applied management tool in native forests. There have been concerns raised about the ecological impacts of prescribed fire on native flora. One aspect of the debate is the extent to which prescribed fire heats the soil to levels reported to trigger germination in the soil seed banks. We used Thermochrons to test soil temperatures at 2 and 5 cm in prescribed burns in dry sclerophyll forests. Soil temperatures during the burns were generally low (<40°C) with less than 5% of sites being exposed to temperatures necessary for the germination of fire-dependent shrub species. High temperatures were associated with high fuel consumption and large woody debris. This information suggests that prescribed fires, carried out according to standard practices, in these forests are unlikely to trigger germination in the majority of the soil-stored seed banks. If ecological burns in these forests are aimed at promoting populations of senescing obligate seeder species, they need to be hotter than standard practice if they are to achieve their objectives, although we acknowledge that there are inherent risks associated with hotter burns.
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Kretinin, A., and Tatyana Bezrukova. "DIGITALIZATION OF FOREST PROTECTION MANAGEMENT BASED ON FOREST FIRE MONITORING." Actual directions of scientific researches of the XXI century: theory and practice 10, no. 1 (April 13, 2022): 139–52. http://dx.doi.org/10.34220/2308-8877-2022-10-1-139-152.
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The article analyzes measures to improve the effectiveness of management of forest protection from fires on the basis of information technology. The purpose of this article is to review and analyze the existing system of management of forest protection from fires, identifying the main management problems and forming recommendations to improve the existing system on the basis of digital technology. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that in recent years there has been a large number of forest fires, which brings irreparable damage to the Russian economy, so the question of the effectiveness of today's forest fire prevention system in our country is urgent. Innovative tools to improve the fight against forest fires are digital technologies. As part of the study of measures to improve the effectiveness of forest fire protection management clarified the conceptual apparatus, considered the concept of "digital technology", "forest fire". Based on the analysis of forest fire management, measures based on digital technology, which will improve the fire situation in the territory of forestry in the Russian Federation. Fighting forest fires is a dangerous job, which requires instant decisions based on immediately available information. The main digital tools used for fire protection are drones, laser scanning remote sensing of forests. The use of these tools will make it possible to quickly and smoothly determine the onset of forest fires, their area and determine on this basis the activities of fire departments and forestry organizations sequence of actions to eliminate forest fires. The more accurate real-time data firefighters have, such as fire location and condition, the location of hazards, and the number of forests covered by fire, the greater the probability of saving forests and the animals that live in their territory, ensuring the safety of firefighters and limiting fire damage. Consequently, digital technology, when fighting a forest fire, is the main and most important tool, and its implementation will reduce the risk of fire and damage from it.
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Thompson, Matthew P., Benjamin M. Gannon, Michael D. Caggiano, Christopher D. O’Connor, April Brough, Julie W. Gilbertson-Day, and Joe H. Scott. "Prototyping a Geospatial Atlas for Wildfire Planning and Management." Forests 11, no. 9 (August 20, 2020): 909. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f11090909.
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Wildland fire managers are increasingly embracing risk management principles by being more anticipatory, proactive, and “engaging the fire before it starts”. This entails investing in pre-season, cross-boundary, strategic fire response planning with partners and stakeholders to build a shared understanding of wildfire risks and management opportunities. A key innovation in planning is the development of potential operational delineations (PODs), i.e., spatial management units whose boundaries are relevant to fire containment operations (e.g., roads, ridgetops, and fuel transitions), and within which potential fire consequences, suppression opportunities/challenges, and strategic response objectives can be analyzed to inform fire management decision making. As of the summer of 2020, PODs have been developed on more than forty landscapes encompassing National Forest System lands across the western USA, providing utility for planning, communication, mitigation prioritization, and incident response strategy development. Here, we review development of a decision support tool—a POD Atlas—intended to facilitate cross-boundary, collaborative strategic wildfire planning and management by providing high-resolution information on landscape conditions, values at risk, and fire management resource needs for individual PODs. With the atlas, users can rapidly access and assimilate multiple forms of pre-loaded data and analytics in a customizable manner. We prototyped and operationalized this tool in concert with, and for use by, fire managers on several National Forests in the Southern Rocky Mountains of the USA. We present examples, discuss real-world use cases, and highlight opportunities for continued decision support improvement.
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Chavardès, Raphaël D., and Lori D. Daniels. "Altered mixed-severity fire regime has homogenised montane forests of Jasper National Park." International Journal of Wildland Fire 25, no. 4 (2016): 433. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf15048.
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Fire suppression has altered the historical mixed-severity fire regime and homogenised forest structures in Jasper National Park, Canada. We used dendrochronology to reconstruct fire history and assess forest dynamics at 29 sites in the montane forests. Based on fire scars and even-aged post-fire cohorts, we determined 18 sites had mixed-severity fire histories through time, and 11 sites had evidence of high-severity fires only – yielding a mixed-severity fire regime for the study area. Lodgepole pine, hybrid spruce and Douglas-fir established simultaneously after low- and high-severity fires. Regardless of fire history, forest canopies were mixed in composition and subcanopies were strongly dominated by shade-tolerant hybrid spruce. Despite their size, subcanopy trees were similar in age to the canopy trees. Current stand composition and age structures largely reflect the effects of high-severity fires that burned ~110 years ago at 18 of 29 sites. In the absence of fires after 1905, forests have matured simultaneously, homogenising the landscape and resulting in forest structures that are more conducive to high-severity fire than are fires of a range of severities. Proactive fire management is justified to restore fire as a vital ecological process and promote forest resilience by countering the effects of a century of fire suppression.
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Cumming, S. G. "Effective fire suppression in boreal forests." Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35, no. 4 (April 1, 2005): 772–86. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/x04-174.
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Fire suppression is (functionally) effective insofar as it reduces area burned. In North American boreal forests, fire regimes and historical records are such that this effect cannot be detected or estimated directly. I present an indirect approach, proceeding from the practice of initial attack (IA), which is intended to limit the proportion of "large" fires. I analysed IA's (operational) effectiveness by a controlled retrospective study of fire-history data for an approximately 86 000 km2 region of boreal forest in northeastern Alberta, Canada, from 1968 to 1998 (31 years). Over this interval, various improvements to IA practice, including a 1983 change in management strategy, created a natural experiment. I tested the results with multiple logistic regression models of the annual probabilities of a fire becoming larger than 3 and 200 ha. Annual fire counts (Nt) were a surrogate for fire weather and peak daily counts within years (arrival load). Measured by odds ratios, mean IA effectiveness against 3- and 200-ha fires increased in 1983 by factors of 2.02 (95% CI = 1.702.40) and 2.41 (95% CI = 1.693.45), respectively. Prior to 1983, the functional response to Nt was consistent with saturation of IA capacity at high arrival loads. From 19831998, effectiveness was independent of Nt. I introduce the proportional reduction in area burned (impact) as a measure of functional effectiveness and state conditions under which it can be estimated from the regression models. Over 19831998, if suppressed and actual fires were comparable, relative IA impact ([Formula: see text]) was 0.58 (95% CI = 0.340.74) and area burned was reduced by 457 500 ha. If fires larger than 1 × 105, 1 × 104, or 1 × 103 ha are assumed to be unpreventable, [Formula: see text] declines to 0.46, 025, or 0.08, respectively, but there is no evidence this is the case.
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Botequim, Brigite, Paulo M. Fernandes, José G. Borges, Eduardo González-Ferreiro, and Juan Guerra-Hernández. "Improving silvicultural practices for Mediterranean forests through fire behaviour modelling using LiDAR-derived canopy fuel characteristics." International Journal of Wildland Fire 28, no. 11 (2019): 823. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf19001.
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Wildfires cause substantial environmental and socioeconomic impacts and threaten many Spanish forested landscapes. We describe how LiDAR-derived canopy fuel characteristics and spatial fire simulation can be integrated with stand metrics to derive models describing fire behaviour. We assessed the potential use of very-low-density airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data to estimate canopy fuel characteristics in south-western Spain Mediterranean forests. Forest type-specific equations were used to estimate canopy fuel attributes, namely stand height, canopy base height, fuel load, bulk density and cover. Regressions explained 61–85, 70–85, 38–96 and 75–95% of the variability in field estimated stand height, canopy fuel load, crown bulk density and canopy base height, respectively. The weakest relationships were found for mixed forests, where fuel loading variability was highest. Potential fire behaviour for typical wildfire conditions was predicted with FlamMap using LiDAR-derived canopy fuel characteristics and custom fuel models. Classification tree analysis was used to identify stand structures in relation to crown fire likelihood and fire suppression difficulty levels. The results of the research are useful for integrating multi-objective fire management decisions and effective fire prevention strategies within forest ecosystem management planning.
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Boxall, Peter C., David O. Watson, and Jeffrey Englin. "Backcountry recreationists' valuation of forest and park management features in wilderness parks of the western Canadian Shield." Canadian Journal of Forest Research 26, no. 6 (June 1, 1996): 982–90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/x26-108.
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The economic value of four forest ecosystems, fire-damaged forests, cut blocks, and several park management features was estimated for backcountry recreationists, primarily canoeists, in Nopiming Provincial Park in eastern Manitoba. The analysis was conducted using the travel cost random utility model. It revealed that the forest ecosystems associated with jack pine (Pinusbanksiana Lamb.) and white spruce (Piceaglauca (Moench) Voss) were valued by recreationists. On the other hand, the analysis predicted that recreationists would pay to avoid black spruce (Piceamariana (Mill.) BSP) and aspen (Populustremuloides Michx.) ecosystems, fire-damaged forests, portages, and cottages. The results provide weak statistical evidence that cut blocks that are not in the line of site of recreationists provide positive benefits. While park management variables play a role in determining recreation values, the ages and types of forests located at recreation sites are more important. These findings support a major role for fire in determining recreation economic benefit flows from forests in the Canadian Shield.
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Gong, Yuan, Christina L. Staudhammer, Susanne Wiesner, Gregory Starr, and Yinlong Zhang. "Characterizing Growing Season Length of Subtropical Coniferous Forests with a Phenological Model." Forests 12, no. 1 (January 16, 2021): 95. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f12010095.
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Understanding plant phenological change is of great concern in the context of global climate change. Phenological models can aid in understanding and predicting growing season changes and can be parameterized with gross primary production (GPP) estimated using the eddy covariance (EC) technique. This study used nine years of EC-derived GPP data from three mature subtropical longleaf pine forests in the southeastern United States with differing soil water holding capacity in combination with site-specific micrometeorological data to parameterize a photosynthesis-based phenological model. We evaluated how weather conditions and prescribed fire led to variation in the ecosystem phenological processes. The results suggest that soil water availability had an effect on phenology, and greater soil water availability was associated with a longer growing season (LOS). We also observed that prescribed fire, a common forest management activity in the region, had a limited impact on phenological processes. Dormant season fire had no significant effect on phenological processes by site, but we observed differences in the start of the growing season (SOS) between fire and non-fire years. Fire delayed SOS by 10 d ± 5 d (SE), and this effect was greater with higher soil water availability, extending SOS by 18 d on average. Fire was also associated with increased sensitivity of spring phenology to radiation and air temperature. We found that interannual climate change and periodic weather anomalies (flood, short-term drought, and long-term drought), controlled annual ecosystem phenological processes more than prescribed fire. When water availability increased following short-term summer drought, the growing season was extended. With future climate change, subtropical areas of the Southeastern US are expected to experience more frequent short-term droughts, which could shorten the region’s growing season and lead to a reduction in the longleaf pine ecosystem’s carbon sequestration capacity.
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Sah, Jay P., Michael S. Ross, James R. Snyder, Suzanne Koptur, and Hillary C. Cooley. "Fuel loads, fire regimes, and post-fire fuel dynamics in Florida Keys pine forests." International Journal of Wildland Fire 15, no. 4 (2006): 463. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf05100.
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In forests, the effects of different life forms on fire behavior may vary depending on their contributions to total fuel loads. We examined the distribution of fuel components before fire, their effects on fire behavior, and the effects of fire on subsequent fuel recovery in pine forests within the National Key Deer Refuge in the Florida Keys. We conducted a burning experiment in six blocks, within each of which we assigned 1-ha plots to three treatments: control, summer, and winter burn. Owing to logistical constraints, we burned only 11 plots, three in winter and eight in summer, over a 4-year period from 1998 to 2001. We used path analysis to model the effects of fuel type and char height, an indicator of fire intensity, on fuel consumption. Fire intensity increased with surface fuel loads, but was negatively related to the quantity of hardwood shrub fuels, probably because these fuels are associated with a moist microenvironment within hardwood patches, and therefore tend to resist fire. Winter fires were milder than summer fires, and were less effective at inhibiting shrub encroachment. A mixed seasonal approach is suggested for fire management, with burns applied opportunistically under a range of winter and summer conditions, but more frequently than that prevalent in the recent past.
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Cruz, Miguel G., Martin E. Alexander, and Ronald H. Wakimoto. "Assessing the probability of crown fire initiation based on fire danger indices." Forestry Chronicle 79, no. 5 (October 1, 2003): 976–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.5558/tfc79976-5.
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The initiation of crown fires in conifer stands was modelled through logistic regression analysis by considering as independent variables a basic physical descriptor of the fuel complex structure and selected components of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System. The study was based on a fire behaviour research database consisting of 63 experimental fires covering a relatively wide range of burning conditions and fuel type characteristics. Four models were built with decreasing input needs. Significant predictors of crown fire initiation were: canopy base height, wind speed measured at a height of 10 m in the open, and four components of the FWI System (i.e., Fine Fuel Moisture Code, Drought Code, Initial Spread Index and Buildup Index). The models predicted correctly the type of fire (i.e., surface or crown) between 90% and 66% of the time. The C index, a statistical measure, varied from 0.94 to 0.71, revealing good concordance between predicted probabilities and observed events. A comparison between the logistic models and Canadian Forest Fire Behaviour Prediction System models did not show any conclusive differences. The results of a limited evaluation involving two independent experimental fire data sets for distinctly different fuel complexes were encouraging. The logistic models built may have applicability in fire management decision support systems, allowing for the estimation of the probability of crown fire initiation at small and large spatial scales from commonly available fire environment and fire danger rating information. The relationships presented are considered valid for free-burning fires on level terrain in coniferous forests that have reached a pseudo steady-state and are not deemed applicable to dead conifer forests (i.e., insect-killed stands). Key words: Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System, crown fire initiation, fire behaviour, fire danger indices, logistic regression
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Nebot, Àngela, and Francisco Mugica. "Forest Fire Forecasting Using Fuzzy Logic Models." Forests 12, no. 8 (July 29, 2021): 1005. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/f12081005.
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In this study, we explored hybrid fuzzy logic modelling techniques to predict the burned area of forest fires. Fast detection is crucial for successful firefighting, and a model with an accurate prediction ability is extremely useful for optimizing fire management. Fuzzy Inductive Reasoning (FIR) and the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) are two powerful fuzzy techniques for modelling burned areas of forests in Portugal. The results obtained from them were compared with those of other artificial intelligence techniques applied to the same datasets found in the literature.
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Fulé, Peter Z., Thomas A. Heinlein, and W. Wallace Covington. "Fire histories in ponderosa pine forests of Grand Canyon are well supported: reply to Baker." International Journal of Wildland Fire 15, no. 3 (2006): 439. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf06048.
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Fire scars and other paleoecological methods are imperfect proxies for detecting past patterns of fire events. However, calculations of long fire rotations in Grand Canyon ponderosa pine forests by Baker are not convincing in methodology or assumptions compared with fire-scar evidence of frequent surface fires. Patches of severe disturbance are a possible hypothesis to explain the relatively short age structure at the park, where ~12% fewer trees were older than 300 years compared with another unharvested northern Arizona site. However, mapped patterns of old trees as well as the evidence for frequent surface fire from fire scars, charcoal deposition studies, and evolutionary history are more consistent with the dominance of surface fire prior to c. 1880. The most relevant available evidence of fire recurrence at a given point, mean point fire intervals, had median values <16 years at all five study sites, close to filtered composite fire interval statistics (~6–10 years), but much lower than Baker’s calculated fire rotation values (55–110 years). The composite fire interval is not a uniquely important statistic or a numerical guideline for management, but one of many lines of evidence underscoring the ecological role of frequent surface fire in ponderosa pine forests.
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Brown, PM, and CH Sieg. "Fire History in Interior Ponderosa Pine Communities of the Black Hills, South Dakota, USA." International Journal of Wildland Fire 6, no. 3 (1996): 97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf9960097.
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Chronologies of fire events were reconstructed from crossdated fire-scarred ponderosa pine trees for four sites in the south-central Black Hills. Compared to other ponderosa pine forests in the southwest US or southern Rocky Mountains, these communities burned less frequently. For all sites combined, and using all fires detected, the mean fire interval (MFI), or number of years between fire years, was 16 years (± 14 SD) for the period 1388 to 1900. When a yearly minimum percentage of trees recording scars of ≥ 25% is imposed, the MFI was 20 years (± 14 SD). The length of the most recent fire-free period (104 years, from 1890 to 1994) exceeds the longest intervals in the pre-settlement era (before ca. 1874), and is likely the result of human-induced land use changes. Based on fire scar position within annual rings, most past fires occurred late in the growing season or after growth had ceased for the year. These findings have important implications for management of ponderosa pine forests in the Black Hills and for understanding the role of fire in pre-settlement ecosystem function.
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Varela, Elsa, Marek Giergiczny, Pere Riera, Pierre-Alexandre Mahieu, and Mario Soliño. "Social preferences for fuel break management programs in Spain: a choice modelling application to prevention of forest fires." International Journal of Wildland Fire 23, no. 2 (2014): 281. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf12106.
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This article reports on an economic valuation study of alternative fire prevention programs in the province of Málaga, southern Spain. The main aim of this study was to explore the social preferences for several forest fire prevention management issues. Fuel break programs were presented that differed in terms of cleaning technique (controlled grazing, prescribed burning and mechanical treatments), design (from traditional linear unshaded fire breaks to more landscape and environmentally friendly structures, such as shaded fuel breaks) and density (linked to annual burnt area). Results show that the population was clearly interested in the potential of the proposed programs to reduce fire. Lessons learnt from this study could be relevant for the development of fire prevention policies and specific prevention campaigns in Mediterranean forests.
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Chavardès, Raphaël D., and Lori D. Daniels. "Corrigendum to: Altered mixed-severity fire regime has homogenised montane forests of Jasper National Park." International Journal of Wildland Fire 25, no. 8 (2016): 909. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/wf15048_co.
Full textAbstract:
Fire suppression has altered the historical mixed-severity fire regime and homogenised forest structures in Jasper National Park, Canada. We used dendrochronology to reconstruct fire history and assess forest dynamics at 29 sites in the montane forests. Based on fire scars and even-aged post-fire cohorts, we determined 18 sites had mixed-severity fire histories through time, and 11 sites had evidence of high-severity fires only – yielding a mixed-severity fire regime for the study area. Lodgepole pine, hybrid spruce and Douglas-fir established simultaneously after low- and high-severity fires. Regardless of fire history, forest canopies were mixed in composition and subcanopies were strongly dominated by shade-tolerant hybrid spruce. Despite their size, subcanopy trees were similar in age to the canopy trees. Current stand composition and age structures largely reflect the effects of high-severity fires that burned ~110 years ago at 18 of 29 sites. In the absence of fires after 1905, forests have matured simultaneously, homogenising the landscape and resulting in forest structures that are more conducive to high-severity fire than are fires of a range of severities. Proactive fire management is justified to restore fire as a vital ecological process and promote forest resilience by countering the effects of a century of fire suppression.
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Cyr, Dominic, Yves Bergeron, Sylvie Gauthier, and Alayn C. Larouche. "Are the old-growth forests of the Clay Belt part of a fire-regulated mosaic?" Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35, no. 1 (January 1, 2005): 65–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/x04-204.
Full textAbstract:
Old-growth forests make up a substantial proportion of the forest mosaic in the Clay Belt region of Ontario and Quebec, Canada, despite fire cycles that are presumed to be relatively short. Two hypotheses have been suggested as explanations for this phenomenon: (1) the old-growth forests in question are located on sites that are protected from fire or (2) the fire hazard is just as great there as elsewhere, and that part of the mosaic is simply the tail of the distribution, having been spared from fire merely by chance. The tree-ring method has proven inadequate as a means of determining the date of the most recent fire in these old-growth forests, as the time that has elapsed since that date probably exceeds the age of the oldest trees. Accordingly, a paleoecological study was conducted with a view to determining the date of the last fire in these forests. Charcoal horizons were located and radiocarbon dated in six old-growth forests. The possibility that these forests have never burned at all is ruled out by the fact that macroscopic charcoal fragments were found at all sites. The proximity of potential firebreaks has a significant influence in the survival model, suggesting fire-cycle heterogeneity throughout the landscape. However, the proportion of old-growth forests observed is in agreement with what would be expected assuming that fire hazard is independent of stand age. Old-growth stands could thus be incorporated into natural disturbance based management, although the great variability of the intervals between catastrophic disturbances should be carefully considered.
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Parro, Kristi, Marek Metslaid, Getter Renel, Allan Sims, John A. Stanturf, Kalev Jõgiste, and Kajar Köster. "Impact of postfire management on forest regeneration in a managed hemiboreal forest, Estonia." Canadian Journal of Forest Research 45, no. 9 (September 2015): 1192–97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfr-2014-0514.
Full textAbstract:
Fire is a significant agent for the development of boreal and hemiboreal forests, altering soil and light conditions, affecting seedbanks, and removing seed trees. Burned areas should be managed with care, as inappropriate techniques prolong the regeneration period and reduce the diversity and resilience of stands to disturbances. To study the effects of fire and postfire management on the successional changes in regeneration abundance, species composition and tree height sample plots were established in sandy pine forests in northwestern Estonia on areas burned 2 or 22 years ago. Five types of sample plots were established: (i) areas without fire damage, (ii) burned uncleared areas, (iii) burned forest areas cleared after forest fire, (iv) burned uncleared areas with live trees, and (v) burned uncleared areas with dead trees. Three main tree species common to hemiboreal forests were analyzed: Betula spp., Pinus sylvestris L., and Populus tremula L. Results showed that clearing burned areas after wildfire significantly reduced the abundance of regeneration compared with burned uncleared areas but favored height growth of P. sylvestris in later development. To regenerate and maintain mixed stands after wildfire, retaining some residual trees can facilitate regeneration compared with complete clearing, although a dense stand with live trees or a large amount of deadwood can hinder regeneration.
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Boerner, R. E. J., Jianjun Huang, and Stephen C. Hart. "Impacts of fire and fire surrogate treatments on ecosystem nitrogen storage patterns: similarities and differences between forests of eastern and western North America." Canadian Journal of Forest Research 38, no. 12 (December 2008): 3056–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/x08-144.
Full textAbstract:
The Fire and Fire Surrogates (FFS) network is composed of 12 forest sites that span the continental United States, all of which historically had frequent low-severity fire. The goal of the FFS study was to assess the efficacy of three management treatments (prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, and their combination) in reducing wildfire hazard and increasing ecosystem sustainability. This paper describes the impact of the FFS treatments on nitrogen (N) storage and distribution. At the network scale, total ecosystem N averaged 4480 kg·ha–1, with ∼9% in vegetation, ∼9% in forest floor, ∼2% in deadwood, and ∼80% in soil. The loss of vegetation N to fire averaged (±SE) 25 ± 11 kg·ha–1, whereas the mechanical and combined mechanical and fire treatments resulted in N losses of 133 ± 21 and 145 ± 19 kg·ha–1, respectively. Western coniferous forests lost more N from each treatment than did eastern forests. None of the manipulative FFS treatments impacted >10%–15% of total N of these ecosystems. Management strategies that maximize ecosystem carbon (C) gain by minimizing loss of N should be a focus in western forests, where C and N cycling are tightly linked, but perhaps not in those eastern forests where atmospheric N deposition has decoupled C and N cycles.