Packet of Abstracts for Workshop Presentations

4^th USGS Wildland Fire Science Workshop

December 6-9, 2005

Tucson, AZ

(Arranged in sequence of presentation on Agenda.)

OVERVIEW OF FIRE IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES — AN ECOLOGICAL FOUNDATION FOR FIRE MANAGEMENT

Jon E. Keeley^1,2

¹Research Ecologist, US Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Sequoia-Kings Canyon Field Station, HCR 89 Box 4, Three Rivers, CA 93271; 559-565-3170; jon_keeley@usgs.gov

²Adjunct Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles

Abstract: Western U.S. ecosystems exhibit substantial variation in how fire affects plant and animal communities and in the challenges it presents to fire managers. Fuel structure is of profound importance as it is a major determinant of whether fires spread as low intensity surface fires or high intensity crown fires. In forests where fires have historically spread as surface fires, a century of fire suppression policy has been highly effective at extinguishing natural lightning fires. As a result of effective fire exclusion, some landscapes have experience radical departures from the historical fire frequency and created fuel conditions that are hazardous to both public safety and ecosystem sustainability. In some forests fire suppression has not been the only, or even the most important, land management practice contributing to this situation. Intense livestock grazing has played a substantial role in excluding fire by depleting surface herbaceous fuels, and logging has contributed substantially to both surface fuels and dense thickets of ladder fuels.

A very different challenge is presented on landscapes where crown fires are an inevitable feature of natural fuel structure. These include northern lodgepole pine as well as shrublands such as the Great Basin sagebrush and California chaparral. Despite being managed by fire suppression policy, in most cases these landscapes have not experienced periods of fire exclusion outside the historical range, in part because most crown fire ecosystems have longer historical fire return intervals than forests with lower severity surface fire regimes. Throughout the Western U.S. shrublands have been stressed by increased fire incidence and grazing to the point where thresholds of tolerance have displaced native ecosystems with exotic grasslands. Thus, departures from historical fire regimes are often in the opposite direction as observed for many Western forests and require very different management approaches in order to sustain these ecosystems.

Federal wildland fire policy has always been concerned about public safety but increasingly resource issues of ecosystem restoration and sustainability have gained in importance. A major goal in many Western U.S. forests is the restoration of forest structure and function that emulates historical conditions. Managers have made strides in addressing these problems through improved logging methods, prescription burning and management of wildland fires. Economic and societal constraints are important challenges and questions of large scale feasibility remain. Shrubland management has not received equal attention; these systems have not been managed with a focus on restoring historical conditions nor has there been a strong focus on ecosystem functioning. Throughout the Western U.S., shrubland management has focused on their role as hazardous fuels for forests and the public, competitors for livestock range, and watershed protection, rather than the health and integrity of the communities and their ecological role on the landscape. A shift in paradigm to viewing shrubland ecosystems as primary ecological units rather than for their secondary characteristics that impact forests and rangeland is needed in order to reverse increasing type conversion of native shrublands to exotic grasslands.

FIRE IN ALASKA: A MANAGEMENT AND SCIENCE PERSPECTIVE

Carl J. Markon

Deputy Chief, Geography, Alaska Science Center, 4230 University Drive, Anchorage, Alaska, 99508-4664; 907-786-7023; markon@usgs.gov

Abstract: Alaska’s land mass covers over 570,000 square miles, and during the past decade, fires have burned an average of over 600,000 acres of forested land per year. The last two years, however, have been exceptional fire years with 2004 being the largest fire year on record (over 6.5 million acres burned) and 2005 being a close second (with over 4.4 million acres burned). These were unusually busy fire years because of a combination of changing climate (dry weather) and lightning strikes, contributing to large, long-lasting fires. Although past fires have been known to be large, the remoteness of the landscape normally allowed a ‘let burn’ policy. With increasing awareness of the effects of fire, increased population use of wilderness areas, air quality concerns, and the effects of a changing climate on the biophysical aspects of the landscape, there are increasing management issues relating to the effects of fire in Alaska. Some of more prominent concerns from managers include overall burn size, severity, and reoccurrence; timing and type of revegetation; the amount and effects of smoke to local communities; the introduction or transport of invasive plants; the distribution and productivity of wildlife habitat; consequences to fish and wildlife populations; effects of fire retardants on the ecosystem; climate change and its potential influence on fire conditions across the landscape; and overall public opinion. Although the USGS is currently involved in a number of important management planning and fire response activities in Alaska, much more work could be accomplished in areas related to the effects of fire to changes in habitat, hydrology, and the increased utilization of remote sensing for fire support activities and research. In addition, the USGS could play an important role in the increased understanding of a number of different fire related aspects such as current and historic spatial extent, intensity, and reoccurrence of fires, and how a changing climate relates to stressors in the ecosystem and the corresponding response of fire.

FIRE IN THE NORTHWESTERN US: RESEARCH ISSUES

Melanie Miller

BLM Fire Ecologist, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 5775 U. S. Highway 10 West, Missoula, Montana, 59807; 406-829-6941; melaniemiller@fs.fed.us

Abstract:

Fire regimes. Northwest landscapes are diverse in both vegetation and fire regimes. Nonlethal understory fires were characteristic of ponderosa pine and dry Douglas-fir forests, with fairly high frequency of surface fires. Lethal stand replacing fire occurred in upper elevation lodgepole, spruce/subalpine fir, Pacific silver fir, and coastal forests of Washington and Oregon. Mixed severity fire regimes had mixtures of lethal and nonlethal fire, and were common in mixed conifer forests, some lodgepole pine, old-growth juniper, and sagebrush/grass.

Salvage logging. Are there are ecological values or fuel management benefits to be gained from salvage? If fire-killed trees remain on-site, do they lead to increased fire hazard, higher fire severity, greater soil heating, more negative effects on understory recovery, and the creation of more safe sites for weeds?

Weed invasion after fuels treatments. Fuels treatments that result in exposed mineral soil, increased light levels, and temporary removal of competing native vegetation can enhance weed establishment. What ecosystems, soils and treatment types are most susceptible to weed invasions? Which weed species are most problematic, and how long do they persist?

Fuels mastication. Fuels mastication is fuels treatment that mechanically changes canopy fuels to surface fuels. Significant amounts of smoldering combustion can occur in these fuels, leading to potentially deeper soil heating that can alter soils and kill plants. There may be significant ecological issues associated with the presence of masticated fuels. How does this layer affect soil temperatures, the soil carbon/nitrogen ratio, availability of other nutrients, and soil microfauna and flora? Does it limit vegetation recovery?

Hydrophobicity. The presence of fire induced water repellant soil layers is assumed to be common, and is a justification for extensive postfire rehabilitation treatments. However, the formation of water repellant layers can vary widely among fires with differences in fuel consumption, soil characteristics, amount and type of organic matter, soil texture, and soil moisture. How often do these layers form, under what conditions of fuel type, loading and moisture, and soil conditions? Can we predict and mitigate their formation from prescribed fire?

Hydrology in areas with conifer encroachment. There has been significant invasion of conifers into sagebrush grasslands, most notably juniper in Oregon, and Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine in Montana, all attributed to the exclusion of fire. These trees are using and transpiring water that is no longer available to feed springs and streams, maintain meadows, and sustain understory vegetation. Soil is lost because of the lack of a protective surface vegetation layer, and these sites are susceptible to weed invasion after wildfires. How can we use treatments to remove or thin invasive trees, and what areas should be treatment priorities for watershed restoration?

Predicting vegetative recovery after fire. There are no quantitative models that predict recovery of understory vegetation. Models estimate soil heating, but do not estimate mortality of buried plant parts, particularly buds within large woody masses of tissue. How does lethal heating of plant parts in the soil relate to fire duration, soil temperature, soil moisture content, and mass and moisture content of plant tissue?

Information transfer. How does a manager locate, interpret and apply research results that apply to their particular fuel treatment program? How does research learn management needs? We need a process to find out what current research questions the field has, to anticipate short and long term research that is needed to answer their questions, and to integrate these needs into research agency budgets and work planning.

FIRE IN THE GREAT BASIN- TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE?

Stephen C. Bunting

Professor of Rangeland Ecology, Department of Rangeland Ecology and Management, College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow 83844-1135; 208-885-7103; sbunting@uidaho.edu

Abstract: The Great Basin, sometimes described as a “sagebrush ocean with scattered mountain islands,” has always been a dynamic landscape responding to changes in climate and disturbance regimes, with subsequent changes in biota. However in historical times, these changes have seemingly accelerated. The Bureau of Land Management has estimated that cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) is spreading at a rate of over 1500 ha per day. Many other invasive species have also been introduced into the Basin. In 1999 wildfires burned over nearly 690,000 ha in the Great Basin. Juniper (Juniperus spp.) and pinyon (Pinus spp.)-juniper woodlands are encroaching on adjacent sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) steppe throughout the Basin. In some areas woodlands have been reported to occupy 4-fold or more area than occupied in 1850. The contradictory cause of these changes is in part a result of two different processes. The more arid sagebrush steppe, such as that dominated by Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata subsp. wyomingensis), has commonly been influenced by invasive annual grasses such as cheatgrass. The annual grasses have altered the characteristics of the fuel and the post-burn recovery processes. Fires now often occur more frequently than during historical times. The more continuous fuel also results in less heterogeneity within the fire perimeter. The more mesic sagebrush steppe, such as that dominated by mountain big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata subsp. vaseyana), burns less frequently than during the pre-EuroAmerican period. Sites that are located in the vicinity of woodland are frequently being encroached by conifers. Both the invasion of annual grasses and the encroachment of woodland have feedback mechanisms with fire occurrence.

FIRE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Jan L. Beyers¹, David R. Weise²

¹Plant Ecologist, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Riverside Fire Lab, 4955 Canyon Crest Dr., Riverside, CA 92507; 951-680-1527; jbeyers@fs.fed.us

²Supervisory Research Forester, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Riverside Fire Lab, 4955 Canyon Crest Dr., Riverside, CA 92507; 951-680-1543; dweise@fs.fed.us

Abstract: Fire is a natural disturbance agent in most southern California ecosystems. Fire regimes vary by vegetation type, and the degree of departure from presettlement conditions differs as well. Chaparral is the dominant vegetation over extensive areas of foothill and lower montane slopes. Anthropogenic ignitions have replaced lightning as the cause of most chaparral fires, extending the fire “season” to any time of year when favorable conditions occur. There is scientific disagreement over the typical size of presettlement fires in chaparral and whether the current size has been affected by fire suppression. The utility of creating finer-grained age-class mosaics with prescribed burning for control of fire size is hotly debated. While most chaparral still seems to burn at historic fire return intervals, many stands adjacent to urban areas have converted or are at risk of type-conversion to weedy annual grassland due to excessive fire occurrence. Coastal sage scrub, often called “soft chaparral,” is particularly at risk from too-frequent fire because it occurs only at low elevations where human ignitions are common. In contrast, montane mixed conifer and pine forests in southern California have been subject to stand densification due to successful suppression of most fires and elevated air pollution in some areas, with the ingrowth consisting predominantly of shade-tolerant species such as white fir and incense cedar. Stand densification was recognized as increasing fire risk in the 1990s, but the situation was exacerbated greatly after a severe drought in 2002 was followed by massive bark beetle outbreaks in air pollution-stressed areas. The resultant tree mortality has greatly increased fire risk in affected areas.

Complicating fire management in southern California is the rapidly expanding wildland/urban interface. Land development in the foothills, amid chaparral and coastal sage scrub, and in mountain areas makes wildland fire use impractical because of the risk to human habitation. Virtually any fire start has the potential to reach developed areas in less than one burning period. Fire suppression resources must be focused on protecting life and property, and defensible space buffers are being created around developed areas for property protection and firefighter safety. Air quality (and escape) concerns limit the window for prescribed burning to a small period in winter and early spring, leaving mechanical thinning as the main tool for fuel modification. Managers must contend with numerous threatened and endangered species whose habitat must be considered in fuel treatment projects but for which very little is known about fire response. Research needs include better prediction of fire spread in live fuels such as chaparral, improved fire weather modeling, strategies for preventing spread of invasive plant species in fuel treatment areas, restoration methods for conifer forests, better understanding of the short and long-term effects of fuel treatments, and social and economic aspects of fuel management.

FIRE IN THE SOUTHWEST

Craig D. Allen

Research Ecologist, Jemez Mountains Field Station, Fort Collins Science Center, Bandelier National Monument, Los Alamos, NM 87544; 505-672-3861 ext 541; craig_allen@usgs.gov

Abstract: Fire has historically been a keystone process in upland forests of the Southwestern U.S., as revealed by extensive paleoecological reconstructions of fire activity and stand structure. Climate and land use over the past century have been key drivers of changes in regional ecosystem patterns and disturbance processes, such that some (but not all) ecosystems and fire regimes are now outside their historic range of variability. The well-known example of densification of Southwestern ponderosa pine forests, and associated recent upswing in the incidence of stand-replacing fires, highlights one class of changes. In some cases vegetation type conversions appear to be resulting from this new type of fire activity. Large high-severity fires also have substantial effects on hydrologic regimes, resulting in increased concern over post-fire runoff and erosion issues and a need for better information on post-fire watershed treatment approaches. Increased fire activity in lowland deserts due to fuel buildups from alien grass invasions is another type of ongoing change. Fire regime variability and associated management issues in the Southwest will be discussed, organized along landscape gradients in this topographically and ecologically diverse region.

FIRE CLIMATOLOGY: USING KNOWLEDGE OF CLIMATE VARIABILITY & CHANGE IN ASSESSING FIRE RISK

Thomas W. Swetnam

Director & Professor, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721; 520-621-2112; tswetnam@ltrr.arizona.edu

Abstract: Improved understanding of the role of weather and climate in fire hazard and risk was one of the earliest objectives of organized fire research in the United States. In the 1920s Harry Gisborne began studying the relations between fire and rainfall, temperature, humidity, soil and fuel moisture, and a variety of other weather-related variables. He developed several fire risk indices and predictive tools based upon weather variables, but he recognized early on that study of long-term climate variables (e.g., composite weather data spanning seasonal to decadal and landscape to regional scales) must be postponed until longer time series over broader areas were available. Much progress was made in fire meteorology and fire behavior research during the 1960s to 1980s using experimental and physical modeling approaches, but fire climatology has only recently come of age. The rise of fire climatology as a focus of research is due to several factors. First, there is an increasing availability of sufficiently long time series from landscapes and regions, including compilations of modern fire occurrence time series from documentary sources, and reconstructions of fire and climate time series from paleoecological sources (e.g., tree rings and charcoal in sediments). Second, climatology has undergone a revolution in recent decades, with greatly improved understanding and modeling of ocean-atmosphere dynamics and patterns, along with the discovery of oscillatory behaviors of these systems (e.g., El Niño-Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation, etc.). Because these ocean-atmosphere patterns are quasi-cyclical and they partially drive rainfall and temperature patterns in particular regions of the globe, they offer some predictive opportunities, including forecasts of fire hazard and risk. Finally, climate change, caused largely by increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, now appears to be affecting regional ecosystems and fire activity in boreal zones, and possibly in temperate and tropical zones as well. Enormous wildfires have erupted in recent years in the western U.S., and although fuel and forest structure changes in the past century appear to be involved in some areas, the casual role of climate variability and change is intertwined because these events have also coincided with extreme droughts. Hence, improved understanding of regional to global-scale climate variability and change in the context of fire occurrence is of increasing importance.

I will briefly review these historical developments in the expanding field of fire climatology. Examples of long-term fire occurrence records from documentary and paleoecological sources will be used to illustrate insights gained from these records, and how they are being used to develop and use fire climatology-based predictive models and tools. I will also discuss scientific challenges of disentangling climate variability and change effects on fire activity from ecological changes (such as invasive species). Finally, I will identify some needs and opportunities for future research in fire climatology and its applications.

FIRE RISK, VEGETATION, FUELS, AND YOU

Jan W. van Wagtendonk

Research Forester, Yosemite Field Station, Western Ecological Research Center, USGS, 5083 Foresta Rd, El Portal, CA 95318; 209-379-1306; jan_van_wagtendonk@usgs.gov

Abstract: Risk is defined as the probability of an event occurring. Wildfire hazard-risk assessment consists of six inputs: population density, distance from roads, topography, land cover (vegetation and fuels), and fire occurrence. These five inputs are weighted according to their importance. For example, homes within or adjacent to wildland fuels and in areas of high fire occurrence, on steep slopes may have a higher risk of burning. Homes that are not located near wildland fuels, in areas of low fire occurrence and in relatively flat terrain, may have a low risk of burning. Spatial and temporal data on the distribution of these factors are essential to analyze risk. In Yosemite National Park, research has provided the data necessary to accomplish this task including information on fuels, fire return interval departures, lightning ignition potential, fire size, and fire severity. These were combined to develop a fire risk map used to prioritize fuel treatments and make decisions on wildland fire use and fire suppression.

PERCEPTION AND COMMUNICATION: COMMUNITIES AT RISK FROM WILDLAND FIRE (WUI)

Jonathan G. Taylor

Emeritus Fire Social Scientist, US Geological Survery, Fort Collins Science Center, Policy Analysis and Science Assistance Branch, 2215 Centre Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80526; 970 412-1337; jonathan_taylor@usgs.gov

Collaborators:

For Perception research Terry C. Daniel, Professor, Psychology and Renewable Natural Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

For Communications research: Shana C. Gillette, U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 2150 Centre Avenue, Bldg C, Fort Collins, CO 80526; shana_gillette@usgs.gov

R.W. Hodgson, Adaptive Management Services Enterprise Team, USDA Forest Service, 452 East E St., Benecia, CA 94510, rhodgson707@comcast.net

J.L. Downing, Cooperative Fire Liaison, USDA Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Management, Vallejo, CA, 94592; jldowning@fs.fed.us

M.R. Burns, U.S. Geological Survey, Fort Collins Science Center, 2150 Centre Avenue, Bldg C, Fort Collins, CO 80526; michele_burns@usgs.gov

D.J. Chavez, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, 4955 Canyon Crest Dr., Riverside, CA 92507; dchavez@fs.fed.us

J.T. Hogan, U.S. Geological Survey, Los Alamos County Fire Mitigation Project, Jemez Mountain Field Station, Los Alamos, NM 87544; john_hogan@usgs.gov

Abstract:

Perception: Groups of the general public in the Southwest rated forest scenes showing the effects of 1 – 5 years recovery from either light (prescribed) fire or severe wildfire for scenic beauty and for recreational acceptability. Over time, light fire generally enhances forest scenic beauty and some forms of recreation while severe fire causes these perceptions to deteriorate significantly over time.

Communication: An interagency research team studied fire communications during different stages of two wildfires, one relatively small fire of short duration and one large fire of long duration. This “quick-response” research showed that pre-fire communication planning was particularly effective for smaller fire events and parts of such planning proved invaluable for the large fire event as well. Information seeking by the affected public relied on locally convenient sources during the small fire. The information being sought included the precise location and severity, size, and direction of spread of the fire. During the large fire, with widespread evacuations, many of the local informal networks were disrupted. Local residents’ needs were for “real-time,” place-specific information. With changes in communication technology, the public has multiple pathways to explore to discover the information they need. To increase the likelihood that the public will discover real, accurate, and timely information it is critical to disseminate the kinds of information people need, at the appropriate times and through multiple information pathways.

ASSESSMENTS AND ECONOMIC ANALYSES OF FIRE RISKS TO HUMAN COMMUNITIES

Nathan Wood¹ and Richard Bernknopf²

¹Research Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey, Western Geographic Science Center, 1300 SE Cardinal Court, Bldg 10, Vancouver, WA, 98683, 360-993-8951; email: nwood@usgs.gov

²Economist, U.S. Geological Survey, Western Geographic Science Center, 345 Middlefield Road, MS 531, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, 650-329-4951; email: rbern@usgs.gov

Abstract: A fundamental element of the U.S. Geological Survey mission is to provide reliable scientific information in order to minimize loss of life and property from natural disasters. Reducing future disaster-related losses is a complex societal process that requires an understanding not only of regional hazards but also of community vulnerability, defined here as the exposure, sensitivity, and resilience of a system. Risk of a natural disaster is the probability of intersecting natural hazards and vulnerable systems. Risk of a disaster can then be modified or managed by targeted mitigation investment decisions and preparedness strategies. Practitioners need indicators and visual tools to better understand societal risk in their jurisdictions, how to efficiently allocate limited mitigation resources and how to respond effectively to catastrophic events. Researchers at the USGS Western Geographic Science Center are currently developing metrics to better understand and visualize community vulnerability and risk to natural hazards. We will provide overviews of two projects, namely community resilience assessments and the Land Use Portfolio Model. Although current projects focus on earthquake, tsunami and flooding hazards, we believe there are opportunities for similar work related to wildfire risk. Our overview of current USGS geographic research in community risk and vulnerability to natural hazards will hopefully lead to similar fire-related projects between the USGS and collaborating agencies and partners of interest.

FIRE EFFECTS ON HYDROLOGIC PROCESSES, RUNOFF, AND WATER QUALITY

Deborah A. Martin

Research Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Discipline, National Research Program, 3215 Marine Street, Suite E127, Boulder, CO 80303; 303-541-3025; damartin@usgs.gov

Abstract: Several thousand public water supplies rely on watersheds that are vulnerable to significant post-fire effects. These effects include higher runoff, which carries sediment and both dissolved and particulate constituents into the receiving water body. As yet, our understanding of how fire influences the timing and magnitude of runoff, and the chemistry of the water from the burned areas is incomplete. Watersheds burned by wildland fire are seldom instrumented with pre-existing networks of rain and stream gages nor are we poised to collect water chemistry samples. However, we have conducted critical fieldwork in an increasing number of recently burned watersheds. Data from rain gage networks have demonstrated that rainfall is spatially variable. Often pressure sensors and other devices to measure discharge in burned watersheds are destroyed by the high peak flows carrying large amounts of sediment and burned debris, so collection of discharge data is challenging. We are just beginning to link remotely-sensed burn severity and rainfall intensity to runoff from burned watersheds.

Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey are conducting both laboratory and field measurements to understand fire effects on infiltration, runoff, and surface erosion. We are characterizing the physical and chemical properties of ash. Other studies are measuring the chemistry of fire-affected water and unraveling the potential effects of wildland fire on municipal water supplies. In this talk I advocate that our accounting of “Communities at Risk” from wildland fire should include those communities whose water supplies may experience post-fire effects and impairment.

POST-WILDFIRE DEBRIS-FLOWS – PROCESSES, HAZARD ASSESSMENTS, AND WARNING SYSTEMS

Susan Cannon¹, Jayme Laber², Joseph Gartner³, Michael Rupert⁴

¹Research Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Landslide Hazards Program, Box 25046, DFC, MS 966, Denver CO 80225; 303-273-8604; cannon@usgs.gov

²Senior Service Hydrologist, National Weather Service, 520 North Elevar Street, Oxnard, CA 93030; 805-988-6621; Jayme.Laber@noaa.gov

³Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Landslide Hazards Program, Box 25046, DFC, MS 966, Denver CO 80225; 303-273-6804; jegartner@usgs.gov

⁴Hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, WRD Colorado Water Science Center, 2-1 West 8^th Street, Pueblo, CO 81003; 719-544-7155; mgrupert@usgs.gov

Abstract: Debris flows can be one of the most hazardous consequences of rainfall on recently burned hillslopes, and land-management agencies need tools to determine both the likelihood and the magnitude of these potentially destructive events at drainage basin outlets. Such tools can be used both to focus pre-fire treatments and post-fire hazard-mitigation and management efforts. We have developed a set of statistical models that can be used to determine the probability of debris-flow occurrence and the potential peak discharge of the debris-flow response from recently burned basins. The probability model was developed through analysis of a database populated with measures of basin response; basin-specific rainfall triggers; and basin morphology, physical properties, and burn characteristics from 398 recently-burned basins in 15 fires throughout the U.S. Intermountain West. The database used to develop the peak discharge model includes data from 62 recently burned basins in southern California and the Intermountain West, from which estimates of debris-flow peak discharge, basin gradient, burned extent, and storm rainfall have been obtained.

In 2005 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) and the USGS implemented a prototype flash flood and debris flow warning system for recently burned areas in southern California. The prototype project covers an eight-county area, and is based on the existing NWS Flash Flood Monitoring and Prediction (FFMP) system. FFMP has been modified to identify when flash floods and debris flows are likely to occur based on comparisons between radar precipitation estimates, measured rainfall, and established rainfall intensity-duration threshold values for burned areas. Advisory outlooks, watches, and warnings are disseminated to emergency management personnel through the Advanced Weather Information Processing System (AWIPS). Although considerable potential exists for enhancing and expanding the warning system to provide spatially and temporally explicit information specific to flash flood and debris-flow processes in unburned settings, significant resources and scientific advancements are necessary to realize this potential.

FIRE AND AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS: BROAD-SCALE IMPLICATIONS

Robert E. Gresswell

Research Biologist, US Geological Survey, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, 1648 South 7^th Avenue, Bozeman, MT 59717; 406-994-7085; bgresswell@usgs.gov

Abstract: Synthesis of the literature suggests that physical, chemical, and biological elements of a watershed interact with long-term climate to influence fire regime, and these factors, in concordance with the postfire vegetation mosaic, combine with local-scale weather to govern the trajectory and magnitude of change following a fire event. Perturbation associated with hydrological processes is probably the primary factor influencing postfire persistence of fishes, benthic macroinvertebrates, and diatoms in fluvial systems. It is apparent that salmonids have evolved strategies to survive perturbations occurring at the frequency of wildland fires (10⁰ - 10² years), but local populations of a species may be more ephemeral. Habitat alteration probably has the greatest impact on individual organisms and local populations that are the least mobile, and reinvasion will be most rapid by aquatic organisms with high mobility. It is becoming increasingly apparent that during the past century fire suppression has altered fire regimes in some vegetation types, and consequently, the probability of large stand-replacing fires has increased in those areas. Current evidence suggests, however, that even in the case of extensive, high-severity fires, local extirpation of fishes is patchy, and recolonization is rapid. Lasting

detrimental effects on fish populations have been limited to areas where native populations have declined and become increasingly isolated because of anthropogenic activities. A strategy of protecting robust aquatic communities from negative effects of anthropogenic activities and restoring aquatic habitat structure and life history complexity in degraded areas may be the most effective means for insuring the persistence of native biota where the probability of large-scale fires has increased.

ANIMALS CAN INFLUENCE VEGETATION CHANGE IN POST-FIRE DESERT COMMUNITIES

Todd C. Esque

Ecologist, US Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Las Vegas Field Station, 160 N. Stephanie St. Henderson, NV, 89074. Telephone: 702-564-4506; fax 702-564-4600; email: todd_esque@usgs.gov

Abstract: Desert wildfires are frequently too large in area for intensive restoration to be practiced due to the high cost of such activities. Furthermore, desert restoration techniques are not currently developed to the degree that they provide high success rates and are considered too risky for desert environments where rainfall is unreliable. Techniques that increase the germination and establishment of desirable plant species under certain conditions – such as harrowing and seed drilling – are incompatible with other management goals, such as minimizing harm to desert tortoises and their habitats. I present experimental and observational studies to illustrate the ways that animals influence vegetation in post-fire desert communities. Animals can reduce cover and density of vegetation or seed availability and are thus often viewed as counter to restoration goals. However, small animals may increase plant establishment by their caching behavior, as well as, influencing plant competitive hierarchies and nutrient pools, which are not readily apparent without experimental studies. Although largely unstudied in the Mojave Desert, animals may play a pivotal role in the eventual outcome of vegetation change after fires, and further investigations will likely provide other important insights toward management of post- fire desert communities.

EMISSIONS FROM WILDFIRES AND EFFECTS ON AIR QUALITY AND HUMAN HEALTH

Douglas G. Fox¹ and Allen R. Riebau ²

¹Senior Research Scientist, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523; 970-491-3983; fox@cira.colostate.edu

²Atmospheric Sciences Program Manger, USDA Forest Service, Research and Development, Washington, DC; 703-605-5280; ariebau@fs.fed.us

Abstract: In this paper, we review smoke emissions from wildfire and other forms of biomass burning and our capacity for managing it. Wildfire smoke emissions contribute to the global radiation balance which drives the current and anticipated future climate. Equally important these emissions on regional to local scales affect air pollution, human health and welfare. As a result managing smoke, especially from wildland fire use, prescribed fire and agricultural burning is receiving increasing attention in the US.

We will address health and welfare concerns by reviewing specific regulatory programs that will increasingly limit smoke emissions. The relatively new Regional Haze regulations and the revised national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter, specifically for particles smaller than 2.5 microns (PM_2.5) and between 2.5 and 10 microns (PM_10-2.5) are specific examples. Global climate concerns primarily focus on estimating the magnitude of emissions and understanding their contributions to atmospheric aerosol chemistry and, hence, on the climate. We will briefly review the contemporary understanding about these issues.

Finally, we conclude that enough is understood to suggest that fire managers begin to consider developing and implementing a formal “Smoke Management System (SMS).” We suggest that this SMS be based on the Environmental Management System (ISO 14001) series of international standards. We will identify available tools and highlight remaining research needs to implement a SMS in the United States.

REFERENCE DYNAMICS: USING RECONSTRUCTION OF ECOLOGICAL PROCESSES TO RESTORE NATURAL VARIABILITY.

Donald A. Falk

Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, 105 West Stadium, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721; 520-626-7201; dafalk@u.arizona.edu

Abstract: Restoration practice and research seek reference conditions in a variety of compositional, structural, and functional elements. We propose a “process-centered” framework that places central emphasis on ecological functions and ecosystem processes. What distinguishes a process-centered restoration (PCR) approach is not simply the inclusion of ecological processes in the restoration design but their centrality, and the resulting emphasis on spatial and temporal variability. In a PCR, ecological processes, structure and composition covary as they do in nature, beginning by defining the natural range of variability for the process of interest. For example, in many forests and woodlands, fire is a keystone ecological process that interacts dynamically with forest composition and structure. Fire also mediates the governing effect of climate on temporal variability in ecosystem function, as a number of studies in the region have documented. We illustrate this approach using reconstruction of the natural surface fire regime in forests southwestern North America. Fire occurrence varied over space and time during the period of record, with ecologically significant variation in fire frequency and fire-free-intervals. Multiscale analysis indicates that the fire regime is a scale-dependent property, with mean fire intervals ranging from 18 yr for 4-ha sample windows to 3 yr for 250-ha composites. These insights from dendrochronology support the use of a “reference dynamics” paradigm to replace the more static concept of “reference conditions” in defining restoration baselines and governing factors such as climate that influence both natural and restored ecosystems.

LANDSCAPE MODELS TO GUIDE THE RESTORATION OF FIRE-ADAPTED FOREST ECOSYSTEMS IN THE SOUTHWESTERN USA
Thomas D. Sisk

Center for Environmental Sciences and Education, P.O. Box 5694, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011; 928-773-1812; Thomas.sisk@nau.edu

Abstract:

Stand-replacing crown fires have increased in size and destructiveness across the western USA during the past five decades. In many forests, the suppression of frequent, low-intensity ground fires, combined with livestock grazing and timber harvest, has resulted in the accumulation of woody biomass over large areas, increasing fire hazard and the threat it poses to ecosystem function. Efforts to restore forest structure to conditions that would allow a return to historical fire regimes are hindered by disagreement over restoration priorities and the inability of managers and the public to assess the likely effects of alternative management practices. New approaches to landscape assessment, motivated by the need to examine the cumulative effects of multiple independent management decisions over large planning areas, provide the spatial data and modeling tools needed to guide landscape-level assessments and planning. I will report on one such effort, the ForestERA Project, currently focusing on large landscapes in Arizona and New Mexico. Data layers describing forest composition and structure allow modeling of fire threat, wildlife habitat, and watershed condition over hundreds of thousands of hectares. Applications engage diverse stakeholders in assessment efforts that involve developing, analyzing, and comparing alternative management scenarios and their anticipated effects. Outcomes include the prioritization of treatment areas and the allocation of restoration efforts in a manner that helps managers minimize negative impacts on wildlife, watersheds, and other values, while maximizing restoration objectives, namely the return of frequent, low-intensity fire that sustains a more typical forest structure and the biological diversity dependent upon it.

INTER-RELATIONSHIPS OF FIRE AND INVASIVE PLANTS IN THE CONTEXT OF ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION

Matthew L. Brooks

Research Botanist, Las Vegas Field Station, Western Ecological Research Center, USGS, 160 N. Stephanie St., Henderson, NV, 89074; 702-564-4615; matt_brooks@usgs.gov

Abstract: Although individual fires can have significant short-term effects, it is the cumulative effects of fires, or the fire regime, which largely influences ecosystem structure and processes. A fire regime can be defined as the characteristic pattern of repeated burning over large expanses of space and long periods of time, and these patterns of burning are largely affected by fuel, climate, and topographic conditions. Of these three variables, fuel properties have the capacity for the most rapid change and are the only variable that land managers can actively manage. There are two primary reasons that fire regimes are actively managed: (1) to protect human health, safety, or economic well-being; and (2) to promote the dominance of particular suites of species or ecosystem characteristics. In either case, the influences of invasive plants can complicate, and potentially prevent, the attainment of management objectives. Plant invasion add new types of fuels to landscapes, sometimes replacing previously dominant fuel type (e.g., a shrub invasion into a grassland). These altered fuelbeds affect fire behavior which can alter fire regimes. If the new fire regime promotes the dominance of the new non-native fuel type, then an invasive plant / fire regime cycle can become established. To break this cycle, one must first restore the pre-invasion fuel structure and fire regime. If the pre-invasion native species cannot become established initially, then “replacement communities” may need to be established, consisting of other species (potentially non-natives) that are more tolerant of the altered fire regime and can coexist with the invasive non-natives that are at the root of the management problem. If the pre-invasion fire regime can be re-established and maintained, the original suite of native species can eventually be introduced to supplant the species comprising the replacement community. In some cases, specific fire regimes may be implemented to complement other vegetation management tools (e.g. herbicides) in an integrated pest management program to control undesirable plant species. These IPM programs target specific vulnerabilities in the life history cycle of target non-natives to weaken or kill individuals and propagules, reduce their population levels, and eventually eradicate them from the treatment area. Ultimately, the most cost-effective management approach is early identification and control of plant invasions that would otherwise produce invasive plant / fire regime cycles or cause other ecological problems.

RESTORATION AND REHABILITATION OF WATERSHEDS FOLLOWING WILDFIRE

Daniel G.Neary¹, Peter F. Ffolliott²

¹Project Leader, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, 2500 South Pine Knoll Drive, Flagstaff, AZ, 86001; 928-556-2176; dneary@fs.fed.us

²Professor, School of Natural Resources, 325 Biological Sciences East, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721; 520-621-7276; ffolpete@ag.arizona.edu

Abstract: Restoration and rehabilitation of watersheds following wildfire fall into two time-related categories of short- and long-term. Immediately following wildfires, burned areas are assessed to determine if emergency watershed rehabilitation measures are required to restore watershed function and minimize damage to soil resources. Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) treatments are aimed at restoring watershed condition and reducing erosional losses in the first year following wildfire. BAER treatments are usually applied on hillslopes, in channels, and on road surfaces and peripheral areas such as ditches in areas with high severity fire, or high risk to watershed resources and human health and safety. The short-term BAER treatments are designed to restore or repair burned-over areas to achieve soil stability, runoff control, unimpaired stream channel function, and to minimize cultural, human safety and water quality impacts. Long-term watershed restoration includes these same goals but adds those of restoring watershed condition, vegetation type, wildlife habitat, range forage, and recreation opportunities. This paper addresses the realities of watershed restoration in a post-wildfire environment, treatment effectiveness, and recommendations for future efforts.

PROGRESS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF FIRE PROGRAM ANALYSIS – Craig Thompson, National Park Service, National Interagency Fire Center, and Howard Roose, Bureau of Land Management, National Interagency Fire Center; Joint Presentation with Two Components/Phases

FIRE PROGRAM ANALYSIS SYSTEM – PREPAREDENESS MODULE (PHASE 1)

Howard K. Roose¹, Louis Ballard², Jeff Manley³, Nikki Saleen⁴, Steve Harbert⁵

¹Bureau of Land Management, National Interagency Fire Center, 3855 South Development Avenue, Boise, Idaho 83705

²U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Interagency Fire Center

³National Park Service, National Interagency Fire Center

⁴U. S. Forest Service, National Interagency Fire Center

⁵Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Interagency Fire Center

Abstract: Following the 1994 fire season in the United States of America the five federal wildland fire agencies and bureaus within the Departments of Agriculture and Interior along with the State Foresters conducted a review of the Federal Fire Policy. Lack of a common, interagency fire planning and budgeting system was identified as a weakness amongst the federal agencies. The implementation plan identified one of its action items as the development and implementation of a common, interagency fire planning and budgeting system.

The Fire Program Analysis System – Preparedness Module (FPA-PM) incorporates the use of the National Fire Danger Rating System, Energy Release Component for developing probability distributions of fuel moistures with associated probability distributions of wind speed for fire behavior calculations to prepare a Fire Event Scenario. Weather observation data required for the distribution of wind speeds and fuel moistures is often problematic or missing, FPA-PM utilizes a Desert Research Institute generated weather database to fulfill weather observation data when local data is unavailable.

Employing an optimization model for developing a cost effective frontier for fire planning is a key component to FPA-PM and is a new process for the five federal wildland fire agencies. The model is dependant upon land management objectives coupled with fire management strategies, reflected through weights that are assigned to each Fire Management Unit. Weights reflect the priority or relative importance for initial attack and wildland fire use for resource benefit one Fire Management Unit to another.

The results of the FPA-PM will be utilized for the development of the fiscal year 2008 budget request for the five federal wildland fire agencies and bureaus.

CONCEPTUAL GEO-SPATIAL MODELING PROCESSES IN CONSIDERATION FOR THE FIRE PROGRAM ANALYSIS (FPA) PROJECT’S PHASE 2 COMPONENT

Howard K. Roose

Bureau of Land Management, Office of Fire & Aviation, Planning and Resource Group, National Interagency Fire Center, Fire Program Analysis Representative

Abstract: During the architectural design period of the Phase 2 component of the Fire Planning Analysis, it was decided that geo-spatial processing and modeling would hold a key position within the project’s purpose. By employing several practices and approaches within Grid Algebra and Cellular Relationship suppositions, we are utilizing geo-spatial techniques to model a common, interagency system for wildfire preparedness analysis, planning, and budgeting. This paper will discuss a few of the conceptual ideas and potential spatial process streams that are currently in consideration at this time.

MAPPING FUELS, FIRE RISK, AND FOREST CONDITION CLASS – STATUS

AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF LANDFIRE

James E. Vogelmann¹, Zhi-liang Zhu², Jay Kost³, Matt Rollins⁴

¹Principal Scientist, SAIC, EROS, US Geological Survey Center, 1 Pecora Way, Sioux Falls, SD, 57198; 605-594-6062; vogel@usgs.gov

²Research Physical Scientist, US Geological Survey, 1 Pecora Way, Sioux Falls, SD, 57198; 605-594-6131; zhu@usgs.gov

³Senior Scientist, SAIC, EROS, US Geological Survey Center, 1 Pecora Way, Sioux Falls, SD, 57198; 605-594-6931; jkost@usgs.gov

⁴Ecologist, Rocky Mountain Research Station Fire Sciences Lab, USDA Forest Service, 5775 W. Hwy. 10, Missoula MT 59802; 406-329-4960; mrollins@fs.fed.us

Abstract: The LANDFIRE project is a joint effort between USDA Forest Service and Department of the Interior agencies to provide the spatial data and predictive models required for characterizing fuel conditions and fire regimes and for helping to evaluate fire hazard status. Deliverables in the project that are being developed include existing vegetation type, vegetation structure, biophysical gradients, biophysical settings, fire regime condition class, and fire fuels. During an initial prototype phase, a significant amount of effort was spent on developing and improving upon mapping methodology in study areas in central Utah and western Montana. Methods developed during this phase of the project are now being implemented to develop a LANDFIRE database for the entire United States. The western portion of the United States is scheduled for completion at the end of 2006, and the rest of the country is scheduled for completion by the end of 2009. We recognize the need for keeping the database current, and are in the process of developing ways to update the LANDFIRE database. Updating LANDFIRE will likely be an ongoing investigation over the next several years, and will build upon information developed from a number of separate efforts, including an existing national burn mapping project.

Assessing and Mapping Burn Severity – Scientific Basis and Implementation

Carl Key

Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, Glacier Field Station, West Glacier, MT 59936-0128; 406-888-7991; carl_key@usgs.gov

Abstract: Concepts of burn severity or fire severity, and measures of fire effects are directed toward understanding the ecological process of fire and its affect on the surrounding environment. Many concepts and measures have been established in the literature for some time, and have proven useful for site-based studies or when objectives concern specific responses. Such measures in the context of landscapes or ecosystems, however, are relatively new and still evolving. At the same time, there has been growing need to provide efficiency and comparability in assessment of burns at regional scales and across the country. Landsat remote sensing has demonstrated a level of suitability for this task. Satellite capabilities and available radiometric responses were important to the derivation of a simple normalized ratio, the NBR, which is sensitive to characteristics of burning. A pre- to post-fire difference in NBR, the dNBR, offers usual separation of the burn from unburned surroundings, and a scale of change relatable to a scale of severity. How severity on the ground is defined, however, is a function of resolution and timing. The 30-m dNBR tends to aggregate individual effects and spatial burn variation within the pixel into an average value that represents the overall site severity. This has implications for how to interpret the index and how ecological variables correspond in the field. Moreover, responses occur along a time continuum after fire. The represented severity differs whether the dNBR is derived soon after fire, or during the next growth cycle. Thus, for completed fires and when quality Landsat data exists, initial and extended assessments are identified, respectively. The latter may be more appropriate when ecological considerations include delayed mortality and survivorship as constituents of severity. Based on these principles, national-level remote sensing of burn severity is being carried out across all land management agencies through Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS). Effort and funding is shared equally between the USGS National Center for EROS and the US Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center. A precursor USGS–National Park Service project, ongoing since 2001, primarily addressed Park lands and supplied much of the foundational template for the current effort. MTBS will be operational from 2006 until 2011, and will include current fires as well as historic fires back to the early 1980's. For fires greater than 500 ac, east, and 1000 ac, west, MTBS will provide pre- and post-fire Landsat scenes, dNBR, burn perimeters, four-level severity classes, and yearly reporting on acres burned by severity class and other stratifications.

Development of A STANDARDIZED Monitoring APPROACH FOR Post-Fire Rehabilitation AND STABILIZATION PROJECTS

David A Pyke¹, Troy Wirth²

¹Research Ecologist, US Geological Survey, Forest & Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR 97331; 541-750-7334; david_a_pyke@usgs.gov

²Ecologist, US Geological Survey, Forest & Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, OR 97331; 541-758-8785; twirth@usgs.gov

Abstract: The General Accounting Office in 2003 reviewed emergency fire rehabilitation and stabilization by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture Forest Service. A major findings of the report was that monitoring approaches could not determine the effectiveness of rehabilitation and stabilization projects. The report also recommended the specification the type and extent of monitoring data to collect and development of a system to collect, store, analyze and disseminate monitoring results. The Bureau of Land Management asked the USGS would develop a prototype standardized monitoring approach for rehabilitation and stabilization projects that will be able to determine the effectiveness of each project. In 2005, we compared a number of common monitoring approaches with some new approached for their variation and their time to conduct. We stratify treatment areas by ecological sites and have included untreated controls within the treatment areas. By monitoring lifeforms rather than species, we can reduce the number of plots while maintaining statistical power for detecting treatment differences. A computer tablet preloaded with a monitoring database will aid in data collection and data transfer into a common database for archiving, analysis and retrieval.

DEVELOPMENT OF FIRE EFFECTS MONITORING FRAMEWORKS AND TOOLS IN THE NPS

Nate Benson

National Park Service Fire Ecology Program Lead, National Interagency Fire Center, 3833 South Development Avenue, Boise, Idaho 83705; 208-387-5219; nate_benson@nps.gov

Abstract: The National Park Service (NPS) Fire Management Program has grown in scope and complexity over the past decade. Changes in federal policy, new political initiatives, and increased planning requirements, have all resulted in a greater need for scientific information that supports fire management activities. In recognition of this need, the NPS made the commitment to fund (within the existing budgetary allocation) national, regional, and field-level fire ecologists and fire effects monitors to provide scientific capabilities for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting fire effects monitoring data and using fire ecology information and monitoring results for adaptive management. Among the federal land management agencies, NPS is the only agency that has made such a strong commitment to quantitatively monitor the effects of fire management activities.

Currently, the NPS Fire Ecology Program consists of over 80 seasonal and subject to furlough fire effects monitors, and permanent staff of 22 park fire ecologists, 8 regional fire ecologists, and 3 national office positions. The Program provides monitoring support in over 76 parks and assistance with fire management activities for NPS units with fire management plans.

Historically, a significant portion of the Fire Ecology Program involved fire effects monitoring data collection, storage and analysis. In the late 1980’s, the Western Region recognized the need to provide consistent guidance and developed the Fire Monitoring Handbook. As the Program expanded in 1990s, the Fire Monitoring Handbook was adopted as the standard for all fire effect monitoring in the NPS. One of the primary objectives of the handbook is to facilitate and standardize fire effects monitoring for NPS units.

In recent years, the Fire Ecology Program has taken on interagency leadership in two areas, fire effects monitoring software development and burn severity mapping. The Fire Ecology Program developed the Fire Ecology Assessment Tool (FEAT) to replace FMH-associated database and analysis software. FEAT extends FMH functions by integrating GIS analysis capabilities; supporting multiple protocols, including the ability to use new protocols; the use of PDAs for data collection; and an open data interface for statistical analysis. Currently FEAT is being integrated with FIREMON, a complementary application developed by the Missoula Fire Lab, to meet interagency fire monitoring and data sharing needs. NPS has taken the lead on this integration.

In 2001, NPS established a cooperative project with USGS Biological Resource Division (BRD) and the National Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) to produce and deliver burn severity assessments. Currently, for NPS fires over 500 acres, EROS produces a set of standardized map products and GIS data sets using Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 5 30-meter resolution image data. This project was the forerunner to Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS), a joint DOI and USFS effort to map burn severity of current and historic large fires.

EVALUATING EFFECTS OF FUELS TREATMENTS IN ARID AND SEMIARID ECOSYSTEMS

Matthew L. Brooks

Research Botanist, US Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Las Vegas Field Station, 160 N. Stephanie St. Henderson, NV, 89074; 702-564-4615; matt_brooks@usgs.gov

Abstract: Various management treatments have be used to manipulate fuel structure and affect fire behavior. In the vast majority of cases these treatments only involve the removal of biomass, but in a few cases they also involve active efforts to revegetate desirable species. Relatively little is known about the ecological effects of any of these treatments, or their long-term effects on fire regimes. What is known has primarily been derived from studies in relatively mesic forested ecosystems, while research in arid and semi-arid shrublands and woodlands has been lacking. This need for information inspired new research into the effects of efforts to manage hazardous fuels, and in some cases restore historical fuel and fire regime conditions, in three major vegetation types in southwestern North America: blackbrush (Coleogyne ramosissima) shrubland, riparian shrubland/woodland, and sagebrush steppe/pinyon-juniper woodland. These new research projects are designed to evaluate both the removal of fuels and the replacement of fuels with desirable species. This presentation provides a summary of these new areas of research, including preliminary management recommendations.

THE NATIONAL FIRE AND FIRE SURROGATE STUDY - EFFECTS OF ALTERNATIVE FUEL REDUCTION METHODS ON OVERSTORY AND UNDERSTORY COMMUNITIES.

Dylan W. Schwilk¹ and Jon. E. Keeley²

¹Ecologist, US Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Sequoia-Kings Canyon Field Station, HCR 89 Box 4, Three Rivers, CA 93271; 559-565-3170; jon_keeley@usgs.gov

²Research Ecologist, US Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Sequoia-Kings Canyon Field Station, HCR 89 Box 4, Three Rivers, CA 93271; 559-565-3175; dschwilk@usgs.gov

Abstract: The Fire and Fire Surrogate Study (FFS) investigates management options in forests that have experienced nearly a century of fire suppression. The nationwide study is composed of a network of 13 seasonally dry forest sites across the U.S. that experienced frequent low-severity fire prior to fire suppression. Concern that these forests now have a high risk of severe wildfire has led forest managers to attempt to reduce fuels. There is very little comparative information on the ecological consequences of the alternative methods available, principally prescribed fire and mechanical treatments. The FFS study experimentally examines the consequences of four management treatments: 1) mechanical fuel reduction, 2) prescribed fire, 3) mechanical + fire, and 4) untreated control. The wide range of sites in the study, from Southeastern long leaf pine forests to ponderosa pine forests of the Pacific Northwest, provides an opportunity to find generalizable vegetation responses to these fuel reduction treatments. Preliminary network-level results indicate that overstory tree response differs significantly between treatments that include mechanical thinning and those that do not. Understory vegetation, on the other hand, responds fundamentally differently between treatments that include burning and those that do not.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION OF FIRE RESEARCH RESULTS TO MANAGERS ON THE GROUND: CASE STUDIES OF LESSONS LEARNED

Jamie Barbour¹, Sue Barro², Miles Hemstrom¹, Heather Erickson¹, and Tim Swedberg³

¹USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, OR

²USDA Forest Service, North Central Research Station, St. Paul, MN

³USDI, Joint Fire Sciences Program, Boise, ID

Abstract: In 2002 the PNW Research Station created the Focused Science Delivery (FSD) Program with the goal of making scientific information more accessible to those who set natural resource policy, those who implement natural resource policy, and those who seek to influence natural resource policy. Since its launch, the FSD program has worked collaboratively on several efforts to interpret and package existing scientific information for managers and policy makers concerned with preparing for (or avoiding), fighting, and managing the recovery from wildfire. This work includes developing a landscape scale integrated planning tool, compiling a catalog of work completed under the Joint Fire Sciences Program, and conducting a needs assessment after the 2003 fires in southern California. The FSD program believes that clients will use the information generated if it is delivered in a form they can understand, by people they can relate to, and at a time when they need it. In our experience, clients are less likely to use information that fails to meet one or more of these criteria. An important outcome of the FSD program’s work is the identification of clients’ unmet needs. In turn clients’ information needs and time frames are shared with researchers to provide insights about what types of information clients need and when they need it. Success of the FSD program lies in part on adoption of techniques that involve clients and users more directly in the information development process with a goal of creating more seamless integration of new information, tools, and procedures by practitioners and decision makers.

TRANSLATING AND COMMUNICATING FIRE RESEARCH RESULTS IN FORMS USEFUL TO MANAGERS

Anne Black¹, Vita Wright²

¹Ecologist, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 790 E. Beckwith Ave, Missoula, MT, 59801; 406-329-2126; aeblack@fs.fed.us

² Research Application Program Lead, Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 790 E. Beckwith Ave, Missoula, MT, 59801; 406-542-4194; vwright@fs.fed.us

Abstract: While all federal land management researchers are involved in the transfer of science to managers in one way or another, efforts often seem isolated and ad hoc. Through a variety of projects and a formal Research Application Program, we are trying to take a more structured approach. In this presentation, we outline our approach and give examples of our work to assess the effectiveness of communication techniques, and to apply concepts from related fields to help us develop realistic expectations for and improve future science delivery.

DEVELOPMENT OF FRAMES (FIRE RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT EXCHANGE SYSTEM): TECHNOLOGY IN SUPPORT OF WILDLAND FIRE RESEARCH AND MANAGEMENT

Greg Gollberg¹, Jennifer Pollock²

¹FRAMES Project Manager, University of Idaho, College of Natural Resources

Forest Resources Department, Moscow, ID 83844; 208-885-9756 ; gollberg@uidaho.edu

²NBII Knowledge Manager, USGS, Center for Biological Informatics, P.O. Box 25046,
Denver, CO 80225; 303-202-4260 ; jennifer_pollock@usgs.gov

Abstract: Research helps provide the scientific and technological foundation for fire and fuels management. The proliferation of the products of research including data, documents, tools, and websites that are applicable to fire and natural resource management makes the two-step process of identifying and synthesizing the best available fire science into policy and decision making challenging and sometimes impossible. Even with the increasing ease of delivering valuable tools and information resources in digital formats, they are widely distributed, difficult to find and compare, and oftentimes poorly documented. Fire and natural resource managers must make informed and defensible decisions that are based upon the best available science which may cross multiple disciplines. With limited time and resources, managers desire one place where they can go to obtain information and tools. Such a system must be comprehensive, simple to use, and able to address issues and questions that managers face. City, county, and state officials; landowners; special interest groups; and the general public also need access to reliable and practical information for planning and other purposes. In order to help facilitate science delivery and technology transfer, researchers need a system that they can use to distribute information and tools, plus obtain feedback from managers and other tool users. A system for the long term maintenance of valuable research data and other deliverables, once project funding is exhausted and the project concludes, would also be beneficial and cost effective. The Fire Research And Management Exchange System (FRAMES), led by the University of Idaho in partnership with the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure, is a systematic method of cataloging, managing, relating, and communicating wildland information and technology at national, regional, and local scales. The goal of FRAMES is to make wildland fire related content resources and technologies easy to find, access, distribute, compare, and use. FRAMES is being developed especially for wildland fire and other natural resource professionals in research and management, but it is also a means of communication and for outreach by those professionals to their partners and the public. Through FRAMES, content can be exchanged and transferred between researchers, managers, and other stakeholders. FRAMES may host content resources or provide common access to resources managed by other organizations on their systems. FRAMES also provides additional services to researchers and managers that can help eliminate redundancy, reduce costs, and promote increased productivity and efficiency.

Fire-Climate-SociETY (FCS-1): Online Multicriteria Decision Support for Participatory Strategic WILDFIRE Planning

Barron J. Orr¹, Barbara J. Morehouse², Stephen R. Yool³, Gary L Christopherson⁴, Thomas W. Swetnam⁵, Jonathan T. Overpeck⁶

¹Assistant Professor and Geospatial Extension Specialist, Office of Arid Lands Studies, University of Arizona, 1955 E. 6th Street, Tucson, AZ, 85719; 520-626-8063; barron@ag.arizona.edu

²Deputy Director, Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, University of Arizona, 715 N. Park Avenue, Tucson, AZ, 85719; 520-622-9018; morehoub@u.arizona.edu

³Associate Professor, Department of Geography and Regional Development, University of Arizona, Harvill Building 453C, Tucson, AZ, 85721; 520-621-8549; yools@email.arizona.edu

⁴Director, Center for Applied Spatial Analysis, University of Arizona, Harvill Building 460, Tucson, AZ, 85721; 520-621-6267; garych@casa.arizona.edu

⁵Director and Professor of Dendrochronology, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, 105 W. Stadium, Tucson, AZ, 85721; 520-622-9065; tswetnam@ltrr.arizona.edu

⁶Director and Professor of Geosciences, Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, 715 N. Park Avenue, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85719; 520-622-9018; jto@u.arizona.edu

Abstract: Advances in computer modeling capacity and Web-based communications have revolutionized the development and dissemination of knowledge specifically tailored for wildfire management decision making. Fire danger rating systems, fire behavior models, fire effects models, ecological process models and landscape response simulations have been developed to help fire managers plan for and fight wildland fire. While many of these tools are spatially dynamic, few are web-based and few support interactive participation by experts as well as members of the public. Fire-Climate-Society (FCS-1) is a first-generation Web-based decision support tool specifically designed to encourage both public and expert exploration of wildfire risk and values at risk. Multicriteria decision making methods have been successfully integrated into a web-based map service which enables decision makers to construct wildfire risk assessment maps under alternative climate scenarios and varying perspectives of values at risk. The application can also incorporate group decision making to foster productive dialogues between decision makers and the constituencies they serve. FCS-1 is a product of Wildfire Alternatives (WALTER; http://walter.arizona.edu), an U.S. EPA Science to Achieve Results (EPA STAR) project at the University of Arizona.

COMMUNITY-BASED RECOVERY FROM WILDFIRE AND BEYOND: HEALING WATERSHEDS AND PEOPLE - THE STORY OF THE LOS ALAMOS VOLUNTEER TASK FORCE

John T. Hogan

Physical Scientist, USGS Biological Resources Discipline, Fort

Collins Science Center, Jemez Mountains Field Station, 3486 Arizona Ave.,

Los Alamos, NM 87544; 505-662-1963; john_hogan@usgs.gov

Abstract: In May of 2000 an escaped prescribed fire swept across the east flank of the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico, burning nearly 43,000 acres and leaving more than 400 Los Alamos families homeless. In the wake of the Cerro Grande Fire came an outpouring of volunteerism unprecedented in the history of US wildland fire. Agency distinctions and jurisdictional boundaries blurred as everyone focused on a common task. As many as 500 people per day signed on to assist with Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) treatments within a still active fire perimeter. Pressure from the community drove this process!

The volunteer program was modeled after the Incident Command System (ICS), complete with 20 person crews, trained crew leaders, crew buses, and safety briefings.

It soon became apparent that people not only wanted to help, they wanted and needed to understand what had happened. Ecological briefings became part of every project. The cornerstone of these briefings was the landscape ecology and fire history research conducted by the USGS Jemez Mountains Field Station. Education fostered understanding. Physical immersion in the sights, sounds, and smells of the post-fire landscape softened anger, sadness, and confusion, hastening closure and emotional healing. Participation and positive action reinforced a sense of community and control in a time of trauma and emergency. The Volunteer Task Force (VTF) was born. Subsequent fire-social research funded by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) has found this to be consistent with psychological and sociological behavioral models such as “sense-making” and “dominance”.

Immediately post fire 1,900 volunteers donated 23,500 hours to mitigate monsoonal flood risk. More than 500 acres were raked, seeded, and mulched and 66,000 sandbags filled and placed.

Education continued to be the cornerstone of the VTF program. Los Alamos students rebuilt and reinterpreted a self-guided nature trail with natural history, fire ecology, and original art and poetry. Students from all over northern New Mexico have participated in the program, which builds cross-cultural connections in this multi-cultural region. USGS science continued to play a pivotal role. Researchers from Biological Resources, Water Resources, and Geology collaborated with the VTF in a variety of post-fire studies.

The Cerro Grande experience was full of lessons, scientific, social, and pragmatic. Since 2000 the VTF has shared those lessons with other fire-affected and at-risk communities through outreach workshops, participation on BAER Teams, and field schools.

Five and a half years and 65,000 volunteer hours later, the non-profit Volunteer Task Force continues to build bridges through hands-on education, restoration, mitigation, and citizen-based science, always with a community service component. The emphasis has shifted away from recovery to more involved, better-informed stewardship. Thirty miles of trail have been rehabilitated or rebuilt; 29,296 trees and shrubs planted; 32 acres of lop and scatter treatment conducted in piñon-juniper woodland; 220,000 seed balls made and scattered. More than 4,500 students and other community members have participated in monitoring stream cross-sections, seedling survival, piñon mortality, ground cover change, bird populations, invasive species, mastication and other thinning effects.

Climatic Effects on Plant Invasions and Wildfires: A New World Order in the Sonoran Desert?

Julio L. Betancourt

U.S. Geological Survey, Desert Laboratory, 1675 W. Anklam Rd., Tucson, AZ 85745; 520-670-6821 ext. 107; jlbetanc@usgs.gov

Abstract: Only a few decades ago, the Arizona Upland of the Sonoran Desert was considered mostly fireproof, a case of not enough fine fuel to connect the dominant shrubs and cacti. Two notable exceptions might have been the desertscrub-desert grassland ecotone ~3000-4000 ft., especially before livestock grazing, and temporary increases in biomass at desert elevations (<3000 m) from winter annuals, which may have burned locally and infrequently after consecutive wet winters. Since the 1980’s, rapid spread of winter annuals (e.g., Bromus rubens, Schismus spp., Brassica tournefortii, and Avena fatua) of Mediterranean and Central Asian origin began fueling more extensive and frequent desert fires that have quickly grown from 10⁴ to 10⁵ acres/yr in Arizona. The acreage of area burned each year can only rise with ongoing introduction and expansion of Neotropical perennial grasses (e.g., Pennisetum cileare and P. setaceum) that are more permanent fixtures on the landscape, can burn almost year around, and can do so with much greater intensity than winter annuals. At a finite area of ~20 x 10⁶ acres in Arizona, conversion of the Sonoran Desert into an impoverished and flammable grassland could be only a matter of time. As this conversion progresses, there will be increased fire risks, lost tourist revenue, diminished property values, insurmountable setbacks to conservation efforts, and the threat of large ignition fronts in the desert routinely spreading into the mountains. In this talk, I will explore the role that climate variability and climate change is playing in these invasions. I will conclude my talk with the critical observation that, in the absence of effective invasive species management, it will be necessary to promote an aggressive program of fire suppression – indeed, a new world order in the Sonoran Desert.

Overview of Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) – Program Priorities, Process Requirements, and Advice for PI’s

Erik Berg

Program Manager, Joint Fire Science Program, National Interagency Fire Center, 3833 S. Development Ave., Boise, ID 83709; 208-387-5349; Erik_Berg@nifc.blm.gov

Abstract: Congress created the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) in 1998 to fund applied research dedicated to answering wildland fire and fuels questions posed by federal land managers. The Joint Fire Science Program Manager will briefly describe the Program’s goals, outline Program research priorities and proposal requirements, and suggest methods for improving investigator funding success.

WILDLAND FIRE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE USDA FOREST SERVICE: FUTURE PLANS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLABORATION

Susan G. Conard

National Program Leader for Fire Ecology Research, Forest Management Research Staff, Forest Service R&D, Washington, DC; 703-605-5255; conard@fs.fed.us

Abstract: The Forest Service has recently completed a strategic plan to guide our wildland fire and fuels R&D programs. The plan focuses on meeting the needs of land managers and other clients and stakeholders, recognizes explicitly the need to coordinate research activities with our partners in other organizations such as USGS, and responds to priorities identified in a number of internal and interagency analyses of research priorities for fire and fuels management. The priorities outlined in this strategy will guide the allocation of effort and resources for fire research, tool development, and getting science-based knowledge and tools into the hands of managers and policy-makers who need them. The strategic plan identifies three main Strategic Goals, as well as key areas for research and science application.

· Strategic Goal 1, “Advance the biological, physical, social, economic, and ecological sciences,” includes four main research focus areas: core fire science, ecological and environmental fire science, social and economic fire science, and integrated fire and fuels management research.

· Strategic Goal 2, “Develop and facilitate use of knowledge and tools that policy makers, wildland fire managers, and communities need,” includes knowledge synthesis and tool development and implementation of a comprehensive science application strategy.

· Strategic Goal 3, “Provide leadership for collaborative, coordinated, responsive, and forward-looking wildland fire-related R&D for all ownerships,” addresses the needs for a leadership structure that supports a nationally coordinated program within the FS to address the priorities identified in Strategic Goals 1 and 2, and for improved collaboration and coordination with other agencies and partners in research and science application.