Fuel loads are important drivers of fire behavior, and fire is an important natural process that can also be used as a tool for ecological restoration purposes. Land managers and fire experts attempt to track and manipulate fuel loads in order to assess fire risk, control fire behavior, and restore ecosystems. Thus, understanding the relationships between fire, vegetation dynamics, and fuel loads is critical to the successful management and restoration of many ecosystems.
In recently completed research in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station, we have shown how attempts to reduce fuel loads using salvage logging after a major disturbance event in a northern forest landscape can lead to variable influences on future fire severity and carbon pools. We are also engaged in a new project with the Bureau of Land Management to look at the role of fire, non-native annual species, and restoration treatments in influencing fuel loads in sagebrush communities in the Great Basin. This project will use a combination of experimental fuels reduction and restoration treatments, landscape-scale sampling fuel loads, and remotely sensed imagery to develop spatially explicit models of dynamic fuel loads across successional and invasion gradients.
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Fire Ecology in Dynamic Ecosystems Team (FRESC)
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Vegetation data from burned and unburned sagebrush communities in eastern Washington (2016)
Fuels Database for Intact and Invaded Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) Ecological Sites
Below are publications associated with this project.
The ecological uncertainty of wildfire fuel breaks: examples from the sagebrush steppe
Fuels guide and database for intact and invaded big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) ecological sites—User manual
A conservation paradox in the Great Basin—Altering sagebrush landscapes with fuel breaks to reduce habitat loss from wildfire
Estimating vegetation biomass and cover across large plots in shrub and grass dominated drylands using terrestrial lidar and machine learning
Potential influence of wildfire in modulating climate-induced forest redistribution in a central Rocky Mountain landscape
Fire patterns in the range of the greater sage-grouse, 1984-2013 - Implications for conservation and management
Challenges of establishing big sgebrush (Artemisia tridentata) in rangeland restoration: effects of herbicide, mowing, whole-community seeding, and sagebrush seed sources
Quantifying and predicting fuels and the effects of reduction treatments along successional and invasion gradients in sagebrush habitats
Effects of multiple interacting disturbances and salvage logging on forest carbon stocks
The efficacy of salvage logging in reducing subsequent fire severity in conifer-dominated forests of Minnesota, USA
Environmental and climatic variables as potential drivers of post-fire cover of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) in seeded and unseeded semiarid ecosystems
- Overview
Fuel loads are important drivers of fire behavior, and fire is an important natural process that can also be used as a tool for ecological restoration purposes. Land managers and fire experts attempt to track and manipulate fuel loads in order to assess fire risk, control fire behavior, and restore ecosystems. Thus, understanding the relationships between fire, vegetation dynamics, and fuel loads is critical to the successful management and restoration of many ecosystems.
In recently completed research in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station, we have shown how attempts to reduce fuel loads using salvage logging after a major disturbance event in a northern forest landscape can lead to variable influences on future fire severity and carbon pools. We are also engaged in a new project with the Bureau of Land Management to look at the role of fire, non-native annual species, and restoration treatments in influencing fuel loads in sagebrush communities in the Great Basin. This project will use a combination of experimental fuels reduction and restoration treatments, landscape-scale sampling fuel loads, and remotely sensed imagery to develop spatially explicit models of dynamic fuel loads across successional and invasion gradients.
- Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Fire Ecology in Dynamic Ecosystems Team (FRESC)
Understanding how fire and other disturbances affect ecosystem health and resiliency is critically important for land managers and for society as a whole. - Data
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Vegetation data from burned and unburned sagebrush communities in eastern Washington (2016)
The dataset includes several variables sampled across burned and unburned sagebrush communities located in an approximately 30 square kilometer portion of the Columbia Plateau Ecoregion in eastern Washington, USA. The study area is characterized by landforms interspersed at fine-scales, representative of the channeled scabland topography of the region (Baker 2009), including: "mounds,&Fuels Database for Intact and Invaded Big Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) Ecological Sites
The Fuels Guide and Database for Big Sagebrush Ecological Sites was developed as part of the Joint Fire Sciences Program project "Quantifying and predicting fuels and the effects of reduction treatments along successional and invasion gradients in sagebrush habitats" (Shinneman and others, 2015). The research was carried out by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Forest and Rangeland Ecosy - Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
The ecological uncertainty of wildfire fuel breaks: examples from the sagebrush steppe
Fuel breaks are increasingly being implemented at broad scales (100s to 10,000s of square kilometers) in fire‐prone landscapes globally, yet there is little scientific information available regarding their ecological effects (eg habitat fragmentation). Fuel breaks are designed to reduce flammable vegetation (ie fuels), increase the safety and effectiveness of fire‐suppression operations, and ultimFuels guide and database for intact and invaded big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) ecological sites—User manual
The Fuels Guide and Database (FGD) is intended to provide fuel loading and vegetation information for big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) ecological sites in the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area (hereinafter the NCA) in southern Idaho. Sagebrush ecosystems in the NCA and throughout much of the Great Basin are highly influenced by non-native plants that alter succA conservation paradox in the Great Basin—Altering sagebrush landscapes with fuel breaks to reduce habitat loss from wildfire
Interactions between fire and nonnative, annual plant species (that is, “the grass/fire cycle”) represent one of the greatest threats to sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems and associated wildlife, including the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). In 2015, U.S. Department of the Interior called for a “science-based strategy to reduce the threat of large-scale rangeland fire to habitEstimating vegetation biomass and cover across large plots in shrub and grass dominated drylands using terrestrial lidar and machine learning
Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) has been shown to enable an efficient, precise, and non-destructive inventory of vegetation structure at ranges up to hundreds of meters. We developed a method that leverages TLS collections with machine learning techniques to model and map canopy cover and biomass of several classes of short-stature vegetation across large plots. We collected high-definition TLS sPotential influence of wildfire in modulating climate-induced forest redistribution in a central Rocky Mountain landscape
IntroductionClimate change is expected to impose significant tension on the geographic distribution of tree species. Yet, tree species range shifts may be delayed by their long life spans, capacity to withstand long periods of physiological stress, and dispersal limitations. Wildfire could theoretically break this biological inertia by killing forest canopies and facilitating species redistributioFire patterns in the range of the greater sage-grouse, 1984-2013 - Implications for conservation and management
Fire ranks among the top three threats to the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) throughout its range, and among the top two threats in the western part of its range. The national research strategy for this species and the recent U.S. Department of the Interior Secretarial Order 3336 call for science-based threats assessment of fire to inform conservation planning and fire managementChallenges of establishing big sgebrush (Artemisia tridentata) in rangeland restoration: effects of herbicide, mowing, whole-community seeding, and sagebrush seed sources
The loss of big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata Nutt.) on sites disturbed by fire has motivated restoration seeding and planting efforts. However, the resulting sagebrush establishment is often lower than desired, especially in dry areas. Sagebrush establishment may be increased by addressing factors such as seed source and condition or management of the plant community. We assessed initial establQuantifying and predicting fuels and the effects of reduction treatments along successional and invasion gradients in sagebrush habitats
Sagebrush shrubland ecosystems in the Great Basin are prime examples of how altered successional trajectories can create dynamic fuel conditions and, thus, increase uncertainty about fire risk and behavior. Although fire is a natural disturbance in sagebrush, post-fire environments are highly susceptible to conversion to an invasive grass-fire regime (often referred to as a “grass-fire cycle”). AfEffects of multiple interacting disturbances and salvage logging on forest carbon stocks
Climate change is anticipated to increase the frequency of disturbances, potentially impacting carbon stocks in terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about the implications of either multiple disturbances or post-disturbance forest management activities on ecosystem carbon stocks. This study quantified how forest carbon stocks responded to stand-replacing blowdown and wildfire, both indThe efficacy of salvage logging in reducing subsequent fire severity in conifer-dominated forests of Minnesota, USA
Although primarily used to mitigate economic losses following disturbance, salvage logging has also been justified on the basis of reducing fire risk and fire severity; however, its ability to achieve these secondary objectives remains unclear. The patchiness resulting from a sequence of recent disturbances—blowdown, salvage logging, and wildfire—provided an excellent opportunity to assess the impEnvironmental and climatic variables as potential drivers of post-fire cover of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) in seeded and unseeded semiarid ecosystems
Cheatgrass, a non-native annual grass, dominates millions of hectares in semiarid ecosystems of the Intermountain West (USA). Post-fire invasions can reduce native species diversity and alter ecological processes. To curb cheatgrass invasion, land managers often seed recently burned areas with perennial competitor species. We sampled vegetation within burned (19 years post-fire) and nearby unburne