Dynamics and Risks
Dynamics and Risks
USGS scientists help identify the risk factors and likelihoods of fires throughout the United States. They also conduct studies to determine the dynamics of fires when they occur.
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Fire Rehabilitation Effects and Effectiveness
Mitigation of ecological damage caused by rangeland wildfires focuses on conservation of ecosystem function through reducing soil erosion and spread of invasive plants. The overall effectiveness of these treatments is variable, and their necessity has been debated recently. We conduct research projects and synthesize findings to determine if mitigation treatments: 1) protect ecosystems against...
Fire, Fuel Treatments, and Restoration Ecology
Land managers have invested considerable funding to decrease fuel loads and restore resilient ecosystems in forests and rangelands, using techniques such as grazing, mowing, herbicides, and thinning. Yet, little information is available about how such restoration activities have influenced wildlife species and habitats. We are conducting empirical studies and developing novel approaches to better...
Fire Severity Trends in the Western U.S.
How will increased drought affect forest fire severity? WERC’s Dr. Phil van Mantgem is testing the idea increased drought stress may affect forest fire severity independent of fire intensity. Drought stress prior to fire can affect tree health, potentially resulting in a higher sensitivity to fire-induced damage. Thus, with drought there may be ongoing increases in fire severity (the number of...
Wildland Fire Science in Forests and Deserts
Fuel conditions and fire regimes in western forests and deserts have been altered due to past land management, biological invasions, and recent extreme weather events and climate shifts. These changes have created extreme fire risk to local and regional communities, threatening their economic health related to wildland recreation, forest production, livestock operations, and other uses of public...
Terrestrial Records of Holocene Climate Change: Fire, climate and humans
Large wildfires have raged across the western Americas in the past decade including the Las Conchas, New Mexico fire that burned 44,000 acres in a single day in 2011 (Orem and Pelletier, 2015, Geomorphology 232: 224-238, and references therein), the 2016 Fort McMurray, Alberta fire that required evacuating an entire city, and the 2015 Alaskan fire season that burned more than 5 million acres...
Changing Fires, Changing Forests: The Effects of Climate Change on Wildfire Patterns and Forests in the Pacific Northwest
As the dominant force that sets the structure and function of most Pacific Northwest forests, fire is likely to be the major catalyst of forest change in a warming climate. Rising temperatures, decreased snowpack, and earlier snowmelt are expected to lead to longer fire seasons, drier fuel, and an increase in the area burned by wildfires in the future. Forest managers therefore need...
Changes to Watershed Vulnerability under Future Climates, Fire Regimes, and Population Pressures
The project aimed to use existing models and data to understand how wildfires (number, size, and location) and land-use change will affect watersheds, and therefore water supply, under current conditions and future climates (through 2050) in the western U.S. The projected changes in temperature and precipitation are expected to affect water supply in two major ways: 1) decreased water...