scholarly journals Season of prescribed fire determines grassland restoration outcomes after fire exclusion and overgrazing

Ecosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin N. Novak ◽  
Michelle Bertelsen ◽  
Dick Davis ◽  
Devin M. Grobert ◽  
Kelly G. Lyons ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Grassland Restoration ◽  
Fire Exclusion

scholarly journals Past tree influence and prescribed fire mediate biotic interactions and community reassembly in a grassland-restoration experiment

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 264-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles B. Halpern ◽  
Joseph A. Antos ◽  
Donald McKenzie ◽  
Annette M. Olson
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Grassland Restoration ◽  
Community Reassembly

The influences of drought and humans on the fire regimes of northern Pennsylvania, USA

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 757-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick H. Brose ◽  
Daniel C. Dey ◽  
Richard P. Guyette ◽  
Joseph M. Marschall ◽  
Michael C. Stambaugh
Keyword(s):  
American Indians ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
European Settlement ◽  
Pine Regeneration ◽  
Fire Exclusion ◽  
Dormant Season

Understanding past fire regimes is necessary to justify and implement restoration of disturbance-associated forests via prescribed fire programs. In eastern North America, the characteristics of many presettlement fire regimes are unclear because of the passage of time. To help clarify this situation, we developed a 435-year fire history for the former conifer forests of northern Pennsylvania. Ninety-three cross sections of fire-scarred red pines (Pinus resinosa Aiton) collected from three sites were analyzed to determine common fire regime characteristics. Prior to European settlement, fires occurred every 35–50 years and were often large dormant-season burns that sometimes initiated red pine regeneration. American Indians probably ignited these fires. Fire occurrence had a weak association with multiyear droughts. After European settlement started around 1800, fires occurred every 5–7 years due to widespread logging. Fire size and seasonality expanded to include small growing-season fires. The weak drought–fire association ceased. In the early 1900s, logging ended and wildfire control began. Since then, fires have been nearly absent from the sites despite several multiyear droughts in the 20th century. The human influences of cultural burning, logging, and fire exclusion are more important than the influence of drought to the fire regimes of northern Pennsylvania.

scholarly journals Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) population dynamics and restoration of fire-dependent northern mixed-grass prairie

2020 ◽  
Vol 133 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-262
Author(s):  
Robert K. Murphy ◽  
Karen A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Shrub Cover ◽  
Significant Treatment Effect ◽  
Significant Treatment ◽  
Tympanuchus Phasianellus ◽  
Mixed Grass Prairie ◽  
Fire Exclusion ◽  
Mixed Grass ◽  
The Mean

Case studies of Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus) population dynamics before and during re-introduction of fire to northern mixed-grass prairies that lacked fire for multiple decades are unavailable. At a 108-km2 northern mixed-grass prairie refuge in North Dakota, fire was suppressed from the early 1900s through late 1970s. Nine management units (total area 16.8 km2, 15.7% of the refuge) received initial prescribed fire treatments during 1979–1984. The mean annual density of male Sharp-tailed Grouse attending leks on these units during 1981–1985 (9.0 males/km2) was twice that on the same units during 1961–1965 (4.2 males/km2), amid the fire exclusion era; nonoverlap of 90% CIs encompassing the means suggested a significant treatment effect. However, densities of males on units managed without prescribed fire during 1961–1965 and 1981–1985 did not change between the two periods. By 1987, fire had been re–introduced to >50% of the refuge overall. Mean annual abundance (i.e., total numbers) of lekking males on the entire refuge did not differ between 1961–1965 and 1981–1985 but was significantly greater during 1989–1993 than during 1961–1965 and 1981–1985. Changes in density and abundance of lekking males coincided with fire-induced reductions in woody cover and increases in herbaceous cover. Our study illustrates the marked capacity of Sharp-tailed Grouse to respond to reductions of tree and shrub cover resulting from prescribed fire in northern mixed-grass prairie and the species’ attraction to habitat disturbance in general.

Liability and Prescribed Fire: Perception and Reality

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 533-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Weir ◽  
Urs P. Kreuter ◽  
Carissa L. Wonkka ◽  
Dirac Twidwell ◽  
Dianne A. Stroman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire
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