scholarly journals Prescribed Fire Limits Wildfire Severity Without Altering Ecological Importance for Birds

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quresh Latif ◽  
Victoria Saab ◽  
Jonathan Dudley
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Conifer Forests ◽  
Fuels Reduction ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Ecological Implications ◽  
Wildfire Effects ◽  
Ecological Importance

Abstract Background: Fire suppression and anthropogenic land use have increased severity of wildfire in dry conifer forests. Mangers use fuels reduction (e.g., prescribed fire) to limit high-severity wildfire and restore ecological function to fire-adapted dry conifer forests. Many species that evolved in these forests, however, are adapted to high-severity wildfire. To fully understand the ecological implications of fuels reduction treatments, we need to understand direct treatment effects and how treatments modulate subsequent wildfire effects on natural communities. We studied bird population and community patterns over 9 years, including unburned (2002–2003), after prescribed fire (2004–2007), and after wildfire (2008–2010). We used a before-after, control-impact (BACI) approach to analyze shifts in species occupancy and richness with respect to treated units following prescribed fire and burn severity following wildfire.Results: We found both positive and negative wildfire and prescribed fire effects on birds largely consistent with species life history traits; several woodpecker species, secondary cavity-nesting species, aerial insectivores, and understory species exhibited positive effects, whereas open cup canopy-nesting species and foliage- or bark-gleaning insectivores exhibited negative effects. Also as expected, wildfire affected more species more consistently through time than did prescribed fire. Wildfire burned units initially treated with prescribed fire less severely than untreated units, but wildfire effects on birds were similar regardless of treatment.Conclusions: Our results suggest managers can employ prescribed fire to reduce wildfire severity without necessarily altering the ecological importance of wildfire to birds. Additional study of the ecological implications of various fuels reduction practices, representing a range of intensities and fire regimes, would further inform forest management that includes biodiversity objectives.

scholarly journals Prescribed fire limits wildfire severity without altering ecological importance for birds

Fire Ecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Quresh S. Latif ◽  
Victoria A. Saab ◽  
Jonathan G. Dudley
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Fuels Reduction ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Ecological Implications ◽  
Wildfire Effects ◽  
Ecological Importance ◽  
Species Occupancy

Abstract Background Fire suppression and anthropogenic land use have increased severity of wildfire in western U.S. dry conifer forests. Managers use fuels reduction methods (e.g., prescribed fire) to limit high-severity wildfire and restore ecological function to these fire-adapted forests. Many avian species that evolved in these forests, however, are adapted to conditions created by high-severity wildfire. To fully understand the ecological implications of fuels reduction treatments, we need to understand direct treatment effects and how treatments modulate subsequent wildfire effects on natural communities. We studied bird population and community patterns over nine years at six study units, including unburned (2002–2003), after prescribed fire (2004–2007), and after wildfire (2008–2010). We used a before-after, control-impact (BACI) approach to analyze shifts in species occupancy and richness in treated units following prescribed fire and again in relation to burn severity following wildfire. Results We found examples of both positive and negative effects of wildfire and prescribed fire on bird species occupancy depending on and largely consistent with their life history traits; several woodpecker species, secondary cavity-nesting species, aerial insectivores, and understory species exhibited positive effects, whereas open cup canopy-nesting species and foliage- or bark-gleaning insectivores exhibited negative effects. Wildfire affected more species more consistently through time than did prescribed fire. Wildfire burned units initially treated with prescribed fire less severely than untreated units, but the slopes of wildfire effects on species occupancy were similar regardless of prior prescribed fire treatment. Conclusions Our results suggest managers can employ prescribed fire to reduce wildfire severity without necessarily altering the ecological importance of wildfire to birds (i.e., the identity of species exhibiting negative versus positive responses). Additional study of the ecological implications of various fuels reduction practices, representing a range of intensities and fire regimes, would further inform forest management that includes biodiversity objectives.

scholarly journals Walking through a 'phoenix landscape': hiker surveys reveal nuanced perceptions of wildfire effects

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 561
Author(s):  
Alexandra M. Weill ◽  
Lauren M. Watson ◽  
Andrew M. Latimer
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Fire Ecology ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
The Past ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Local Ecology

Public opinion of wildfire is often perceived to be negative and in support of fire suppression, even though research suggests public opinions have become more positive over the past few decades. However, most prior work on this topic has focused on homeowners in forested regions. In this study, we shift the lens to hikers in a chaparral- and oak-savannah-dominated landscape that burned at high severity in 2015. We surveyed hikers before and after their hike about their familiarity and perceptions of local fire, and wildfire in the nation at large. We found hikers were familiar with topics such as prescribed fire and basic fire ecology, but knew little about local ecology or fire regimes. Post-hike perceptions of fire and feelings about wildfire in the USA were complex and heterogeneous, not predominantly negative. Contrary to frequent media descriptions of post-fire landscapes as ‘devastated’ or ‘moonscapes,’ many participants described the burned landscape with awe and admiration. These results suggest that residents of fire-prone landscapes may benefit from programming that emphasises benefits and challenges of fire in the local landscape and incorporates visits to local burned sites throughout the recovery period.

scholarly journals Surface Fire to Crown Fire: Fire History in the Taos Valley Watersheds, New Mexico, USA

Fire ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Lane Johnson ◽  
Ellis Margolis
Keyword(s):  
Populus Tremuloides ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Quaking Aspen ◽  
Conifer Forests ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Historical Photographs

Tree-ring fire scars, tree ages, historical photographs, and historical surveys indicate that, for centuries, fire played different ecological roles across gradients of elevation, forest, and fire regimes in the Taos Valley Watersheds. Historical fire regimes collapsed across the three watersheds by 1899, leaving all sites without fire for at least 119 years. Historical photographs and quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) ages indicate that a high-severity fire historically burned at multiple high-elevation subalpine plots in today’s Village of Taos Ski Valley, with large high-severity patches (>640 ha). Low-severity, frequent (9–29-year median interval) surface fires burned on the south aspects in nearby lower elevation dry conifer forests in all watersheds. Fires were associated with drought during the fire year. Widespread fires commonly burned synchronously in multiple watersheds during more severe drought years, preceded by wet years, including fire in all three watersheds in 1664, 1715, and 1842. In contrast, recent local “large” wildfires have only burned within single watersheds and may not be considered large in a historical context. Management to promote repeated low-severity fires and the associated open stand structures is within the historical range of variability in the dry conifer forests of these watersheds. In the high-elevation, subalpine forests, different management approaches are needed, which balance ecological and socioeconomic values while providing public safety.

scholarly journals The origins of prescribed burning in Scandinavian forestry: the seminal role of Joel Wretlind in the management of fire-dependent forests

2019 ◽  
Vol 139 (3) ◽  
pp. 393-406
Author(s):  
Sarah Cogos ◽  
Samuel Roturier ◽  
Lars Östlund
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
The State ◽  
Natural Processes ◽  
Forest Manager ◽  
Forest District

AbstractIn Sweden, prescribed burning was trialed as early as the 1890s for forest regeneration purposes. However, the origins of prescribed burning in Sweden are commonly attributed to Joel Efraim Wretlind, forest manager in the State Forest district of Malå, Västerbotten County, from 1920 to 1952. To more fully understand the role he played in the development of prescribed burning and the extent of his burning, we examined historical records from the State Forest Company’s archive and Wretlind’s personal archive. The data showed that at least 11,208 ha was burned through prescribed burning between 1921 and 1970, representing 18.7% of the Malå state-owned forest area. Wretlind thus created a new forestry-driven fire regime, reaching, during peak years, extents close to historical fire regimes before the fire suppression era, and much higher than present-day burning. His use of prescribed fire to regenerate forests served as a guide for many other forest managers, spreading to all of northern Sweden during the 1950–1960s. Our analysis of Wretlind’s latest accounts also shows how he stood against the evolutions of modern forestry to defend a forestry system based on the reproduction of natural processes, such as fire.

Differentiating mixed- and high-severity fire regimes in mixed-conifer forests of the Canadian Cordillera

2015 ◽  
Vol 341 ◽  
pp. 45-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hélène M. Marcoux ◽  
Lori D. Daniels ◽  
Sarah E. Gergel ◽  
Eric Da Silva ◽  
Ze’ev Gedalof ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Conifer Forests ◽  
Mixed Conifer ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Mixed Conifer Forests

scholarly journals Black-Backed Woodpecker Nest Density in the Sierra Nevada, California

Diversity ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 364
Author(s):  
Chad T. Hanson ◽  
Tonja Y. Chi
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Bark Beetles ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Small Population ◽  
Nest Density ◽  
Conifer Forests ◽  
Forest Habitat ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Selection Of

In the western U.S., the black-backed woodpecker has been found to be associated with dense montane conifer forests with high snag densities, typically resulting from moderate- to high-severity wildland fires. However, black-backed woodpeckers are occasionally also detected nesting in unburned forests, raising questions about the type of habitat in which they nest and the potential abundance of such habitat. We conducted intensive black-backed woodpecker nest density surveys in large plots within the middle/upper-montane conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, California, within general (undisturbed) forests, snag forest habitat from moderate/high-severity wildland fire, and unburned snag forest habitat from drought and native bark beetles. We found black-backed woodpeckers nesting only in the two snag forest conditions, mostly in burned snag forest, and their preferential selection of burned snag forest was statistically significant. No nest was found in general forests. Our spatial analysis indicates that snag forest is rare in the forests of the Sierra Nevada due to fire suppression and logging, raising concerns regarding small population size, which we estimate to be only 461 to 772 pairs in the Sierra Nevada.

scholarly journals Adapt to more wildfire in western North American forests as climate changes

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (18) ◽  
pp. 4582-4590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tania Schoennagel ◽  
Jennifer K. Balch ◽  
Hannah Brenkert-Smith ◽  
Philip E. Dennison ◽  
Brian J. Harvey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface ◽  
Fuels Reduction ◽  
New Era ◽  
Fuels Management ◽  
Residential Communities ◽  
Adaptive Resilience ◽  
Key Aspects

Wildfires across western North America have increased in number and size over the past three decades, and this trend will continue in response to further warming. As a consequence, the wildland–urban interface is projected to experience substantially higher risk of climate-driven fires in the coming decades. Although many plants, animals, and ecosystem services benefit from fire, it is unknown how ecosystems will respond to increased burning and warming. Policy and management have focused primarily on specified resilience approaches aimed at resistance to wildfire and restoration of areas burned by wildfire through fire suppression and fuels management. These strategies are inadequate to address a new era of western wildfires. In contrast, policies that promote adaptive resilience to wildfire, by which people and ecosystems adjust and reorganize in response to changing fire regimes to reduce future vulnerability, are needed. Key aspects of an adaptive resilience approach are (i) recognizing that fuels reduction cannot alter regional wildfire trends; (ii) targeting fuels reduction to increase adaptation by some ecosystems and residential communities to more frequent fire; (iii) actively managing more wild and prescribed fires with a range of severities; and (iv) incentivizing and planning residential development to withstand inevitable wildfire. These strategies represent a shift in policy and management from restoring ecosystems based on historical baselines to adapting to changing fire regimes and from unsustainable defense of the wildland–urban interface to developing fire-adapted communities. We propose an approach that accepts wildfire as an inevitable catalyst of change and that promotes adaptive responses by ecosystems and residential communities to more warming and wildfire.

scholarly journals Short-Term Benefits of Prescribed Fire to Bird Communities of Dry Forests

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria A. Saab ◽  
Quresh R. Latif ◽  
William M. Block ◽  
Jonathan G. Dudley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Treatment Effects ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Burn Severity ◽  
Control Treatment ◽  
Conifer Forests ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Paired Control

Abstract Background: Low-severity prescribed fire is a tool used for reducing fuel loads on public lands, particularly in dry conifer forests of the western United States characterized by historically mixed- and low-severity fire regimes. Understanding the ecological effects of prescribed fire treatments is important for predicting the impacts of these management actions on wildlife communities. But few studies have estimated small landbird responses to forest treatments at spatial scales relevant to their ecology or have examined potential differences in treatment effects applied within historically mixed- vs. low-severity fire regimes. Therefore, we evaluated prescribed fire treatment effects and relationships with burn severity for avian communities in dry conifer forests dominated by ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) located on seven National Forests in the interior western United States. We surveyed birds for 1–4 years and 1–3 years before and after prescribed fire treatments at mixed- and low-severity fire regime locations, respectively, following a before-after, control-impact study design – 8 paired control-treatment units in mixed-severity locations (16 total study units with 320 survey points) and 4 paired control-treatment units in low-severity locations (8 total study units with 278 survey points). Using a Bayesian hierarchical multi-species occupancy model, we analyzed occupancy patterns for 95 species.Results: We found 33 species with statistically supported treatment effects and/or burn severity relationships primarily in mixed-severity locations. The data supported positive treatment effects at mixed severity locations for 9 species (American Robin [Turdus migratorius], Western Bluebird [Sialia mexicana], Hairy Woodpecker [Dryobates villosus], Black-backed Woodpecker [Picoides arcticus], American Three-toed Woodpecker [Picoides dorsalis], House Wren [Troglodytes aedon], Dusky Flycatcher [Empidonax oberholseri], Western Wood-peewee [Contopus sordidulus], Gray Flycatcher[Empidonax wrightii]), whose occupancy shifted towards more severely burned points after treatment, and a negative effect for one species (Ruby-crowned Kinglet [Corthylio calendula]), whose occupancy shifted away from burned points. At low severity locations, only two species exhibited treatment effects, both negative (Red-faced Warbler [Cardellina rubrifrons], and Lark Sparrow [Chondestes grammacus]). We also found supported occupancy relationships with burn severity post-treatment (i.e., regardless of species distribution before treatment) for 29 species, most of which were consistent with their life histories (e.g., patterns of positive relationships for cavity-nesting, bark insectivores and negative relationships for open-nesting, foliage insectivores). Stronger responses to prescribed fire treatments at mixed-severity locations were unexpected because prescribed fire applications are more similar to historical wildfires characterizing low-severity fire regimes.Conclusions: Bird populations in historically low-severity locations may be relatively unresponsive to prescribed fire because fire there is typically more frequent, expected, and regular. By comparison, fire events are relatively rare historically in mixed severity locations, potentially eliciting more responses to an infrequent opportunity, even by species that are strongly associated with recently burned forests by wildfire. Our results suggest that fire management activities intended to reduce fuels and lower the risk of high-severity wildfire can also be effective in creating habitat for some fire specialists at least in the short term.

Fire and False Brome: How Do Prescribed Fire and Invasive Brachypodium sylvaticum Affect Each Other?

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren P. Poulos ◽  
Bitty A. Roy
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Seedling Emergence ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
National Forest ◽  
Invasive Grass ◽  
Brachypodium Sylvaticum ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Forest Sites ◽  
Noxious Weed

Brachypodium sylvaticum, a shade-tolerant, forest dwelling, and aggressive invasive grass native to Eurasia, is a noxious weed in California, Oregon, and Washington. This species could cause ecosystem collapse by altering forest fire regimes. To examine interactions with fire, we divided two Willamette National Forest sites into eight units and randomly selected half for treatment with prescribed fire in spring 2011. We assessed the effect of B. sylvaticum on fire (severity and intensity) as well as the effect of fire on B. sylvaticum (cover, seedling emergence, and dispersal). We found that B. sylvaticum cover decreased fire severity but had no effect on intensity. Furthermore, fire severity influenced B. sylvaticum cover; in areas receiving low-severity fire, the grass increased from 21 ± 15.05 to 34 ± 15.81%, but in areas of high-severity fire, cover remained consistently around 0% (0 ± 0% cover in yr 1 to 0.2 5± 0.25% in yr 3). In the field, prescribed fire decreased seedling emergence by 32% compared to controls, but not in an associated greenhouse experiment. However, in the greenhouse, severely burned plots had zero emergence, compared to 0.29 ± 0.14 seedlings low-severity m−2 plot. Fire severity also influenced dispersal in the field; we monitored plots with < 0.5% cover B. sylvaticum initially; when these plots experienced low severity fire, they had greater B. sylvaticum cover (increasing 1,200%), suggesting increased dispersal with less severe fires. High-severity dispersal plots did not experience increased cover. High severity fires have the potential to control the grass, but low-severity fires will likely increase its cover.

scholarly journals Relationships among wildfire, prescribed fire, and drought in a fire-prone landscape in the south-eastern United States

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert N. Addington ◽  
Stephen J. Hudson ◽  
J. Kevin Hiers ◽  
Matthew D. Hurteau ◽  
Thomas F. Hutcherson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Drought Index ◽  
Military Training ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Areal Extent ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Fuels Reduction ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Multiple Regression Models

Concern over increasing wildfire activity in the last few decades has prompted increased investment in fuels reduction treatments worldwide. Prescribed fire is a commonly used management tool for reducing fuels and modifying subsequent wildfire dynamics, yet the influence of prescribed fire on wildfire is difficult to evaluate empirically due to the often unpredictable nature of wildfire. In this study we evaluated a 30-year record of wildfire, prescribed fire and drought at Fort Benning, a 74 000-ha military training installation in west-central Georgia, USA. Annual wildfire incidence declined sharply from 1982 to 2012 as prescribed fire hectares increased. Multiple regression models including both prescribed fire and drought (assessed using the Keetch–Byram Drought Index; KBDI) explained ~80% and 54% of the variation in annual wildfire incidence and areal extent, respectively. Current- and previous-year prescribed fire were strongly inversely related to current-year wildfire, suggesting that the cumulative area burned by prescription is important in explaining current-year wildfire incidence. Wildfire activity overall (both incidence and areal extent) was highest during drought years when cumulative prescribed fire hectares were low. Our results suggest some inevitability of wildfire during drought, but also provide evidence for the positive effects of sustained landscape-scale prescribed fire in reducing wildfire activity over time.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document