scholarly journals Measuring the effect of fuel treatments on forest carbon using landscape risk analysis

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 2515-2526 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. A. Ager ◽  
M. A. Finney ◽  
A. McMahan ◽  
J. Cathcart
Keyword(s):  
Scale Effects ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Flame Length ◽  
Length Class ◽  
Fuel Reduction ◽  
Probabilistic Framework ◽  
Fuel Treatments ◽  
Carbon Loss ◽  
Burn Probability

Abstract. Wildfire simulation modelling was used to examine whether fuel reduction treatments can potentially reduce future wildfire emissions and provide carbon benefits. In contrast to previous reports, the current study modelled landscape scale effects of fuel treatments on fire spread and intensity, and used a probabilistic framework to quantify wildfire effects on carbon pools to account for stochastic wildfire occurrence. The study area was a 68 474 ha watershed located on the Fremont-Winema National Forest in southeastern Oregon, USA. Fuel reduction treatments were simulated on 10% of the watershed (19% of federal forestland). We simulated 30 000 wildfires with random ignition locations under both treated and untreated landscapes to estimate the change in burn probability by flame length class resulting from the treatments. Carbon loss functions were then calculated with the Forest Vegetation Simulator for each stand in the study area to quantify change in carbon as a function of flame length. We then calculated the expected change in carbon from a random ignition and wildfire as the sum of the product of the carbon loss and the burn probabilities by flame length class. The expected carbon difference between the non-treatment and treatment scenarios was then calculated to quantify the effect of fuel treatments. Overall, the results show that the carbon loss from implementing fuel reduction treatments exceeded the expected carbon benefit associated with lowered burn probabilities and reduced fire severity on the treated landscape. Thus, fuel management activities resulted in an expected net loss of carbon immediately after treatment. However, the findings represent a point in time estimate (wildfire immediately after treatments), and a temporal analysis with a probabilistic framework used here is needed to model carbon dynamics over the life cycle of the fuel treatments. Of particular importance is the long-term balance between emissions from the decay of dead trees killed by fire and carbon sequestration by forest regeneration following wildfire.

Landscape-scale effects of fire severity on mixed-conifer and red fir forest structure in Yosemite National Park

2013 ◽  
Vol 287 ◽  
pp. 17-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Van R. Kane ◽  
James A. Lutz ◽  
Susan L. Roberts ◽  
Douglas F. Smith ◽  
Robert J. McGaughey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Structure ◽  
National Park ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Yosemite National Park ◽  
Mixed Conifer

Long-term avian response to fire severity, repeated burning, and mechanical fuel reduction in upland hardwood forest

2018 ◽  
Vol 424 ◽  
pp. 367-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathryn H. Greenberg ◽  
Joseph Tomcho ◽  
Aimee Livings-Tomcho ◽  
J. Drew Lanham ◽  
Thomas A. Waldrop ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Severity ◽  
Hardwood Forest ◽  
Fuel Reduction

Bare soil and rill formation following wildfires, fuel reduction treatments, and pine plantations in the southern Sierra Nevada, California, USA

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil H. Berg ◽  
David L. Azuma
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Reference Conditions ◽  
Bare Soil ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
Load Reduction ◽  
Fuel Reduction ◽  
Management Options ◽  
Burned Areas

Accelerated erosion commonly occurs after wildfires on forested lands. As burned areas recover, erosion returns towards prefire rates depending on many site-specific characteristics, including fire severity, vegetation type, soil type and climate. In some areas, erosion recovery can be rapid, particularly where revegetation is quick. Erosion recovery is less well understood for many fuel load reduction treatments. The rate of post-disturbance erosion recovery affects management options for forested lands, particularly when considering the combined ramifications of multiple disturbances on resource recovery rates (i.e. cumulative watershed effects). Measurements of percentage bare soil and rilling on over 600 plots in the southern Sierra Nevada with slopes less than 75% and within 1 km of roads were made between 2004 and 2006. Results suggest that after high-, moderate- or low-severity wildfire, rilling was seldom evident more than 4 years after fire. Percentage bare soil generally did not differ significantly between reference plots and wildfire plots greater than 6 years old. Little rilling was evident after treatment with a variety of fuel reduction techniques, including burning of machine- and hand-piled fuel, thinning, mastication, and crushing. Percentage bare soil at the fuel load reduction treatment plots also did not differ significantly from reference conditions. Percentage bare soil at pine plantation plots was noticeably higher than at reference sites.

Comparing landscape-based decision rules for placement of fuel treatments in the boreal mixedwood of western Canada

2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc-André Parisien ◽  
David R. Junor ◽  
Victor G. Kafka
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Decision Rules ◽  
Limited Area ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Fuel Treatments ◽  
Fuel Treatment ◽  
Landscape Features ◽  
Burn Probability ◽  
Rule Sets ◽  
Rule Based Approach

The present study used a rule-based approach to prioritise locations of fuel treatments in the boreal mixedwood forest of western Canada. The analysis, which was conducted in and around Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan, was based on burn probability (BP) mapping using the Burn-P3 (Probability, Prediction, and Planning) model. Fuel treatment locations were determined according to three rule-sets and five fuel treatment intensities. Fuel treatments were located according to BP only; jurisdictional boundaries and BP; and non-flammable landscape features, BP, and fuel treatment orientation. First, a baseline BP map was created from the original (i.e. unmodified) fuels grid. Fuel treatments were then added to the selected areas and BP maps produced for each combination of rule-set and treatment intensity. BP values for the treated landscapes were compared with those of the baseline BP map. Results varied substantially among scenarios. Locating fuel treatments as a function of the jurisdictional boundaries and BP yielded the lowest reduction in BP. Results suggest that clumping fuel treatments within a limited area or using landscape features to maximise the large-scale spatial benefits of the fuel treatments can significantly reduce landscape-level BP. Although these two strategies may produce similar overall reductions in BP, their appropriateness and utility depend on management objectives.

Effect of thinning and prescribed burning on crown fire severity in ponderosa pine forests

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolie Pollet ◽  
Philip N. Omi
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Ponderosa Pine ◽  
Stand Structure ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Fuel Treatments ◽  
Ponderosa Pine Forests ◽  
Wildfire Hazard

Fire exclusion policies have affected stand structure and wildfire hazard in north American ponderosa pine forests. Wildfires are becoming more severe in stands where trees are densely stocked with shade-tolerant understory trees. Although forest managers have been employing fuel treatment techniques to reduce wildfire hazard for decades, little scientific evidence documents the success of treatments in reducing fire severity. Our research quantitatively examined fire effects in treated and untreated stands in western United States national forests. Four ponderosa pine sites in Montana, Washington, California and Arizona were selected for study. Fuel treatments studied include: prescribed fire only, whole-tree thinning, and thinning followed by prescribed fire. On-the-ground fire effects were measured in adjacent treated and untreated forests. We developed post facto fire severity and stand structure measurement techniques to complete field data collection. We found that crown fire severity was mitigated in stands that had some type of fuel treatment compared to stands without any treatment. At all four of the sites, the fire severity and crown scorch were significantly lower at the treated sites. Results from this research indicate that fuel treatments, which remove small diameter trees, may be beneficial for reducing crown fire hazard in ponderosa pine sites.

Fuel treatment effects on modeled landscape-level fire behavior in the northern Sierra Nevada

2010 ◽  
Vol 40 (9) ◽  
pp. 1751-1765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason J. Moghaddas ◽  
Brandon M. Collins ◽  
Kurt Menning ◽  
Emily E.Y. Moghaddas ◽  
Scott L. Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Flame Length ◽  
Fuel Treatment ◽  
Burn Probability ◽  
Pre Treatment ◽  
Landscape Level

Across the western United States, decades of fire exclusion combined with past management history have contributed to the current condition of extensive areas of high-density, shade-tolerant coniferous stands that are increasingly prone to high-severity fires. Here, we report the modeled effects of constructed defensible fuel profile zones and group selection treatments on crown fire potential, flame length, and conditional burn probabilities across 11 land allocation types for an 18 600 ha study area within the northern Sierra Nevada, California. Fire modeling was completed using FlamMap and FARSITE based on landscape files developed with high-resolution aerial (IKONOS) imagery, ground-based plot data, and integrated data from ARCFUELS and the Forest Vegetation Simulator. Under modeled 97th percentile weather conditions, average conditional burn probability was reduced between pre- and post-treatment landscapes. A more detailed simulation of a hypothetical fire burning under fairly severe fire weather, or “problem fire”, revealed a 39% reduction in final fire size for the treated landscape relative to the pre-treatment condition. To modify fire behavior at a landscape level, a combination of fuel treatment strategies that address topographic location, land use allocations, vegetation types, and fire regimes is needed.

scholarly journals Is “Fuel Reduction” Justified as Fire Management in Spotted Owl Habitat?

Birds ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-403
Author(s):  
Chad T. Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Forest Management ◽  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Fuel Reduction ◽  
Spotted Owl ◽  
California Spotted Owl

The California spotted owl is an imperiled species that selects mature conifer forests for nesting and roosting while actively foraging in the “snag forest habitat” created when fire or drought kills most of the trees in patches. Federal agencies believe there are excess surface fuels in both of these habitat conditions in many of California’s forests due to fuel accumulation from decades of fire suppression and recent drought-related tree mortality. Accordingly, agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service are implementing widespread logging in spotted owl territories. While they acknowledge habitat degradation from such logging, and risks to the conservation of declining spotted owl populations, agencies hypothesize that such active forest management equates to effective fuel reduction that is needed to curb fire severity for the overall benefit of this at-risk species. In an initial investigation, I analyzed this issue in a large 2020 fire, the Creek Fire (153,738 ha), in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. I found that pre-fire snag density was not correlated with burn severity. I also found that more intensive forest management was correlated to higher fire severity. My results suggest the fuel reduction approach is not justified and provide indirect evidence that such management represents a threat to spotted owls.

A Simulation Study to Estimate Effects of Wildfire and Forest Management on Hydrology and Sediment in a Forested Watershed, Northwestern U.S.

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1579-1601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anurag Srivastava ◽  
Joan Q. Wu ◽  
William J. Elliot ◽  
Erin S. Brooks ◽  
Dennis C. Flanagan
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Post Treatment ◽  
Water Yield ◽  
National Forest ◽  
Fuel Reduction ◽  
Fuel Treatments ◽  
Peak Flows ◽  
Treatment Conditions ◽  
Forest Fuel ◽  
Pre Treatment

Abstract. Suitable fuel reduction treatments are needed in the Colville National Forest, Washington, to reduce the risk of severe wildfire. This study aimed to identify high-risk erosion hillslopes following wildfire to aid in forest fuel reduction planning and to evaluate the effects of fuel treatments on the watershed hydrological response. The specific objectives were (1) to assess the soil burn severity associated with wildfires and use that information to identify critical hillslopes for forest fuel treatments, and (2) to evaluate the potential changes in water yield and peak flows from pre-treatment (undisturbed forest) to post-treatment (thinning and prescribed burn) conditions, in the East Deer Creek Watershed (EDCW), a subwatershed of the Colville National Forest. Assessments were made using a modeling approach for hypothetical wildfire and fuel treatment scenarios. FlamMap, a fire behavior model, was used to predict the spatial distribution of wildfire intensity for a hypothetical event under current vegetation conditions. WEPP simulations were subsequently completed to obtain sediment and water yields based on fire intensity and topography. WEPP erosion estimations following a simulated wildfire showed hillslope sediment yield varying from 0 to 49.4 Mg ha-1 year-1 from the 777 hillslopes, which were ranked in descending order of sediment yield to identify critical hillslopes for fuel treatments. The WEPP model calibrated for a nearby gauged watershed was then applied to the EDCW for pre-treatment and post-treatment conditions. At the watershed scale, the increase in water yield from pre-treatment to post-treatment conditions ranged from 0.7% to 5.6% on hillslopes delivering 10% to 50% of the predicted post-fire sediment. Simulated water balance components at the treated hillslopes showed substantial changes. Surface runoff, subsurface lateral flow, and deep percolation increased 150% (5 mm), 50% (9 mm), and 40% (41 mm), respectively, whereas evapotranspiration (ET) decreased 23% (124 mm). The relative differences between pre- and post-harvest peak flows showed no clear trends as treatment area increased. The results suggest that thinning and prescribed burns to treated hillslopes in the EDCW may lead to an increase in water yield and significant alterations in hydrological processes. Keywords: Fuel treatments, Modeling, Peak flows, Sediment, Water yield, Wildfire.

Fuel treatments change forest structure and spatial patterns of fire severity, Arizona, U.S.A.

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 1357-1370
Author(s):  
Morris C. Johnson ◽  
Maureen C. Kennedy ◽  
Sarah Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Forest Structure ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Fuel Treatments ◽  
Treatment Unit ◽  
Fuel Treatment ◽  
Treated Area ◽  
High Severity ◽  
Management Objectives

Fuel reduction treatments are often designed to achieve multiple resource management objectives in addition to reducing potential fire hazard. In the White Mountains of Arizona State (U.S.A.), the 2014 San Juan Fire burned through several thinning prescriptions designed to achieve wildlife habitat objectives. Many studies have documented reduced fire severity for a standard set of fuel treatments, but the range of variability in fuel treatment effectiveness for alternative treatment designs is poorly understood. We used nonlinear mixed-effects modeling to estimate the distance into the treated area at which fire severity decreases and randomization tests to compare forest structure. High-severity fire effects were estimated to be reduced between 114 m and 345 m into the treated area. The range of variability in observed-distance high-severity fire effects persist into the treated area and, in conjunction with estimated relationships between posttreatment forest structure and severity, can inform the design of alternative fuel treatment prescriptions with various target prescriptions. We found that as cover was maintained in a treatment unit for wildlife habitat, the size of the fuel treatment necessary to observe a reduction in severity needs to be larger. Our study will inform decision makers on the size of treatments required to accomplish management objectives.

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