Chapter 20. Emulating Natural Forest Disturbance in the Wildland–Urban Interface of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of the United States

2008 ◽  
pp. 243-250
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Forest Disturbance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Natural Forest ◽  
Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface ◽  
Greater Yellowstone

scholarly journals Source regions contributing to excess reactive nitrogen deposition in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) of the United States

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Zhang ◽  
Tammy M. Thompson ◽  
Michael G. Barna ◽  
Jennifer L. Hand ◽  
Jill A. McMurray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Source Apportionment ◽  
The United States ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Snake River ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
Greater Yellowstone Area ◽  
Northern Utah ◽  
Greater Yellowstone

Abstract. Research has shown that excess reactive nitrogen (Nr) deposition in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) of the United States has passed critical load thresholds and is adversely affecting sensitive ecosystems in this area. To better understand the sources causing excess Nr deposition, the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with extensions (CAMx), using Western Air Quality Study (WAQS) emission and meteorology inputs, was used to simulate Nr deposition in the GYA. CAMx's Particulate Source Apportionment Technology (PSAT) was employed to estimate contributions from agriculture (AG), oil and gas (OG), fire (Fire), and other (Other) source sectors from 27 regions, including the model boundary conditions (BC) representative of international contributions, to the simulated Nr for 2011. Emissions from the AG and Other source sectors are predominantly from reduced N and oxidized N compounds, respectively. The model evaluation revealed a systematic underestimation in ammonia (NH3) concentrations by 65 % and overestimation in nitric acid concentrations by 108 %. The measured inorganic N wet deposition at National Trend Network sites in the GYA was overestimated by 31–49 %, due at least partially to an overestimation of precipitation. Source apportionment results showed that the AG sector was the single largest contributor to the GYA total Nr deposition, contributing 34 % on an annual basis. Seventy-four percent of the AG contributions originated from the Idaho Snake River valley, with Wyoming, California, and northern Utah contributing another 7 %, 5 %, 20 and 4 % respectively. Contributions from the OG sector were small at about 1 % over the GYA, except in the southern Wind River Mountain Range during winter where they accounted for more than 10 %, with 46 % of these contributions coming from OG activities in Wyoming. Wild and prescribed fires contributed 18 % of the total Nr deposition, with fires within the GYA having the highest impact. The five largest source area contributions to the annual total Nr deposition in the GYA were 1) the Snake River valley (3 8 % with AG 68 %, OG 2 %, Fire 15 %, and Other 16 %); 2) BC (21 %); 3) Wyoming (12 % with AG 19 %, OG 5 %, Fire 38 %, and Other 39 %); 4) California (7 % with AG 26 %, OG 1 %, Fire 14 %, and Other 59 %); and 5) northern Utah (6 % with AG 25 %, OG 2 %, Fire 10 %, and 25 Other 63 %). These results suggest that Nr deposition over the GYA, especially in the western region, was above the critical loads for sensitive ecosystems, and 22 AG from the Snake River valley was the largest contributor. Distant source regions were also important, with large contributions from the BC, i.e., international source regions.

scholarly journals In the Line of Fire: Consequences of Human-Ignited Wildfires to Homes in the U.S. (1992–2015)

Fire ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Nathan Mietkiewicz ◽  
Jennifer K. Balch ◽  
Tania Schoennagel ◽  
Stefan Leyk ◽  
Lise A. St. Denis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Confidence Interval ◽  
The United States ◽  
Land Area ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface ◽  
Residential Homes ◽  
Annual Basis ◽  
The U.S

With climate-driven increases in wildfires in the western U.S., it is imperative to understand how the risk to homes is also changing nationwide. Here, we quantify the number of homes threatened, suppression costs, and ignition sources for 1.6 million wildfires in the United States (U.S.; 1992–2015). Human-caused wildfires accounted for 97% of the residential homes threatened (within 1 km of a wildfire) and nearly a third of suppression costs. This study illustrates how the wildland-urban interface (WUI), which accounts for only a small portion of U.S. land area (10%), acts as a major source of fires, almost exclusively human-started. Cumulatively (1992–2015), just over one million homes were within human-caused wildfire perimeters in the WUI, where communities are built within flammable vegetation. An additional 58.8 million homes were within one kilometer across the 24-year record. On an annual basis in the WUI (1999–2014), an average of 2.5 million homes (2.2–2.8 million, 95% confidence interval) were threatened by human-started wildfires (within the perimeter and up to 1-km away). The number of residential homes in the WUI grew by 32 million from 1990–2015. The convergence of warmer, drier conditions and greater development into flammable landscapes is leaving many communities vulnerable to human-caused wildfires. These areas are a high priority for policy and management efforts that aim to reduce human ignitions and promote resilience to future fires, particularly as the number of residential homes in the WUI grew across this record and are expected to continue to grow in coming years.

scholarly journals Mercury Toxicity in Wildland Firefighters: A Progress Report

2006 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 136-141
Author(s):  
George Montopoli ◽  
William Smith ◽  
Hank Harlow ◽  
Mark Menolascino ◽  
A. Wheeler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Progress Report ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem ◽  
Mercury Toxicity ◽  
Original Design ◽  
Bald Eagles ◽  
Greater Yellowstone ◽  
Preliminary Study

After the sudden emergence of mercury (Hg) poisoning in bald eagles in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in December 2005, we began a preliminary study to investigate if Hg accumulated at toxic levels in wildland firefighters who were exposed to smoke and other particulates while fighting fires in the western United States during summer 2007. Deviating from our original design, we were able to analyze blood from 12 subjects, and repeated blood draws occurred for only four of those subjects. Three of the subjects had measurable Hg levels that approached the limit of a non­toxic Hg concentration (

Future Disasters

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert B. Smith ◽  
Lee J. Siegel
Keyword(s):  
Hot Springs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem ◽  
Yellowstone Hotspot ◽  
Moisture Regimes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Greater Yellowstone ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Life On Earth

In 1870, the fall before Ferdinand Hayden’s celebrated exploration of Yellowstone, an Army lieutenant named Gustavus C. Doane guided a small troop into the mysterious high country. Unlike Hayden, Doane did not conduct extensive scientific studies. However, Doane was observant. He said of Yellowstone: . . . As a country for sight seers, it is without parallel. As a field for scientific research it promises great results, in the branches of Geology, Mineralogy, Botany, Zoology, and Ornithology. It is probably the greatest laboratory that nature furnishes on the surface of the globe. . . . Yellowstone’s value as a unique ecological region soon gained recognition when in 1872, it was designated as the first national park in the United States—and in the world. The complex relationships among Yellowstone’s fauna, flora, and geology helped inspire America’s budding conservation ethic, which came to fruition only a century later with widespread recognition of the tenuous interdependence of living organisms and the Earth they occupy. The idea of a greater Yellowstone ecosystem recognized that its living and geological wonders extended beyond the park’s boundaries and into a broader area. The greater Yellowstone ecosystem is defined by the subterranean yet dominant presence of the Yellowstone hotspot, the engine that ultimately drives not only the region’s geology, but also its living organisms. The Rocky Mountains, lifted upward tens of millions of years ago, were pushed perhaps 1,700 feet higher at Yellowstone during the past 2 million years by the upward-bulging hotspot. Today, a line drawn at 6,100 feet elevation roughly demarcates the boundaries of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem. The high altitude is critical in creating the temperature and moisture regimes that gave rise to Yellowstone’s biological wonders and now determine the distribution of its plants and wildlife. In addition, the incredible amount of heat rising from the hotspot is responsible for Yellowstone’s history of volcanism and its geysers and hot springs, rich with exotic microbes that branched off the evolutionary tree at a primitive stage of life on Earth. Yelllowstone’s expansive lodgepole pine forests demonstrate the interaction of the park’s biology and geology. They grow well on rhyolite lava flows that cover most of western and central Yellowstone.

scholarly journals Source regions contributing to excess reactive nitrogen deposition in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) of the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (17) ◽  
pp. 12991-13011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Zhang ◽  
Tammy M. Thompson ◽  
Michael G. Barna ◽  
Jennifer L. Hand ◽  
Jill A. McMurray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Source Apportionment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Reactive Nitrogen ◽  
Snake River ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
Greater Yellowstone Area ◽  
Northern Utah ◽  
Greater Yellowstone

Abstract. Research has shown that excess reactive nitrogen (Nr) deposition in the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA) of the United States has passed critical load (CL) thresholds and is adversely affecting sensitive ecosystems in this area. To better understand the sources causing excess Nr deposition, the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx), using Western Air Quality Study (WAQS) emission and meteorology inputs, was used to simulate Nr deposition in the GYA. CAMx's Particulate Source Apportionment Technology (PSAT) was employed to estimate contributions from agriculture (AG), oil and gas (OG), fire (Fire), and other (Other) source sectors from 27 regions, including the model boundary conditions (BCs) to the simulated Nr for 2011. The BCs were outside the conterminous United States and thought to represent international anthropogenic and natural contributions. Emissions from the AG and Other source sectors are predominantly from reduced N and oxidized N compounds, respectively. The model evaluation revealed a systematic underestimation in ammonia (NH3) concentrations by 65 % and overestimation in nitric acid concentrations by 108 %. The measured inorganic N wet deposition at National Trends Network sites in the GYA was overestimated by 31 %–49 %, due at least partially to an overestimation of precipitation. These uncertainties appear to result in an overestimation of distant source regions including California and BCs and an underestimation of closer agricultural source regions including the Snake River valley. Due to these large uncertainties, the relative contributions from the modeled sources and their general patterns are the most reliable results. Source apportionment results showed that the AG sector was the single largest contributor to the GYA total Nr deposition, contributing 34 % on an annual basis. A total of 74 % of the AG contributions originated from the Idaho Snake River valley, with Wyoming, California, and northern Utah contributing another 7 %, 5 %, and 4 %, respectively. Contributions from the OG sector were small at about 1 % over the GYA, except in the southern Wind River Mountain Range during winter where they accounted for more than 10 %, with 46 % of these contributions coming from OG activities in Wyoming. Wild and prescribed fires contributed 18 % of the total Nr deposition, with fires within the GYA having the highest impact. The Other source category was the largest winter contributor (44 %) with high contributions from California, Wyoming, and northern Utah.

THE WILDLAND–URBAN INTERFACE IN THE UNITED STATES

2005 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 799-805 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. C. Radeloff ◽  
R. B. Hammer ◽  
S. I. Stewart ◽  
J. S. Fried ◽  
S. S. Holcomb ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface

scholarly journals Understanding the Role of Planners in Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation

ISRN Forestry ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Menka Bihari ◽  
Elisabeth M. Hamin ◽  
Robert L. Ryan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Regulatory Authority ◽  
The United States ◽  
Federal Agencies ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface

As wildfires affect more residential areas across the United States, the need for collaboration between land managers, federal agencies, neighbours, and local governments has become more pressing especially in the context of the wildland-urban interface. Previous research has not focused much on land-use planners’ role in wildfire mitigation. This paper provides information on how land-use planners can assist communities in learning to live with wildfire risk through planning, preparedness, and mitigation efforts in the wildland-urban interface (WUI). Based on interviews with land-use planners, forest planners, and local emergency management officials, we identified a range of tools that could be used for improving wildfire preparedness and mitigation initiatives in the WUI, but also found that planners felt that they lacked the regulatory authority to use these tenaciously. The paper also identifies a range of possible actions that would contribute towards safer building practices in the interface communities.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document