The King Fire burned through an area used for a long-term (23 years) demography study of spotted owls in the central Sierra Nevada, allowing the authors to compare the number and distribution of owls both before and one year after the fire.
Read MoreIn Southern California, fuel treatment strategies often put fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation goals at odds with each other. In response to this conflict, two of our briefs (Syphard et al. 2016; Butsic et al. 2016) explore a novel new approach.
Read MoreThe authors assessed relative and absolute changes in wildfire area and severity in seven forest types arrayed along an elevational gradient in the Sierra Nevada and adjacent forested mountains. Findings suggest that there is a major fire “deficit” in the greater Sierra Nevada Region, across all major forest types. However, the nature of this deficit differs among forest types.
Read MoreThe authors of this paper investigated whether or not prescribed fire can create conditions that will reduce drought induced mortality in mixed conifer forests in the Sierra Nevada.
Read MoreBohlman et al. conducted a study looking at the effects of post-fire reforestation on understory plant species richness and composition, as well as stand structure. Three different aged fires were selected to assess the role of time since fire on the different stand components.
Read MoreResults from a 2016 study by Coppoletta and others suggests that in areas where fire regimes and forest structure have been dramatically altered, contemporary fires have the potential to set forests on a positive feedback trajectory with successive reburns, one in which extensive stand-replacing fire could promote more stand-replacing fire.
Read MoreIn a review article by Jon Keeley and Alex Syphard, examples from California show that fire regimes are sensitive to geographic and seasonal variation in the climate signal and that many factors will confound the ability to model future conditions.
Read MoreThis study focuses on climate change and increasing human populations as two potential causes of the increasing number and size of wildfire in the western US.
Read MoreThe authors demonstrate how combining detailed field measurements with remote sensing imagery is a valuable method for capturing the spatial arrangement and variation of fuel loading in a chaparral landscape.
Read MoreA 2012 study by Miller and others suggests that fire management approaches used by the National Park Service in Yosemite National Park could assist in the restoration and maintenance of Sierra Nevada forest ecosystems.
Read MoreWhy aren’t globally successful, weedy plant species generally found at high altitudes? This study suggests that it’s due to extreme abiotic conditions in association with the alien species’ life history traits, not a lack of opportunity.
Read MoreMr. Pratt in 1911 published an argument against the “light burning” practices of those days, claiming these small fires were unnecessary and only caused an expensive loss of merchantable lumber over the years. Like other light-burning advocates, he had no research on his side.
View Research Brief PDF >
In a collaborative project funded by the non-profit Desert Tortoise Council with Natural Resource Conservation LLC, the authors synthesized published literature and practitioner’s experiences to develop best-management practices for habitats of desert tortoises.
Read MoreCollaboratively with the National Park Service, the authors performed a study along Northshore Road in Lake Mead National Recreation Area (eastern Mojave Desert, Nevada) to develop biocrust restoration strategies. Results and management recommendations for the most effective restoration methods are discussed.
Read MoreIn the early 20th century, there was an intense controversy over systematic “light burning, the practice of using cool fire as a management tool (similar to what we call prescribed fires today). These practices for fire control were highly debated before fire suppression policies overwhelmingly prevailed. Presented here is a series of research briefs that review publications from this controversy at this interesting look into history.
Read MoreThis research brief discusses the lessons learned from the costly fires of 2003 in Southern California. Recommendations on future fuel reduction strategies and placement are discussed.
View USGS Research Brief PDF >
Read MoreOld-growth chaparral systems are biodiversity hotspots that need to be protected for legal, functional, and ethical reasons. This learning module describes these Mediterranean Type Climate systems from a global perspective so that we can better protect them.
View Research Brief PDF >
Read MoreIn northern, southern, coastal, and interior California, examples exist of paired sibling Arctostaphylos subspecies exhibiting two alternate life strategies for surviving disturbance: resprouting and obligate seeding. This is a wonderful opportunity to observe how natural selection might favor one life strategy type over another, particularly in “an era of rapid climate change."
Read MoreThe authors examined the relationship between fuels and fire behavior by examining how fire suppression has affected fire severity in different forest ecosystems in California. The authors tested the hypothesis that fire behavior is limited by fuel availability in some California forests where climatic conditions during the fire season are nearly always conducive to burning and the primary limiting factor for fire ignition and spread is the presence of sufficient fuel.
Read MoreIn many past and present ecosystems, changes in animal, plant, and human communities have been more influential in rapid local fire regime disruption than climate. The good news is that, unlike climate change, these direct, proximate community causes can be practically addressed by fire and resource managers.
Read More
The California Fire Science Consortium is divided into 4 geographic regions and 1 wildland-urban interface (WUI) team. Statewide coordination of this program is based at UC Berkeley.
View the about page to learn more >
This regional Fire Science Exchange is one of 15 regional fire science exchanges.
Link to another exchange:
