Modeling How Fire Frequency Alters Species Composition: Research Brief

Janet  Franklin  and  colleagues  used  LANDIS,  a   landscape  disturbance  and  succession  model  to   investigate  how  short,  moderate  and  long  fire   return  intervals  (FRI's)  in  southern  California   affect  persistence  of  different  shrub life  histories. 
View Research Brief PDF > 

Read More

Managing forests and fire in changing climates: Policy Forum Research Brief

In some ecosystems, high-severity regimes are appropriate, but climate change may modify these fire regimes and ecosystems as well. Some undesirable impacts may be avoided or reduced through global strategies, as well as distinct strategies based on a forest’s historical fire regime. 
View Policy Forum Research Brief PDF >

Read More

Large California Fires Cause Shift in Reptile and Amphibian Assemblages: USGS Research Brief

In 2003, Southern California experienced several large fires that burned thousands of hectares of wildlife habitats and conserved lands. A USGS study published in the Journal of Herpetology reports that after the fires, burned chaparral and coastal sage scrub (CSS) plots lost herpetological diversity and displayed a significant shift in overall community structure.
View USGS Research Brief PDF >

Read More

Invasive Plants and Fire in the Deserts of North America: USGS Research Brief

In a recent publication by USGS scientists, Drs. Matthew L. Brooks and David A. Pyke discussed these interrelationships, and concluded that the management of fire and invasive plants must be closely integrated for each to be managed effectively.
View USGS Research Brief PDF >


View USGS Research Brief PDF >

Read More

Interactions among wildland fires in a long-established Sierra Nevada natural fire area: Research Brief

 A   2009  study  by  Collins  et  al.  suggests  that  freely   burning  fires  in  upper  elevation  mixed-­‐conifer   forests  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  may  effectively   regulate  fire-­‐induced  effects  across  an  entire   landscape.
View Research Brief PDF >

Read More

Influence of conifer encroachment & fire on CA black oak: Research Brief

Tree  and  shrub  encroachment is  common  in  areas   where  fire  has  been  excluded,  and  has  become  a   focal  point  of  many  oak  management  and   restoration  programs. 
View Research Brief PDF >

Read More

Hydrologic Changes After 40 Years of Type Conversion: Research Brief

Four decades after being type converted to a non native grassland, the soil and hydrology of the USFS San Dimas Experimental Forest in southern California was compared to the adjacent, natural chaparral.
View Research Brief PDF >

Read More

Human Influence on California Fire Regimes: USGS Research Brief

Researchers studied the human influence on fire regimes at the WUI using California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) data from a majority of counties in the state, coupled with associated housing and other human infrastructure data.
View USGS Research  Brief PDF >

Read More

Historical fire regimes: spatial patterns and controls: Research Brief

This  paper  offers  a  reconstruction  of  historic fire   regimes  and  forest  age  structures in  a  mixed-­‐ conifer  forest  in  the  Klamath  Mountains  of   northern  California,  demonstrating  the  historic   importance  of  temporal  and  spatial  controls  on   fire  in  the  area,  and  providing  critical context for   current  restoration  and  management  activities.
View Research Brief PDF >

Read More