Integrating fuel treatment into ecosystem management: a proposed project planning process

Stockmann, Keith D.; Hyde, Kevin D.; Jones, J. Greg; Loeffler, Dan; Silverstein, Robin P.

doi:10.1071/wf08108

Cited by 10 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…odeling the impacts and effects of hazardous fuel reduction treatments is a pressing issue within the wildfire management community. Prospective evaluation of fuel treatments allows for comparison of alternative treatment strategies in terms of socioeconomic and ecological impacts and facilitates analysis of tradeoffs across land-management objectives (Stockmann et al 2010). Although much attention has been focused on assessing how fuel treatments affect expected loss to highly valued resources and assets (e.g., Ager et al 2007), some have also suggested benefits from fuel treatments in terms of avoided suppression costs (Snider et al 2006).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the Potential Impacts of Fuel Treatments on Wildfire Suppression Costs

Thompson

Vaillant

Haas

et al. 2013

Journal of Forestry

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Modeling the impacts and effects of hazardous fuel reduction treatments is a pressing issue within the wildfire management community. Prospective evaluation of fuel treatment effectiveness allows for comparison of alternative treatment strategies in terms of socioeconomic and ecological impacts and facilitates analysis of tradeoffs across land-management objectives. Studies have yet to rigorously examine potential impacts to fire suppression expenditures associated with prior hazardous fuel reduction treatments. Such information would be helpful for federal land-management agencies struggling to contain escalating wildfire management costs. In this article we establish a methodology for estimating potential reductions in wildfire suppression costs. Our approach pairs wildfire simulation outputs with a regression cost model and quantifies the influence of fuel treatments on distributions of wildfire sizes and suppression costs. Our case study focuses on a landscape within the Deschutes National Forest in central Oregon that was selected to receive funding under the auspices of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program. Results suggest substantial reductions in distributions of wildfire size and suppression cost on a per fire basis. Furthermore, because fewer ignitions become large fires on the treated landscape, distributions of annual area burned and annual suppression costs also shift downward because of fuel treatments. Results are contingent on four key factors: large-scale implementation of fuel treatments across the landscape, assumed treatment effectiveness over the duration of the analysis period, accuracy of wildfire and cost models, and accuracy of projected changes to fire behavior fuel models resulting from fuel treatments. We discuss strengths and limitations of the modeling approach and offer suggestions for future improvements and applications.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the Potential Impacts of Fuel Treatments on Wildfire Suppression Costs

Thompson

Vaillant

Haas

et al. 2013

Journal of Forestry

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Raw risk values inform risk mitigation planning and prioritization, but this information needs to be augmented with information on where treatments are likely to be effective, and to what degree risk can be reduced. The types of risk-based outputs from our framework can dovetail well with proposed decision analytic approaches for integrated, multi-attribute fuel management planning (Stockmann et al 2010;Hyde et al 2006;Ohlson et al 2006). This risk assessment framework that pairs fire modeling with fire effects analysis is scalable, meaning the same approaches can be employed from the project (e.g., Ager et al 2007) to the national scale (which we demonstrate here).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Integrated national-scale assessment of wildfire risk to human and ecological values

Thompson

Calkin

Finney

et al. 2011

Stoch Environ Res Risk Assess

137

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The spatial, temporal, and social dimensions of wildfire risk are challenging U.S. federal land management agencies to meet societal needs while maintaining the health of the lands they manage. In this paper we present a quantitative, geospatial wildfire risk assessment tool, developed in response to demands for improved risk-based decision frameworks. The methodology leverages off recent and significant advancements in wildfire simulation models and geospatial data acquisition and management. The tool is intended to facilitate monitoring trends in wildfire risk over time and to develop information useful in prioritizing fuels treatments and mitigation measures. Wildfire risk assessment requires analyzing the likelihood of wildfire by intensity level, and the magnitude of potential beneficial and negative effects to valued resources from fire at different intensity levels. This effort is designed to support strategic planning by systematically portraying how fire likelihood and intensity influence risk to social, economic, and ecological values at the national scale. We present results for the continental United States, analyze high risk areas by geographic region, and examine how risk evaluations changes under different assumptions with sensitivity analysis. We conclude by discussing further potential uses of the tool and research needs.

show abstract

“…To be effective, decision-support tools for wildland fire management must account for the spatial nature of wildland fire phenomena (Blanchi et al 2002;Fairbrother and Turnley 2005;Stockmann et al 2010) Landscape condition and ecological functions result from sequences of multiple, recurrent spatially distributed processes (He 2008) which may exhibit non-linear responses as spatial extent increases (McKenzie et al 1996;Peters et al 2007). Spatial analysis of disturbance processes accounts for interactions within and beyond areas disturbed by wildfire and other processes.…”

Section: Spatial and Temporal Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Multiple disturbance processes, e.g. those caused by fire, insects, disease, fuel reduction and forestry activities and invasive species, must be accounted for in order to integrate fire and fuels management into comprehensive ecosystem management (Stockmann et al 2010). Forecasting fire behaviour and fire effects for decision support in these systems which exhibit non-linear dynamics (Allen 2007;Davenport et al 1998) requires analysis of cross-scale temporal and spatial interactions if the 'surprises' of catastrophic events are to be minimised (Peters et al 2004).…”

Section: Spatial and Temporal Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research and development supporting risk-based wildfire effects prediction for fuels and fire management: status and needs

Hyde

Dickinson

Bohrer

et al. 2013

Int. J. Wildland Fire

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Wildland fire management has moved beyond a singular focus on suppression, calling for wildfire management for ecological benefit where no critical human assets are at risk. Processes causing direct effects and indirect, long-term ecosystem changes are complex and multidimensional. Robust risk-assessment tools are required that account for highly variable effects on multiple values-at-risk and balance competing objectives, to support decision making. Providing wildland fire managers with risk-analysis tools requires a broad scientific foundation in fire behaviour and effects prediction as well as high quality computer-based tools and associated databases. We outline a wildfire riskassessment approach, highlight recent developments in fire effects science and associated research needs, and recommend developing a comprehensive plan for integrated advances in wildfire occurrence, behaviour and effects research leading to improved decision support tools for wildland fire managers. We find that the current state of development in fire behaviour and effects science imposes severe limits on the development of risk-assessment technology. In turn, the development of technology has been largely disconnected from the research enterprise, resulting in a confusing array of ad hoc tools that only partially meet decision-support needs for fuel and fire management. We make the case for defining a common riskbased analytic framework for fire-effects assessment across the range of fire-management activities and developing a research function to support the framework.

show abstract

Integrating fuel treatment into ecosystem management: a proposed project planning process

Cited by 10 publications

References 20 publications

Quantifying the Potential Impacts of Fuel Treatments on Wildfire Suppression Costs

Quantifying the Potential Impacts of Fuel Treatments on Wildfire Suppression Costs

Integrated national-scale assessment of wildfire risk to human and ecological values

Research and development supporting risk-based wildfire effects prediction for fuels and fire management: status and needs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About