Mechanical thinning without prescribed fire moderates wildfire behavior in an Eastern Oregon, USA ponderosa pine forest

Johnston, James D.; Olszewski, Julia H.; Miller, Becky A.; Schmidt, Micah R.; Vernon, M. J.; Ellsworth, Lisa M.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119674

Cited by 31 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 55 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Forest thinning and prescribed fire were the two most commonly used methods to reduce fuel accumulation [90,91]. However, there is still no unified conclusion regarding how to use these two methods to reduce burn severity, whether they are used separately or combined [90,92]. By analyzing the meteorological data, we also found that under the arid climate background, areas with higher flammable fuels are more prone to severe fire.…”

Section: Pre-fire Forest Management Suggestionsmentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Therefore, pre-fire forest management strategies should seek to reduce burn severity levels by reducing the accumulation of fuels and increasing the moisture content of vegetation. Forest thinning and prescribed fire were the two most commonly used methods to reduce fuel accumulation [90,91]. However, there is still no unified conclusion regarding how to use these two methods to reduce burn severity, whether they are used separately or combined [90,92].…”

Section: Pre-fire Forest Management Suggestionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Relationships between Burn Severity and Environmental Drivers in the Temperate Coniferous Forest of Northern China

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Burn severity is a key component of fire regimes and is critical for quantifying fires’ impacts on key ecological processes. The spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of forest burn severity are closely related to its environmental drivers prior to the fire occurrence. The temperate coniferous forest of northern China is an important part of China’s forest resources and has suffered frequent forest fires in recent years. However, the understanding of environmental drivers controlling burn severity in this fire-prone region is still limited. To fill the gap, spatial pattern metrics including pre-fire fuel variables (tree canopy cover (TCC), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and live fuel moisture content (LFMC)), topographic variables (elevation, slope, and topographic radiation aspect index (TRASP)), and weather variables (relative humidity, maximum air temperature, cumulative precipitation, and maximum wind speed) were correlated with a remote sensing-derived burn severity index, the composite burn index (CBI). A random forest (RF) machine learning algorithm was applied to reveal the relative importance of the environmental drivers mentioned above to burn severity for a fire. The model achieved CBI prediction accuracy with a correlation coefficient (R) equal to 0.76, root mean square error (RMSE) equal to 0.16, and fitting line slope equal to 0.64. The results showed that burn severity was mostly influenced by flammable live fuels and LFMC. The elevation was the most important topographic driver, and meteorological variables had no obvious effect on burn severity. Our findings suggest that in addition to conducting strategic fuel reduction management activities, planning the landscapes with fire-resistant plants with higher LFMC when possible (e.g., “Green firebreaks”) is also indispensable for lowering the burn severity caused by wildfires in the temperate coniferous forests of northern China.

show abstract

Section: Pre-fire Forest Management Suggestionsmentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Pre-fire Forest Management Suggestionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationships between Burn Severity and Environmental Drivers in the Temperate Coniferous Forest of Northern China

et al. 2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…induced changes in fire behavior. According to previous studies (Johnston et al, 2021;Palmero-Iniesta et al, 2017;Piqué and Domènech, 2018) forest management can reduce ROS, even though its effectiveness depends on several factors, such as treatment intensity (Cochrane et al, 2012) or the interaction with the understory (Madrigal et al, 2017). Despite our focus being placed in canopy dynamics, our modeling approach suggested an increase in surface fire rate of spread under current management prescriptions ('business as usual') or linked to the promotion of biomass as an energy resource in a 4C • warming scenario (RCP 8.5).…”

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 95%

Trajectories of Wildfire Behavior Under Climate Change. Can Forest Management Mitigate the Increasing Hazard?

Miezite¹,

Améztegui²,

Cáceres³

et al. 2022

SSRN Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Ficken [95] found that the k value of planned fires once every three years was higher than that of yearly planned fires and no fires. Prescribed burning greatly reduces the accumulation of litter, promotes litter decomposition, and reduces the frequency of fire [98].…”

Section: The Relationship Between Litter Nutrient Elements and Decomp...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Fire Disturbance on Litter Decomposition and C:N:P Stoichiometry in a Larix gmelinii Forest Ecosystem of Boreal China

Shi

Zhao

et al. 2022

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fire disturbance can affect the function of the boreal forest ecosystem through litter decomposition and nutrient element return. In this study, we selected the Larix gmelinii forest, a typical forest ecosystem in boreal China, to explore the effect of different years (3 years, 9 years, 28 years) after high burn severity fire disturbance on the decomposition rate (k) of leaf litter and the Carbon:Nitrogen:Phosphorus (C:N:P) stoichiometry characteristics. Our results indicated that compared with the unburned control stands, the k increased by 91–109% within 9 years after fire disturbance, but 28 years after fire disturbance the decomposition rate of the upper litter decreased by 45% compared with the unburned control stands. After fire disturbance, litter decomposition in boreal forests can be promoted in the short term (e.g., 9 years after a fire) and inhibited in the long term (e.g., 28 years after a fire). Changes in litter nutrient elements caused by the effect of fire disturbance on litter decomposition and on the C, N, and C:N of litter were the main litter stoichiometry factors for litter decomposition 28 years after fire disturbance. The findings of this research characterize the long-term dynamic change of litter decomposition in the boreal forest ecosystem, providing data and theoretical support for further exploring the relationship between fire and litter decomposition.

show abstract

Mechanical thinning without prescribed fire moderates wildfire behavior in an Eastern Oregon, USA ponderosa pine forest

Cited by 31 publications

References 55 publications

Relationships between Burn Severity and Environmental Drivers in the Temperate Coniferous Forest of Northern China

Relationships between Burn Severity and Environmental Drivers in the Temperate Coniferous Forest of Northern China

Trajectories of Wildfire Behavior Under Climate Change. Can Forest Management Mitigate the Increasing Hazard?

The Effects of Fire Disturbance on Litter Decomposition and C:N:P Stoichiometry in a Larix gmelinii Forest Ecosystem of Boreal China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About