Probability of tree survival after wildfire in an interior pine forest of northern California: Effects of thinning and prescribed fire

Ritchie, Martin W.; Skinner, Carl N.; Hamilton, T. A.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2007.04.044

Cited by 121 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Current ponderosa pine density for Arizona averages 300 trees ha −1 , double the GLO reconstruction value (O'Brien, 2002). Many ponderosa pine landscapes in the west support stand densities of many hundreds to thousands of trees per hectare (Cooper, 1960;Youngblood et al, 2004;Ritchie et al, 2007). Although the present paper is not focused on the accuracy of W&B's forest reconstructions, it is worth noting that recently published empirical data from Oregon showed that the GLO-based estimates of historical forest density were 2.5 times higher than historical plot measurements on the former Klamath Indian Reservation (Hagmann et al, 2013).…”

Section: Comparisons With Other Studiesmentioning

confidence: 86%

Unsupported inferences of high‐severity fire in historical dry forests of the western United States: response to Williams and Baker

Fulé

Swetnam

Brown

et al. 2013

Global Ecology and Biogeography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reconstructions of dry western US forests in the late 19th century in Arizona, Colorado and Oregon based on General Land Office records were used by Williams & Baker (2012; Global Ecology and Biogeography, 21, 1042-1052; hereafter W&B) to infer past fire regimes with substantial moderate and high-severity burning. The authors concluded that present-day large, high-severity fires are not distinguishable from historical patterns. We present evidence of important errors in their study. First, the use of tree size distributions to reconstruct past fire severity and extent is not supported by empirical age-size relationships nor by studies that directly quantified disturbance history in these forests. Second, the fire severity classification of W&B is qualitatively different from most modern classification schemes, and is based on different types of data, leading to an inappropriate comparison. Third, we note that while W&B asserted 'surprising' heterogeneity in their reconstructions of stand density and species composition, their data are not substantially different from many previous studies which reached very different conclusions about subsequent forest and fire behaviour changes. Contrary to the conclusions of W&B, the preponderance of scientific evidence indicates that conservation of dry forest ecosystems in the western United States and their ecological, social and economic value is not consistent with a present-day disturbance regime of large, high-severity fires, especially under changing climate. KeywordsFire regime, fire severity, General Land Office survey, historical range of variability, ponderosa pine, wildfire. INTRODUCTIONA recent study in Global Ecology and Biogeography (Williams & Baker, 2012, hereafter W&B) applied historical data from General Land Office (GLO) surveys c. 1880 to reconstruct historical dry forests on four large landscapes in Arizona, Colorado and Oregon (USA). W&B described forest composition as characterized by 'abundant ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa C. Lawson), with lesser amounts of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco), white fir (Abies concolor (Gord. & Glend.) Lindl. ex Hildebr.), grand fir (Abies grandis (Douglas ex D. Don) Lindl.), juniper (Juniperus L.), western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta Douglas ex Louden)' . W&B infer that the presence of a certain proportion of trees below a site-specific diameter threshold is evidence of 'higher'-severity fire, a term they use to indicate a combination of 'mixed-plus high-severity fire' . They then compare the proportion of plots with evidence of 'higher'-severity fire to the distribution of fire severities estimated from satellite imagery of recent large wildfires in the western United States, concluding that modern fires are within the historical range of variability (HRV) of fire severity. They also found it 'surprising' that dry forests 'commonly thought to have been open and parklike' were heterogeneous and relatively dense. W&B conclude that current management pr...

show abstract

Section: Comparisons With Other Studiesmentioning

confidence: 86%

Unsupported inferences of high‐severity fire in historical dry forests of the western United States: response to Williams and Baker

Fulé

Swetnam

Brown

et al. 2013

Global Ecology and Biogeography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Tree survival was highest in areas that were both thinned and prescribed burned. Survival in thinned-only areas was significantly greater than untreated areas, but less than areas that had received the combined treatment [16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Bark removal also served as a means of separating mortality tallied during each of three sample periods. In September 2002, a wildfire (Cone Fire) ignited adjacent to Blacks Mountain and burned portions of three of the 12 plots with variable intensities [16]. One plot (plot 46) suffered low-to moderate-severity wildfire throughout much of the plot, and therefore was excluded from our study ( Table 1).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, their effectiveness for reducing the incidence of passive crown fire (i.e., torching of small groups of trees) is well supported by modeling of predicted fire behaviors (e.g., [15]) and by empirical research (e.g., [16]). Ritchie et al [16] studied the effects of fuel-reduction treatments at Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest, California on observed fire severity at the point of transition between treated (see Section 2) and untreated stands that were later impacted by a wildfire. Tree survival was highest in areas that were both thinned and prescribed burned.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Resiliency of an Interior Ponderosa Pine Forest to Bark Beetle Infestations Following Fuel-Reduction and Forest-Restoration Treatments

Fettig

McKelvey

2014

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mechanical thinning and the application of prescribed fire are commonly used to restore fire-adapted forest ecosystems in the Western United States. During a 10-year period, we monitored the effects of fuel-reduction and forest-restoration treatments on levels of tree mortality in an interior ponderosa pine, Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws., forest in California. Twelve experimental plots, ranging in size from 77-144 ha, were established to create two distinct forest structural types: mid-seral stage (low structural diversity; LoD) and late-seral stage (high structural diversity; HiD). Following harvesting, half of each plot was treated with prescribed fire (B). A total of 16,473 trees (8.7% of all trees) died during the 10-year period. Mortality was primarily attributed to bark beetles (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae) (10,655 trees), specifically fir engraver, Scolytus ventralis LeConte, mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, western pine beetle, D. brevicomis LeConte, pine engraver, Ips pini (Say), and, to a much lesser extent, Jeffrey pine beetle, D. jeffreyi Hopkins. Trees of all ages and size classes were killed, but mortality was concentrated in the smaller-diameter classes (19-29.2 and 29.3-39.3 cm at 1.37 m in height). Most mortality occurred three to five years following prescribed burns. Higher levels of bark beetle-caused tree mortality were observed on LoD + B (8.7%) than LoD (4.2%). The application of these and other results to the OPEN ACCESSForests 2014, 5 154 management of interior P. ponderosa forests are discussed, with an emphasis on the maintenance of large trees.

show abstract

“…Broadcast burning can also be expected to reduce ladder fuels and elevate canopy base height [8,9]. Research generally supports the ability of such treatments to alter potential fire behavior and impacts [5,8,[10][11][12][13][14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Vegetation and Surface Fuels Following Fire Hazard Reduction Treatment

Chiono

O’Hara

Lasaux³

et al. 2012

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:In dry western Unites States forests where past resource management has altered the ecological role of fire and stand characteristics alike, mechanical thinning and prescribed burning are commonly applied in wildfire hazard abatement. The reduced surface fuel loads and stand structures resulting from fuels modifications are temporary, yet few studies have assessed the lifespan of treatment effects. We sampled forest fuels and vegetation following fuels reduction in a chronosequence of time since treatment in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade regions of California. Treatments altered overstory characteristics including stand density, basal area, and species composition. These effects were still present on the oldest treatment sites (8-15 years post-treatment). Other stand characteristics, particularly timelag fuel loads, seedling density, and shrub cover, exhibited substantial variability, and differences between treatment age classes and between treatment and control groups were not statistically significant. OPEN ACCESSForests 2012, 3 701

show abstract

Probability of tree survival after wildfire in an interior pine forest of northern California: Effects of thinning and prescribed fire

Cited by 121 publications

References 17 publications

Unsupported inferences of high‐severity fire in historical dry forests of the western United States: response to Williams and Baker

Unsupported inferences of high‐severity fire in historical dry forests of the western United States: response to Williams and Baker

Resiliency of an Interior Ponderosa Pine Forest to Bark Beetle Infestations Following Fuel-Reduction and Forest-Restoration Treatments

Development of Vegetation and Surface Fuels Following Fire Hazard Reduction Treatment

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About