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Abstract
As the effects of climate change accumulate and intensify, resource managers juggle existing goals and new mandates to operationalize adaptation. Fire managers contend with the direct effects of climate change on resources in addition to climate-induced disruptions to fire regimes and subsequent ecosystem effects. In systems stressed by warming and drying, increased fire activity amplifies the pace of change and scale of severe disturbance events, heightening the urgency for management action. Fire managers are asked to integrate information on climate impacts with their professional expertise to determine how to achieve management objectives in a changing climate with altered fire regimes. This is a difficult task, and managers need support as they incorporate climate adaptation into planning and operations. We present a list of adaptation strategies and approaches specific to fire and climate based on co-produced knowledge from a science–management partnership and pilot-tested in a two-day workshop with natural resource managers and regional stakeholders. This “menu” is a flexible and useful tool for fire managers who need to connect the dots between fire ecology, climate science, adaptation intent, and management implementation. It was created and tested as part of an adaptation framework used widely across the United States and should be applicable and useful in many fire-prone forest ecosystems.
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Hagmann RK, Hessburg PF, Prichard SJ, Povak NA, Brown PM, Fulé PZ, Keane RE, Knapp EE, Lydersen JM, Metlen KL, Reilly MJ, Sánchez Meador AJ, Stephens SL, Stevens JT, Taylor AH, Yocom LL, Battaglia MA, Churchill DJ, Daniels LD, Falk DA, Henson P, Johnston JD, Krawchuk MA, Levine CR, Meigs GW, Merschel AG, North MP, Safford HD, Swetnam TW, Waltz AEM. Evidence for widespread changes in the structure, composition, and fire regimes of western North American forests. ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS : A PUBLICATION OF THE ECOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 31:e02431. [PMID: 34339067 PMCID: PMC9285092 DOI: 10.1002/eap.2431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2020] [Revised: 03/04/2021] [Accepted: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Implementation of wildfire- and climate-adaptation strategies in seasonally dry forests of western North America is impeded by numerous constraints and uncertainties. After more than a century of resource and land use change, some question the need for proactive management, particularly given novel social, ecological, and climatic conditions. To address this question, we first provide a framework for assessing changes in landscape conditions and fire regimes. Using this framework, we then evaluate evidence of change in contemporary conditions relative to those maintained by active fire regimes, i.e., those uninterrupted by a century or more of human-induced fire exclusion. The cumulative results of more than a century of research document a persistent and substantial fire deficit and widespread alterations to ecological structures and functions. These changes are not necessarily apparent at all spatial scales or in all dimensions of fire regimes and forest and nonforest conditions. Nonetheless, loss of the once abundant influence of low- and moderate-severity fires suggests that even the least fire-prone ecosystems may be affected by alteration of the surrounding landscape and, consequently, ecosystem functions. Vegetation spatial patterns in fire-excluded forested landscapes no longer reflect the heterogeneity maintained by interacting fires of active fire regimes. Live and dead vegetation (surface and canopy fuels) is generally more abundant and continuous than before European colonization. As a result, current conditions are more vulnerable to the direct and indirect effects of seasonal and episodic increases in drought and fire, especially under a rapidly warming climate. Long-term fire exclusion and contemporaneous social-ecological influences continue to extensively modify seasonally dry forested landscapes. Management that realigns or adapts fire-excluded conditions to seasonal and episodic increases in drought and fire can moderate ecosystem transitions as forests and human communities adapt to changing climatic and disturbance regimes. As adaptation strategies are developed, evaluated, and implemented, objective scientific evaluation of ongoing research and monitoring can aid differentiation of warranted and unwarranted uncertainties.
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Affiliation(s)
- R. K. Hagmann
- College of the Environment‐SEFSUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWashington98195USA
- Applegate Forestry LLCCorvallisOregon97330USA
| | - P. F. Hessburg
- College of the Environment‐SEFSUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWashington98195USA
- USDA‐FS, Forestry Sciences LaboratoryPacific Northwest Research StationWenatcheeWashington98801USA
| | - S. J. Prichard
- College of the Environment‐SEFSUniversity of WashingtonSeattleWashington98195USA
| | - N. A. Povak
- USDA‐FS, Forestry Sciences LaboratoryPacific Northwest Research StationWenatcheeWashington98801USA
- USDA‐FS, Pacific Southwest Research StationPlacervilleCalifornia95667USA
| | - P. M. Brown
- Rocky Mountain Tree‐Ring ResearchFort CollinsColorado80526USA
| | - P. Z. Fulé
- School of ForestryNorthern Arizona UniversityFlagstaffArizona86011USA
| | - R. E. Keane
- Missoula Fire Sciences LaboratoryUSDA‐FS, Rocky Mountain Research StationMissoulaMontana59808USA
| | - E. E. Knapp
- USDA‐FS, Pacific Southwest Research StationReddingCalifornia96002USA
| | - J. M. Lydersen
- Fire and Resource Assessment ProgramCalifornia Department of Forestry and Fire ProtectionSacramentoCalifornia94244USA
| | | | - M. J. Reilly
- USDA‐FS, Pacific Northwest Research StationCorvallisOregon97333USA
| | - A. J. Sánchez Meador
- Ecological Restoration InstituteNorthern Arizona UniversityFlagstaffArizona86011USA
| | - S. L. Stephens
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and ManagementUniversity of California–BerkeleyBerkeleyCalifornia94720USA
| | - J. T. Stevens
- U.S. Geological SurveyFort Collins Science CenterNew Mexico Landscapes Field StationSanta FeNew Mexico87508USA
| | - A. H. Taylor
- Department of Geography, Earth and Environmental Systems InstituteThe Pennsylvania State UniversityUniversity ParkPennsylvania16802USA
| | - L. L. Yocom
- Department of Wildland Resources and the Ecology CenterUtah State UniversityLoganUtah84322USA
| | - M. A. Battaglia
- USDA‐FS, Rocky Mountain Research StationFort CollinsColorado80526USA
| | - D. J. Churchill
- Washington State Department of Natural ResourcesOlympiaWashington98504USA
| | - L. D. Daniels
- Department of Forest and Conservation SciencesUniversity of British ColumbiaVancouverBritish ColumbiaV6T 1Z4Canada
| | - D. A. Falk
- School of Natural Resources and the EnvironmentUniversity of ArizonaTucsonArizona85721USA
- Laboratory of Tree‐Ring ResearchUniversity of ArizonaTucsonArizona85721USA
| | - P. Henson
- Oregon Fish and Wildlife OfficeUSDI Fish & Wildlife ServicePortlandOregon97232USA
| | - J. D. Johnston
- College of ForestryOregon State UniversityCorvallisOregon97333USA
| | - M. A. Krawchuk
- College of ForestryOregon State UniversityCorvallisOregon97333USA
| | - C. R. Levine
- Spatial Informatics GroupPleasantonCalifornia94566USA
| | - G. W. Meigs
- Washington State Department of Natural ResourcesOlympiaWashington98504USA
| | - A. G. Merschel
- College of ForestryOregon State UniversityCorvallisOregon97333USA
| | - M. P. North
- USDA‐FS, Pacific Southwest Research StationMammoth LakesCalifornia93546USA
| | - H. D. Safford
- USDA‐FS, Pacific Southwest RegionVallejoCalifornia94592USA
| | - T. W. Swetnam
- Laboratory of Tree‐Ring ResearchUniversity of ArizonaTucsonArizona85721USA
| | - A. E. M. Waltz
- Ecological Restoration InstituteNorthern Arizona UniversityFlagstaffArizona86011USA
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Modeling and Mapping Forest Fire Occurrence from Aboveground Carbon Density in Mexico. FORESTS 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/f10050402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Understanding the spatial patterns of fire occurrence is key for improved forest fires management, particularly under global change scenarios. Very few studies have attempted to relate satellite-based aboveground biomass maps of moderate spatial resolution to spatial fire occurrence under a variety of climatic and vegetation conditions. This study focuses on modeling and mapping fire occurrence based on fire suppression data from 2005–2015 from aboveground biomass—expressed as aboveground carbon density (AGCD)—for the main ecoregions in Mexico. Our results showed that at each ecoregion, unimodal or humped relationships were found between AGCD and fire occurrence, which might be explained by varying constraints of fuel and climate limitation to fire activity. Weibull equations successfully fitted the fire occurrence distributions from AGCD, with the lowest fit for the desert shrub-dominated north region that had the lowest number of observed fires. The models for predicting fire occurrence from AGCD were significantly different by region, with the exception of the temperate forest in the northwest and northeast regions that could be modeled with a single Weibull model. Our results suggest that AGCD could be used to estimate spatial fire occurrence maps; those estimates could be integrated into operational GIS tools for assistance in fire danger mapping and fire and fuel management decision-making. Further investigation of anthropogenic drivers of fire occurrence and fuel characteristics should be considered for improving the operational spatial planning of fire management. The modeling strategy presented here could be replicated in other countries or regions, based on remote-sensed measurements of aboveground biomass and fire activity or fire suppression records.
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Characterizing Spatial Neighborhoods of Refugia Following Large Fires in Northern New Mexico USA. LAND 2017. [DOI: 10.3390/land6010019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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