prescribed fire
Estimating the influence of field inventory sampling intensity on forest landscape model performance for determining high-severity wildfire risk
Year of Publication
2024
Publication Type
Historically, fire has been essential in Southwestern US forests. However, a century of fire-exclusion and changing climate created forests which are more susceptible to uncharacteristically severe wildfires. Forest managers use a combination of thinning and prescribed burning to reduce forest density to help mitigate the risk of high-severity fires.
Quantifying the smoke-related public health trade-offs of forest management
Year of Publication
2023
Publication Type
Prescribed burning can mitigate extreme wildfire risk and reduce total smoke emissions. Yet prescribed burns’ emissions may also contribute to smoke exposures in nearby communities. Incorporating public health considerations into forest management planning efforts may help reduce prescribed burn-related exposure impacts.
Harnessing Natural Disturbances: A Nature-Based Solution for Restoring and Adapting Dry Forests in the Western USA to Climate Change
Year of Publication
2023
Publication Type
Natural disturbances (wildfires, droughts, beetle outbreaks) shaped temperate forests for millennia, including dry forests of the western USA. Could they now best restore and adapt dry forests to climate change while protecting nearby communities?
Metrics and Considerations for Evaluating How Forest Treatments Alter Wildfire Behavior and Effects
Year of Publication
2023
Publication Type
The influence of forest treatments on wildfire effects is challenging to interpret. This is, in part, because the impact forest treatments have on wildfire can be slight and variable across many factors. Effectiveness of a treatment also depends on the metric considered.
Evaluating the potential role of federal air quality standards in constraining applications of prescribed fire in the western United States
Year of Publication
2023
Publication Type
Prescribed fire is a useful tool for building resilient landscapes in fire-prone areas across the globe. In the western U.S., prescribed fire is employed by federal, state, and Tribal land managers and planned during particular meteorological and air quality conditions to manage air quality impacts.
Prescribed burning on private land: reflections on recent law reform in Australia and California
Year of Publication
2023
Publication Type
Background. Prescribed fire is a critical tool for building resilience to changing fire regimes. Policymakers can accelerate the development of effective, adaptation-oriented fire governance by learning from other jurisdictions. Aims. We analyse reforms to prescribed fire governance to highlight improvements for fire hazard reduction and resilience. Methods.
Burn Back Better How Western States Can Encourage Prescribed Fire on Private Lands
Year of Publication
2023
Publication Type
The Economic Value of Fuel Treatments: A Review of the Recent Literature for Fuel Treatment Planning
Year of Publication
2022
Publication Type
This review synthesizes the scientific literature on fuel treatment economics published since 2013 with a focus on its implications for land managers and policy makers. We review the literature on whether fuel treatments are financially viable for land management agencies at the time of implementation, as well as over the lifespan of fuel treatment effectiveness.
Themes and patterns in print media coverage of wildfires in the USA, Canada and Australia: 1986–2016
Year of Publication
2022
Publication Type
Background: Media wildfire coverage can shape public knowledge on fire-related issues, and potentially influence management decisions, so understanding the content of its coverage is important. Previous research examining media wildfire coverage has primarily focused on either a single fire or issue, and provides little insight about the range of wildfire-related topics discussed in the media.