Research Database
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11
Mapping post-fire habitat characteristics through the fusion of remote sensing tools
Year: 2016
Post-fire snags provide important resources for cavity nesting communities as well as being subject to timber removal through salvage logging practices. Tools that can characterize their distributions along with other features important as wildlife habitat, such as woody shrub cover, would be useful for research and management purposes. Three dimensional lidar data and Landsat time series disturbance products have both shown varying promise in their ability to characterize aspects of dead biomass and understory cover, but studies exploring the combination of the remote sensing datasets…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Post-fire morel (Morchella) mushroom abundance, spatial structure, and harvest sustainability
Year: 2016
Morel mushrooms are globally distributed, socially and economically important reproductive structures produced by fungi of the genus Morchella. Morels are highly prized edible mushrooms and significant harvests are collected throughout their range, especially in the first year after fire, when some morel species fruit prolifically. Few studies have quantified post-fire morel mushroom abundance, despite their widespread human use. The purpose of this study is to provide the first ever estimate of post-fire morel mushroom abundance in Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forest. Specifically, we…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Post-fire logging produces minimal persistent impacts on understory vegetation in northeastern Oregon, USA
Year: 2016
Post-fire forest management commonly requires accepting some negative ecological impacts from management activities in order to achieve management objectives. Managers need to know, however,whether ecological impacts from post-fire management activities are transient or cause long-term ecosystem degradation. We studied the long-term response of understory vegetation to two post-fire loggingtreatments – commercial salvage logging with and without additional fuel reduction logging – on a long-term post-fire logging experiment in northeastern Oregon, USA. We sampled understory plant coverand…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Recovery and adaptation after wildfire on the Colorado Front Range (2010-2012)
Year: 2016
Following the loss of homes to wildfire, when risk has been made apparent, homeowners must decide whether to rebuild, and choose materials and vegetation, while local governments guide recovery and rebuilding. As wildfires are smaller and more localised than other disasters, it is unclear if recovery after wildfire results in policy change and adaptation, decreasing assets at risk, or if recovery encourages reinvestment in hazard-prone areas. We studied three wildfires on the Colorado Front Range from2010 to 2012 that each destroyed over 150homes, describing policy response and characterising…
Publication Type: Journal Article
The Long-Term Effects of Wildfire and Post-Fire Vegetation on Sierra Nevada Forest Soils
Year: 2012
This paper compares carbon (C) and nutrient contents in soils (Alfisols derived from andesite), forest floor and vegetation in a former fire (1960) and an adjacent forest in the Sagehen Watershed in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. Soils from the former fire (now occupied predominantly by Ceanothus velutinus, a nitrogen-fixing shrub) had significantly lower contents of extractable SO42− and P (both Bray and bicarbonate) but significantly greater contents of exchangeable Ca2+ than the adjacent forested site (dominated by Pinus jeffreyii). N data suggested that N fixation had occurred…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Alteration and Recovery of Slash Pile Burn Sites in the Restoration of a Fire-Maintained Ecosystem
Year: 2012
Restoration practices incorporating timber harvest (e.g. to remove undesirable species or reduce tree densities) may generate unmerchantable wood debris that is piled and burned for fuel reduction. Slash pile burns are common in longleaf pine ecosystem restoration that involves hardwood removal before reintroduction of frequent prescribed fire. In this context, long-lasting effects of slash pile burns may complicate restoration outcomes due to unintended alterations to vegetation, soils, and the soil seed bank. In this study, our objectives were to (1) examine alterations to the soil seed…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Fourmile Canyon Fire Findings
Year: 2012
The Fourmile Canyon Fire burned in the fall of 2010 in the Rocky Mountain Front Range adjacent to Boulder, Colorado. The fire occurred in steep, rugged terrain, primarily on privately owned mixed ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir forests. The fire started on September 6 when the humidity of the air was very dry (≈ <7%) and the winds were steadily blowing in the range of 15 miles per hour and gusting to over 40 miles per hour. These conditions prevailed for most of the first day when the fire burned approximately 5,700 acres and destroyed 162 homes. Because of the windy conditions, aircraft…
Publication Type: Report
Wildfire severity mediates fluxes of plant material and terrestrial invertebrates to mountain streams
Year: 2012
Wildfire effects upon riparian plant community structure, composition, and distribution may strongly influence the dynamic relationships between riparian vegetation and stream ecosystems. However, few studies have examined the influence of fire on these processes. To that end, we compared the quantity and composition of allochthonous inputs of plant material and terrestrial invertebrates among stream tributaries characterized by various degrees of burn severity 5 years post-fire in the Frank Church Wilderness of central Idaho, USA. The magnitude of inputs of coniferous leaf litter to unburned…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Impact of postfire logging on soil bacterial and fungal communities on biogeochemistry in a mixed-conifer forest in central Oregon
Year: 2012
Aims Postfire logging recoups the economic value of timber killed by wildfire, but whether such forest management activity supports or impedes forest recovery in stands differing in structure from historic conditions remains unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of mechanical logging after wildfire on soil bacterial and fungal communities and other measures influencing soil productivity. Methods We compared soil bacterial and fungal communities and biogeochemical responses of 1) soils compacted, and 2) soils compacted and then subsoiled, to 3) soils receiving no…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Fuel Variability Following Wildfire in Forests with Mixed Severity Fire Regimes, Cascade Range, USA
Year: 2012
Fire severity influences post-burn structure and composition of a forest and the potential for a future fire to burn through the area. The effects of fire on forests with mixed severity fire regimes are difficult to predict and interpret because the quantity, structure, and composition of forest fuels vary considerably. This study examines the relationship between fire severity and post-burn fuel characteristics in forests with mixed severity fire regimes. We sampled live and dead canopy and…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Fire Effects on the Spatial Patterning of Soil Properties in Sagebrush Steppe, USA: A Meta-Analysis
Year: 2012
Understanding effects of changes in ecological disturbance regimes on soil properties, and capacity of soil properties to resist disturbance, is important for assessing ecological condition. In this meta-analysis, we examined the resilience of surface soil properties and their spatial patterning to disturbance by fire in sagebrush steppe of North America – a biome currently experiencing increases in wildfire due to climate change. We reviewed 39 studies that reported on soil properties for sagebrush steppe with distinct microsite (undershrub and interspace) patterning that was or was not…
Publication Type: Journal Article