Research Database
Displaying 1561 - 1568 of 1568
A Homeowner’s Guide to Fire-Resistant Home Construction
Year: 2006
Defending homes from fast-spreading high-intensity wildfires is one of the most difficult and dangerous duties for wildland firefighters. Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE) feels strongly that informing homeowners about fire-resistant construction materials will help wildland firefighters better protect communities, and reduce some of the risks to firefighter safety. Moreover, when rural homes and communities are better prepared for wildland fire, then more options and opportunities open up to properly manage fires to restore forests and grasslands degraded from past…
Publication Type: Report
A Practical Guide To Citizen-Agency Partnerships: Public Outreach Strategies for Fire and Fuel Management
Year: 2005
This Practical Guide is a companion to the video program Communication Strategies for Fire Management: Creating Effective Citizen-Agency Partnerships. The video is designed to assist land management personnel in working collaboratively with citizens for community fire and fuel reduction strategies. The DVD uses real world examples from successful agency communication programs to highlight effective approaches. It examines essential attributes for developing partnerships and offers a set of organizing principles to initiate an outreach strategy or to improve an existing one. This guide goes…
Publication Type: Report
Forest structure and fire hazard in dry forests of the Western United States
Year: 2005
Fire, in conjunction with landforms and climate, shapes the structure and function of forests throughout the Western United States, where millions of acres of forest lands contain accumulations of flammable fuel that are much higher than historical conditions owing to various forms of fire exclusion. The Healthy Forests Restoration Act mandates that public land managers assertively address this situation through active management of fuel and vegetation. This document synthesizes the relevant scientific knowledge that can assist fuel-treatment projects on national forests and other public…
Publication Type: Report
Smoke on the hill: A comparative study of wildfire and two communities
Year: 2003
Wildfire represents a serious challenge to communities in the rural West. After decades of fire suppression, land managers now perceive a greater role for wildfire in the ecosystem. In the meantime, migration patterns from urban to rural settings have increased the number of people living in forested areas throughout the West, therefore; wildfires are a threat to more homes than ever in the region. This study focuses on two communities’ response to wildfires during the intense fire season of 1994. Through qualitative research methods, the study analyzes these diverse responses in the context…
Publication Type: Journal Article
The Effect of Wildland Fire on Aquatic Ecosystems in the Western USA
Year: 2003
The workshop on the Effects of Wildland Fire on Aquatic Ecosystems in the Western USA was convened in Boise, Idaho, USA in April 2002 to synthesize the emerging science and discussion relevant to such solutions. The organizing committee invited the authors in this special issue of Forest Ecology and Management to present new work or synthesize the current understanding (or lack of it) regarding the role of disturbance, fire, or fire-related management for aquatic populations, communities, or habitats and the physical and biological processes that maintain them. Scientists and managers…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Social science in fuel management: an annotated bibliography of prescribed fire
Year: 2002
This annotated bibliography is collected from professional journals in natural resource management and sociology, conference proceedings, and technical reports. It is categorized into thirteen sections: acceptability, fire in wilderness, general, history, institutions, media, policy, public attitude toward wildfire, public involvement, public perception of prescribed burning, risk perception, social psychology, and wildland-urban interface.
Publication Type: Report
Jurisdictional decision-making about building codes for resiliency and sustainability post-fire
Year:
The increasing frequency and size of wildfires across the U.S. motivates the growing need to identify how affected communities can rebuild sustainably and resiliently. This study examines the jurisdictional decision-making process surrounding one important class of sustainability and resiliency decisions, focusing on energy and wildfire building codes for housing reconstruction. Through 22 interviews with staff and elected officials in three jurisdictions impacted by Colorado's Marshall Fire, we identify factors influencing decisions. Code decisions varied across jurisdictions and, in some…
Publication Type: Journal Article
Do wood-boring beetles influence the flammability of deadwood?
Year:
Global warming increases the risk of wildfire and insect outbreaks, potentially reducing the carbon storage function of coarse woody debris (CWD). There is an increasing focus on the interactive effects of wildfire and insect infestation on forest carbon, but the impact of wood-boring beetle tunnels via their effect on the flammability of deadwood remains unexplored. We hypothesized that the presence of beetle holes, at natural densities, can affect its flammability positively through increased surface area and enhanced oxygen availability in the wood. To test this, wood-boring beetle holes…
Publication Type: Journal Article