Changes in fuelbed characteristics and resulting fire potentials after fuel reduction treatments in dry forests of the Blue Mountains, northeastern Oregon

Youngblood, Andrew; Wright, Clinton S.; Ottmar, Roger D.; McIver, James D.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2007.09.032

Cited by 38 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…These impacts include a reduction of leaf-litter depth and lower-canopy cover described by Coleman and Rieske (2006), which are in concordance with the results found in our study. Besides, thin decayed wood debris in the 100 hour timelag size class has been shown to decrease in biomass after low-intensity prescribed fire (Youngblood et al, 2008). In our study, we found a decrease in the cover of decayed wood debris after fire.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

“…Prescribed burns are one of the alternative forest management methods to be applied and are relatively new in the Canary Islands and some other areas of Spain. Low-intensity prescribed fires can be useful in some ecosystems to reduce fuel loads by decreasing low vegetation and small decayed wood (Phillips and Waldrop, 2008;Youngblood et al, 2008) without negative effects on soil conditions (Úbeda et al, 2005). However, there is no consensus about the effects of prescribed fire on the vegetation in Spain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Short-term effects of low-intensity prescribed fire on ground-dwelling invertebrates in a Canarian pine forest

García-Domínguez¹,

Arévalo²,

Calvo³

2010

For. syst.

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The effects of prescribed fire on the forest upper ground layer can have consequences for invertebrate communities. In the Canary Islands, prescribed fire is starting to be used as a tool to reduce wildfire risk, but the impacts of this management practice on the Canarian pine forest have not been investigated. The aim of this study is to explore the short-term effects of prescribed burning on the most abundant groups of ground-dwelling invertebrates. Three of six plots were randomly burnt and the other three were used as controls. Pitfall trapping was used to collect the grounddwelling invertebrates four months after burning. No differences were found in total richness, diversity, evenness and total abundance between treatments. Only Psocopteran abundance increased after fire. Litter depth, total vegetation cover and decayed wood cover were different between treatments. Canonical Correspondence Analyses (CCA) revealed differences in species composition between treatments using these environmental variables. It is concluded that the use of low-intensity prescribed burning in this stand did not have an important impact on the structural parameters of the ground-dwelling invertebrate community, but species composition changed. Care shoud be taken with valuable endemic, rare or sensible species.Key words: prescribed burning, invertebrate community, pine forest, Pinus canariensis, fire, soil ecology. ResumenEfectos a corto plazo de una quema prescrita de baja intensidad sobre los invertebrados epiedáficos de un pinar canario Los efectos del fuego prescrito sobre la capa superficial del suelo pueden tener consecuencias para las comunidades de invertebrados. Las quemas prescritas se están empezando a aplicar en las Islas Canarias como una herramienta para reducir el riesgo de incendios forestales, pero el impacto ecológico de estas prácticas aún no ha sido estudiado en el pinar canario. El objetivo de este trabajo es explorar los efectos a corto plazo de las quemas prescritas sobre los grupos más abundantes de invertebrados epiedáficos. Se establecieron seis parcelas, de las que tres fueron quemadas al azar y las otras tres se usaron como controles. Los muestreos de invertebrados se realizaron cuatro meses después de la quema mediante trampas de caída. No se encontraron diferencias entre tratamientos en riqueza, diversidad, equitatividad y abundancia total de invertebrados. En cuanto a los grupos, Psocoptera fue el único que incrementó su abundancia tras el fuego. Se encontraron diferencias significativas entre tratamientos en profundidad de mantillo, cobertura total de vegetación y cobertura de madera muerta en descomposición. Dichas variables se incluyeron en un Análisis Canónico de Correspondencia (CCA) revelando diferencias entre tratamientos en composición de especies. Se concluyó que, aunque las quemas prescritas no tienen un impacto notable sobre los parámetros estructurales de la comunidad de invertebrados, sí provocan cambios en la composición de especies, que deben ser valorados en presencia de espec...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term effects of low-intensity prescribed fire on ground-dwelling invertebrates in a Canarian pine forest

García-Domínguez¹,

Arévalo²,

Calvo³

2010

For. syst.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…3). These sites utilized low thinning, and sometimes improvement or selection cutting to remove commercial and sub-merchantable materials, and this resulted in increased horizontal and vertical separation of canopy fuels , Graham et al 2004, Agee and Skinner 2005, Youngblood et al 2008. Silvicultural treatments that remove commercial material yet retain high levels of biomass (trees with dbh , 25 cm) do not improve resistance to high-severity fire.…”

Section: (S)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Though there have been qualitative and comparative studies on the effectiveness of various fuel treatments, controlled empirical studies using modern fuel reduction techniques are relatively rare (Fule´et al 2001, Pollet and Omi 2002, Stephens and Moghaddas 2005a, Agee and Lolley 2006, Schmidt et al 2008, Youngblood et al 2008, especially studies that are replicated and represent multiple regions of the U.S. Researchers have modeled the impacts of different fuel treatments on potential fire behavior in western coniferous forests (van Wagtendonk 1996, Stephens 1998, Miller and Urban 2000 but these analyses are constrained by model assumptions and a limited number of study locations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire treatment effects on vegetation structure, fuels, and potential fire severity in western U.S. forests

Stephens

Moghaddas

Edminster

et al. 2009

Ecological Applications

Self Cite

344

230

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Abstract. Forest structure and species composition in many western U.S. coniferous forests have been altered through fire exclusion, past and ongoing harvesting practices, and livestock grazing over the 20th century. The effects of these activities have been most pronounced in seasonally dry, low and mid-elevation coniferous forests that once experienced frequent, low to moderate intensity, fire regimes. In this paper, we report the effects of Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) forest stand treatments on fuel load profiles, potential fire behavior, and fire severity under three weather scenarios from six western U.S. FFS sites. This replicated, multisite experiment provides a framework for drawing broad generalizations about the effectiveness of prescribed fire and mechanical treatments on surface fuel loads, forest structure, and potential fire severity. Mechanical treatments without fire resulted in combined 1-, 10-, and 100-hour surface fuel loads that were significantly greater than controls at three of five FFS sites. Canopy cover was significantly lower than controls at three of five FFS sites with mechanical-only treatments and at all five FFS sites with the mechanical plus burning treatment; fire-only treatments reduced canopy cover at only one site. For the combined treatment of mechanical plus fire, all five FFS sites with this treatment had a substantially lower likelihood of passive crown fire as indicated by the very high torching indices. FFS sites that experienced significant increases in 1-, 10-, and 100-hour combined surface fuel loads utilized harvest systems that left all activity fuels within experimental units. When mechanical treatments were followed by prescribed burning or pile burning, they were the most effective treatment for reducing crown fire potential and predicted tree mortality because of low surface fuel loads and increased vertical and horizontal canopy separation. Results indicate that mechanical plus fire, fire-only, and mechanical-only treatments using whole-tree harvest systems were all effective at reducing potential fire severity under severe fire weather conditions. Retaining the largest trees within stands also increased fire resistance.

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“…In the context of this study, the combination of thinning, mowing, and underburning are considered surrogates for low and mixed-severity disturbance events. The combination of thinning and underburning may be more effective in reducing fuels and changing diameter distributions, but may produce more varied results that depend, in part, on the amount of fuels added during the thinning activity (Youngblood et al, 2008). Cochran and Barrett's (1999) work with ponderosa pine saplings demonstrated that young ponderosa pine stands respond positively to density reduction.…”

Section: Addressing Future Management Issues With Long-term Studies Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in fuelbed characteristics and resulting fire potentials after fuel reduction treatments in dry forests of the Blue Mountains, northeastern Oregon

Cited by 38 publications

References 58 publications

Short-term effects of low-intensity prescribed fire on ground-dwelling invertebrates in a Canarian pine forest

Short-term effects of low-intensity prescribed fire on ground-dwelling invertebrates in a Canarian pine forest

Fire treatment effects on vegetation structure, fuels, and potential fire severity in western U.S. forests

Ecological lessons from long-term studies in experimental forests: Ponderosa pine silviculture at Pringle Falls Experimental Forest, central Oregon

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