Deciding Where to Burn: Stakeholder Priorities for Prescribed Burning of a Fire-Dependent Ecosystem

Costanza, Jennifer K.; Moody, Aaron

doi:10.5751/es-03897-160114

“…Given the particular importance of water quality as an ecosystem service, the potential impacts of increasingly severe wildfire on aquatic systems are an important research gap (see chapter 4.3). One particular threat from wildfires that has been recognized in the Sierra Nevada is sedimentation of reservoirs, which can degrade water quality in the short term and reduce storage capacity in the long term (Moody andMartin 2004, 2009).…”

Section: Effects Of Wildfires Particularly Long Termmentioning

confidence: 99%

Science synthesis to support socioecological resilience in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range

Long¹,

Quinn‐Davidson²,

Skinner³

2014

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“…For example, the statewide analysis may determine which large properties (e.g., state forest) that are within high benefit regions (Hiers et al. , Costanza and Moody ), or to identify barriers to the implementation of prescribed fire (Costanza et al. ) in high management benefit areas that are currently not being actively managed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…). Indeed, land managers identify the risks inherent with burning near homes and a general public perception of prescribed fire as dangerous as major limitations to its use (Costanza and Moody , Quinn‐Davidson and Varner , Costanza et al. ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prioritizing land management efforts at a landscape scale: a case study using prescribed fire inWisconsin

Hmielowski

¹

,

Carter

²

,

Spaul

³

et al. 2016

Ecological Applications

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One challenge in the effort to conserve biodiversity is identifying where to prioritize resources for active land management. Cost-benefit analyses have been used successfully as a conservation tool to identify sites that provide the greatest conservation benefit per unit cost. Our goal was to apply cost-benefit analysis to the question of how to prioritize land management efforts, in our case the application of prescribed fire to natural landscapes in Wisconsin, USA. We quantified and mapped frequently burned communities and prioritized management units based on a suite of indices that captured ecological benefits, management effort, and the feasibility of successful long-term management actions. Data for these indices came from LANDFIRE, Wisconsin's Wildlife Action Plan, and a nationwide wildland-urban interface assessment. We found that the majority of frequently burned vegetation types occurred in the southern portion of the state. However, the highest priority areas for applying prescribed fire occurred in the central, northwest, and northeast portion of the state where frequently burned vegetation patches were larger and where identified areas of high biological importance area occurred. Although our focus was on the use of prescribed fire in Wisconsin, our methods can be adapted to prioritize other land management activities. Such prioritization is necessary to achieve the greatest possible benefits from limited funding for land management actions, and our results show that it is feasible at scales that are relevant for land management decisions.

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“…Although the public often recognizes the ecological need for fire, they can be skeptical of the safety of prescribed fire (Shindler et al 2009). Indeed, land managers identify the risks inherent with burning near homes and a general public perception of prescribed fire as dangerous as major limitations to its use (Costanza and Moody 2011, Quinn-Davidson and Varner 2011, Costanza et al 2013. Any approach used to prioritize the application of prescribed fire across the landscape must account for these complexities and challenges that land managers face in applying prescribed fire as a management tool.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prioritizing land management efforts at a landscape scale: a case study using prescribed fire in Wisconsin

Hmielowski¹,

Carter²,

Spaul³

et al. 2015

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One challenge in the effort to conserve biodiversity is identifying where to prioritize resources for active land management. Cost-benefit analyses have been used successfully as a conservation tool to identify sites that provide the greatest conservation benefit per unit cost. Our goal was to apply cost-benefit analysis to the question of how to prioritize land management efforts, in our case the application of prescribed fire to natural landscapes in Wisconsin, USA. We quantified and mapped frequently burned communities and prioritized management units based on a suite of indices that captured ecological benefits, management effort, and the feasibility of successful long-term management actions. Data for these indices came from LANDFIRE, Wisconsin's Wildlife Action Plan, and a nationwide wildland-urban interface assessment. We found that the majority of frequently burned vegetation types occurred in the southern portion of the state. However, the highest priority areas for applying prescribed fire occurred in the central, northwest, and northeast portion of the state where frequently burned vegetation patches were larger and where identified areas of high biological importance area occurred. Although our focus was on the use of prescribed fire in Wisconsin, our methods can be adapted to prioritize other land management activities. Such prioritization is necessary to achieve the greatest possible benefits from limited funding for land management actions, and our results show that it is feasible at scales that are relevant for land management decisions.

show abstract

Deciding Where to Burn: Stakeholder Priorities for Prescribed Burning of a Fire-Dependent Ecosystem

Cited by 17 publications

References 20 publications

Science synthesis to support socioecological resilience in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range

Science synthesis to support socioecological resilience in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range

Prioritizing land management efforts at a landscape scale: a case study using prescribed fire inWisconsin

Prioritizing land management efforts at a landscape scale: a case study using prescribed fire in Wisconsin

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