Snag longevity and surface fuel accumulation following post-fire logging in a ponderosa pine dominated forest

Ritchie, Martin W.; Knapp, Eric E.; Skinner, Carl N.

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2012.09.001

Cited by 59 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In that study, the proportion of basal area retained was evaluated at 5 levels: 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, and 0%, with three treatment replications at each level in a fully randomized assignment (Ritchie and Knapp, 2014). Regardless of retention level, $80% of the retained standing bole biomass had transitioned to surface fuel by the eighth year of the study (Ritchie et al, 2013). After 10-yr, only 25% of the largest pines were standing, but 86% of the largest white fir and virtually all of the incense cedar remained standing (Ritchie and Knapp, 2014).…”

Section: Concerns With Overabundant Early Successional Forest Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tamm Review: Management of mixed-severity fire regime forests in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California

Hessburg

Spies

Perry

et al. 2016

Forest Ecology and Management

Self Cite

175

190

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tIncreasingly, objectives for forests with moderate-or mixed-severity fire regimes are to restore successionally diverse landscapes that are resistant and resilient to current and future stressors. Maintaining native species and characteristic processes requires this successional diversity, but methods to achieve it are poorly explained in the literature. In the Inland Pacific US, large, old, early seral trees were a key historical feature of many young and old forest successional patches, especially where fires frequently occurred. Large, old trees are naturally fire-tolerant, but today are often threatened by dense understory cohorts that create fuel ladders that alter likely post-fire successional pathways. Reducing these understories can contribute to resistance by creating conditions where canopy trees will survive disturbances and climatic stressors; these survivors are important seed sources, soil protectors, and critical habitat elements. Historical timber harvesting has skewed tree size and age class distributions, created hard edges, and altered native patch sizes. Manipulating these altered forests to promote development of larger patches of older, larger, and more widely-spaced trees with diverse understories will increase landscape resistance to severe fires, and enhance wildlife habitat for underrepresented conditions.Closed-canopy, multi-layered patches that develop in hot, dry summer environments are vulnerable to droughts, and they increase landscape vulnerability to insect outbreaks and severe wildfires. These same patches provide habitat for species such as the northern spotted owl, which has benefited from increased habitat area. Regional and local planning will be critical for gauging risks, evaluating trade-offs, and restoring dynamics that can support these and other species. The goal will be to manage for heterogeneous landscapes that include variably-sized patches of (1) young, middle-aged, and old, closedcanopy forests growing in upper montane, northerly aspect, and valley bottom settings, (2) a similar diversity of open-canopy, fire-tolerant patches growing on ridgetops, southerly aspects, and lower montane settings, and (3) significant montane chaparral and grassland areas. Tools to achieve this goal http://dx

show abstract

Section: Concerns With Overabundant Early Successional Forest Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tamm Review: Management of mixed-severity fire regime forests in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California

Hessburg

Spies

Perry

et al. 2016

Forest Ecology and Management

Self Cite

175

190

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Salvage logging prescriptions can vary significantly depending on management objectives (Ritchie et al, 2013;Donato et al, 2013) but we have only represented one prescription. Our salvage logging scenario was adapted from salvage logging estimates reported by McIver and Ottmar (2007) in ponderosa pine forests Table 5 The year of maximum fuel loading and predicted values for each fuel layer in unmanipulated and salvaged logged stands for the three simulated stands selected to represent the distribution of pre-fire stand biomass from our sample plots.…”

Section: Limitations and Uncertaintymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These values are within our modeled range of available 1000-h fuels, although our simulations follow a pulse disturbance so combustion percentages increase with time-since-fire. Salvage logging may reduce reburn hazard by decreasing the abundance and coverage of 1000-h fuels in the post-fire environment (Ritchie et al, 2013).…”

Section: Post-fire Hazardous Fuelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Snags are the dominant pool of surface fine and coarse woody fuels immediately following stand-replacing fire, so snag fall and fragmentation dominate surface fuel inputs (Dunn and Bailey, in press;Ritchie et al, 2013). Snag fall and fragmentation rates are primarily controlled by species and diameter-at-breastheight (DBH), although physical settings can influence these rates (Dunn and Bailey, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Modeling the direct effects of salvage logging on long-term temporal fuel dynamics in dry-mixed conifer forests

Dunn

Bailey

2015

Forest Ecology and Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Particularly in the case of burnt forests, the rapid loss of economic value of the wood due to decomposition and the difficulties that it imposes for transit and management are often-claimed arguments for the quick implementation of post-fire management [24][25][26][27]. In this sense, extensive post-fire salvage logging-i.e., the removal of the logs, usually accompanied with the in situ elimination of the rest of coarse woody debris-is a widely implemented post-fire management action that seeks to recover part of the capital of the forest as well as to prepare the terrain for post-fire restoration [25,26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deadwood Decay in a Burnt Mediterranean Pine Reforestation

Molinas-González

Castro

Leverkus

2017

Forests

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dead wood remaining after wildfires represents a biological legacy for forest regeneration, and its decay is both cause and consequence of a large set of ecological processes. However, the rate of wood decomposition after fires is still poorly understood, particularly for Mediterranean-type ecosystems. In this study, we analyzed deadwood decomposition following a wildfire in a Mediterranean pine plantation in the Sierra Nevada Natural and National Park (southeast Spain). Three plots were established over an elevational/species gradient spanning from 1477 to 2053 m above sea level, in which burnt logs of three species of pines were experimentally laid out and wood densities were estimated five times over ten years. The logs lost an overall 23% of their density, although this value ranged from an average 11% at the highest-elevation plot (dominated by Pinus sylvestris) to 32% at an intermediate elevation (with P. nigra). Contrary to studies in other climates, large-diameter logs decomposed faster than small-diameter logs. Our results provide one of the longest time series for wood decomposition in Mediterranean ecosystems and suggest that this process provides spatial variability in the post-fire ecosystem at the scale of stands due to variable speeds of decay. Common management practices such as salvage logging diminish burnt wood and influence the rich ecological processes related to its decay.

show abstract

Snag longevity and surface fuel accumulation following post-fire logging in a ponderosa pine dominated forest

Cited by 59 publications

References 27 publications

Tamm Review: Management of mixed-severity fire regime forests in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California

Tamm Review: Management of mixed-severity fire regime forests in Oregon, Washington, and Northern California

Modeling the direct effects of salvage logging on long-term temporal fuel dynamics in dry-mixed conifer forests

Deadwood Decay in a Burnt Mediterranean Pine Reforestation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About