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A warming climate, fire exclusion, and land cover changes are altering the conditions that produced historical fire regimes and facilitating increased recent wildfire activity in the northwestern United States. Understanding the impacts of changing…
Author(s): Arjan J. H. Meddens, Crystal A. Kolden, James A. Lutz, John T. Abatzoglou
Year Published:

Interactions between fire and nonnative, annual plant species (that is, 'the grass/fire cycle') represent one of the greatest threats to sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) ecosystems and associated wildlife, including the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus…
Author(s): Douglas J. Shinneman, Cameron L. Aldridge, Peter S. Coates, Matthew J. Germino, David S. Pilliod, Nicole M. Vaillant
Year Published:

Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) has been disappearing from high mountain landscapes due to mountain pine beetle outbreaks, white pine blister rust, human intrusions, and fire exclusion. It is currently a candidate species for listing under the…
Author(s): Rocky Mountain Research Station
Year Published:

Wildland fire behavior research has largely focused on the steady-state interactions between fuels and heat fluxes. Contemporary research is revealing new questions outside the bounds of this simplified approach. Here, we explore the complex…
Author(s): Kara M. Yedinak, Eva K. Strand, J. Kevin Hiers, J. Morgan Varner
Year Published:

We examined the relationships between lightning-fire-prone environments, socioeconomic metrics, and documented use of broadcast fire by small-scale hunter-gatherer societies. Our approach seeks to re-assess human-fire dynamics in biomes that are…
Author(s): Michael R. Coughlan, Brian I. Magi, Kelly M. Derr
Year Published:

During the 21st century, climate change is expected to alter aquatic habitats throughout the Northern Rocky Mountains, intermountain basins, and western Great Plains. Particularly in montane watersheds, direct changes are likely to include warmer…
Author(s): Michael K. Young, Daniel J. Isaak, Scott Spaulding, Cameron A. Thomas, Scott A. Barndt, Matthew C. Groce, Dona L. Horan, David E. Nagel
Year Published:

Genetic networks can characterize complex genetic relationships among groups of individuals, which can be used to rank nodes most important to the overall connectivity of the system. Ranking allows scarce resources to be guided toward nodes integral…
Author(s): Todd Cross, Michael K. Schwartz, David E. Naugle, Brad C. Fedy, Jeffrey R. Row, S.J. Oyler-McCance
Year Published:

Sustainable fire management has eluded all industrial societies. Given the growing number and magnitude of wildfire events, prescribed fire is being increasingly promoted as the key to reducing wildfire risk. However, smoke from prescribed fires can…
Author(s): David M. J. S. Bowman, Lori D. Daniels, Fay H. Johnston, Grant J. Williamson, William Matt Jolly, Sheryl Magzamen, Ana G. Rappold, Michael Brauer, Sarah B. Henderson
Year Published:

The Clark’s nutcracker has a mutualistic relationship with the whitebark pine, acting as the tree’s main seed dispersal mechanism.
Author(s): Robert E. Keane, Samuel A. Cushman
Year Published:

An understanding of how historical fire and structure in dry forests (ponderosa pine, dry mixed conifer) varied across the western USA remains incomplete. Yet, fire strongly affects ecosystem services, and forest restoration programs are underway.…
Author(s): William L. Baker, Mark A. Williams
Year Published:

Fire weather indices are commonly used by fire weather forecasters to predict when weather conditions will make a wildland fire difficult to manage. Complex interactions at multiple scales between fire, fuels, topography, and weather make these…
Author(s): Alan F. Srock, Joseph J. Charney, Brian E. Potter, Scott L. Goodrick
Year Published:

An improved understanding of atmospheric perturbations within and above a forest during a wildland fire has relevance to many aspects of wildland fires including fire spread, smoke transport and dispersion, and tree mortality. In this study, the…
Author(s): Michael T. Kiefer, Shiyuan Zhong, Warren Heilman, Joseph J. Charney, Xindi Bian
Year Published:

Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca (Mayr) Franco), and western larch (Larix occidentalis Nutt.) are species of ecological and commercial importance that occur throughout the Western United States. Effective reforestation of these species…
Author(s): Jeremiah R. Pinto, Bridget A. McNassar, Olga A. Kildisheva, Anthony S. Davis
Year Published:

Understanding drivers of vegetation structure has direct implications for wildlife conservation and livestock management, but the relative importance of multiple disturbances interacting within the same system to shape vegetation structure remains…
Author(s): L.C. Connell, John Derek Scasta, Lauren M. Porensky
Year Published:

Prescribed fire is an active management tool used to address wildfire hazard and ecological concerns associated with fire exclusion and suppression over the past century. Despite widespread application in the United States, there is considerable…
Author(s): Becky K. Kerns, Michelle A. Day
Year Published:

As scientists and managers seek to understand fire behavior in conditions that extend beyond the limits of our current empirical models and prior experiences, they will need new tools that foster a more mechanistic understanding of the processes…
Author(s): Chad M. Hoffman, Carolyn Hull Sieg, Rodman Linn, William E. Mell, Russell A. Parsons, Justin P. Ziegler, J. Kevin Hiers
Year Published:

Reducing the fuel load in fire-prone landscapes is aimed at mitigating the risk of catastrophic wildfires but there are ecological consequences. Maintaining habitat for fauna of both sufficient extent and connectivity while fragmenting areas of high…
Author(s): Ramya Rachmawati, Melih Ozlen, John W. Hearne, Karin J. Reinke
Year Published:

Each year, the wildfire season in the Western United States brings headlines and news reports, mostly factual but sometimes misleading. This year is no different, a case in point being “Let Forest Fires Burn? What the Black-Backed Woodpecker Knows…
Author(s): Tom Tidwell
Year Published:

Natural resource managers face the need to develop strategies to adapt to projected future climates. Few existing climate adaptation frameworks prescribe where to place management actions to be most effective under anticipated future climate…
Author(s): Kathryn Ireland, Andrew J. Hansen, Robert E. Keane, Kristin Legg, Rob Gump
Year Published:

Fire is a fundamental Earth system process and the primary ecosystem disturbance on the global scale. It affects carbon and water cycles through changing terrestrial ecosystems, and at the same time, is regulated by weather and climate, vegetation…
Author(s): Fang Li, David M. Lawrence, Ben Bond-Lamberty
Year Published: