Year Published:
Cataloging Information
Hot Topic(s):
Topic(s):
Fire Ecology
Insects & Disease
Fire & Bark Beetles
Fire & Wildlife
Invertebrates
Mountain pine beetles
Risk
Insects & Disease
Fire & Bark Beetles
Fire & Wildlife
Invertebrates
Mountain pine beetles
Risk
Ecosystem(s):
Subalpine wet spruce-fir forest, Subalpine dry spruce-fir forest
NRFSN number: 13708
Record updated: August 17, 2023
Citizens, government officials, and natural resource managers are greatly concerned about potential impacts of the mountain pine beetle (MPB) epidemic on fire hazards and risk. Some mountain towns are surrounded by dead and dying trees. In the Rocky Mountain Region of the Forest Service, the MPB epidemic threatens over 250,000 acres of the wildland-urban interface (WUI; USDA Forest Service 2011). This post-epidemic landscape also poses hazards for firefighter safety due to heavy fuel loads and unpredictable fire behavior. Abundant snags are especially dangerous for firefighters working in beetle-killed forests.
Citation
Parsons, Russ; Jolly, Matt; Langowski, Paul; Matonis, Megan; Miller, Sue. 2014. Post-epidemic fire risk and behavior [Chapter 3]. In: Matonis, M.; Hubbard, R.; Gebert, K.; Hahn, B.; Miller, S.; Regan, C. Future Forests Webinar Series, Webinar Proceedings and Summary: Ongoing Research and Management Responses to the Mountain Pine Beetle Outbreak. Proc. RMRS-P-70. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 19-28.