Biological disturbance agents (BDAs) can affect forest composition and structure in multiple ways, including by changing fuels in ways that affect fire risk and behavior. While some research has shown that BDAs can increase the likelihood and severity of wildfires, other research has shown the opposite. These opposing findings have led to confusion around the influence of BDAs on fuels and fire behavior, and uncertainty about the best ways to manage for their impacts in western fire-adapted forests. To better understand the complex relationships at play in how BDAs impact fuels and fire, authors of this article identified the major BDA groups in western coniferous U.S. forests and reviewed existing literature on these groups to conceptualize how BDA-affected fuels will influence fire risk and outcomes. The resulting conceptual framework provides a generalized approach for characterizing BDA outcomes on fuels over time and space, including expected impacts on fuels heterogeneity throughout a BDA groups’ life history. These expected fuels outcomes in turn help develop hypotheses for BDA effects on fire risk and severity.

This webinar highlights the findings of several recent studies looking at the effectiveness of fuel treatments conducted at a landscape scale. After a brief overview, it includes short presentations looking at the empirical evidence, simulation studies, case studies, and a new methodology for looking at the effectiveness of landscape-scale treatments. These studies were the outcome of a Joint Fire Science Program grant received by the Rocky Mountain Research Station. Webinar organized by several western Fire Science Exchanges. 

Smoke from wildfires is a well-recognized public health and safety issue. While there have been extensive efforts to help communities be “smoke ready”, most people would still prefer not to live with weeks of unhealthy air quality during the summer and fall. This webinar will address what could be done to reduce the amount of smoke experienced by frequently impacted communities during wildfire season. By knowing the frequent pathways that air moves into these communities during wildfire season, we gain some insights as to where fuel treatments can have a greater probability of reducing smoke from subsequent wildfires. Rather than using wind roses, meteorological modeling and GIS processing techniques provide raster images of these pathways for each community. A case study illustrates that these strategic fuel treatments can reduce smoke by 40 percent from subsequent wildfires. The webinar will also cover how raster images and fuel reduction strategies can be integrated into planning and implementation strategies including regional wildfire crisis strategies, forest restoration plans, and community wildfire protection plans. Additionally, the frequent air pathways can be used during wildfire season for decision support to reduce smoke impacts to the public. Presenter: Rick Graw, USDA Forest Service

Rapid advancements in wildland fire modeling are promoting innovations in how we characterize and map wildland fuels. Before these models can be widely used, more research on fuel characterization and mapping methods is needed to support3D model inputs. The 3D Fuels Project is characterizing surface and canopy fuels on pine-dominated sites in the southeastern and western United States and western grasslands that represent fuels commonly characterized for prescribed burning. Through this project, researchers are developing a library of tools and datasets to leverage multi-scale estimates of 3D fuel structure and consumption that can be used directly within models of fire behavior and smoke production.