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Research Brief | Biological Disturbance Agents, Fuels, and Fire in Western Conifer Forests Date Published 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… |
Research Brief | Fire Effects on Stream Ecosystem Responses in Western Oregon Watersheds Date Published On 7 September 2020, strong winds in western Oregon ignited and spread many small fires, leading to multiple simultaneous megafires (fires > 404 km2) that burned across multiple land ownerships. These fires burned at differing severities, resulting in a range of post-fire riparian and freshwater conditions and an opportunity to evaluate aquatic and riparian responses to fire across… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #10: Post-fire logging: Examing long-term effects on understory vegetation Year 2016 This study investigated the long-term response of understory vegetation to two post-fire logging treatments (commercial salvage logging with and without additional fuel reduction logging) in northeastern Oregon. Researchers assessed if there were lasting effects on understory plant cover, species diversity, plant community composition, and exotic species cover in experimental treatment units… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #11: Pathology of Wildfire Risk: A Characterization of Social and Ecological Dimensions Year 2016 In this paper, researchers examine the problem of growing wildfire risk through a coupled natural and human systems (CNHS) perspective. They characterized the primary social and ecological dimensions of what they termed a socioecological pathology of wildfire risk in temperate forests, or “a set of complex and problematic interactions among social and ecological systems across multiple spatial… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #12: Landscape-level prescriptions: A new foundation for restoration planning Year 2016 Continued conflict around natural resource management and dwindled public confidence in land management agencies has necessitated the development of a new collaborative social contract for land management in the West. However, even within the sphere of collaboration, restoring the key characteristics of landscape resilience to landscapes has been a challenge. Science has a golden opportunity… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #13: Contracted Suppression Resources: Private Engine Dispatch and Sharing in the Northwest Year 2017 In this study, researchers used data from the US Forest Service’s National Resource Ordering and Status System to investigate how private sector resources were dispatched to fires. In particular, they examined the dispatch of private engines in the Northwest Geographic Area (GA), which encompasses Oregon and Washington, from 2008 to 2015. The researchers also investigated how private sector… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #14: Engagement Strategies: Helping Facilitate Development & Implementation of Adaptation Options Year 2017 In this paper, the authors describe an approach to facilitate development and implementation of climate change adaptation options in forest management which they applied to a case study area in southwestern Oregon, USA. Their approach relied on participation of local specialists across multiple organizations to establish a science–manager partnership, development of climate change education in… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #15: Conflict Around Suppression: Drivers and Legacies Year 2017 In this study, researchers interviewed 48 residents, community leaders, and professionals involved in wildfire and forest management during the 2006 Columbia Complex Fire in southeastern Washington State. The fire burned 109,402 acres of grain, pasture, and forest as well as 28 structures around Dayton, WA and was managed at different stages by teams from all three levels of the Incident… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #16: Rangeland Fire Protection Associations: Institutional and Social Dimensions of an Alternative Model of Wildfire Response Year 2017 In this paper, researchers examined the design and outcomes of RFPA programs in Oregon and Idaho through comparative studies of four established RFPAs. They set out to understand whether and how the design and implementation of state programs and interactions with BLM fire professionals allowed ranchers to participate on the fireline, encouraged adaptive learning, and fostered engagement in… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #17 - Ecological Reference Conditions: Perspectives in Collaborative Restoration of Dry Forest Landscapes Year 2018 This study examined stakeholder perspectives on reference conditions among collaboratives engaged in the restoration of dry, fire-adapted forest landscapes managed by the U.S. Forest Service. In particular, the authors examined social perspectives that influenced the determination of ecological reference conditions. They interviewed stakeholders associated with six collaborative groups from… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #18 - Burning for Butterflies: Identifying Weather and Fuel Conditions that Protect and Promote Butterfly Habitat Year 2018 In this study, researchers measured vegetation structure and fuel moisture (pre-burn), weather conditions, belowground heat dosages, and peak temperatures (during the burn), and burn severities and unburned refugia (post-burn) for paired morning and afternoon prescribed burns at each of ten prairie sites throughout the south Puget Sound in 2014. |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #19 - Adjusting the lenses of past, present and future to bring into focus the role of frequent fire in dry forests Year 2019 In this study, the authors characterized historical fire return intervals, seasonality, and relationships with local and regional factors for 13 sites representative of southwestern Oregon dry forests on ridges and midslopes in the Rogue Basin of the Klamath Ecoregion. They used dendrochronology (cross-dated fire-scars from trees) to develop fire histories. Then using a systematic literature… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #1: Traversing Through the Haze - Exploring the Human Perspective of Smoke from Fire Year 2013 How does this smoke affect people? Do people know where the smoke comes from and does such knowledge affect their attitude towards it? Do concerns about smoke preclude the use of prescribed fire? Gaining insight into public attitudes toward smoke is important in making decisions regarding its management. To investigate these questions, we conducted a mail survey of households in four sites… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #20 - Covering Wildfires: Media Emphasis and Silence Year 2019 In this study, researchers examined print media coverage, data of burned homes, and demographic data of towns impacted by two major wildfires in Washington State. The Carlton Complex burned over 250,000 acres and hundreds of homes in the Methow Valley in 2014, becoming the largest wildfire in Washington’s history. In 2015, the fires that made up the Okanogan Complex burned over 300,000 acres… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #21 - Understanding climate and human impacts on historical fire regimes in the PNW Year 2019 |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #22 - Policy barriers & opportunities for prescribed fire application in the Western US Year 2020 For this study, researchers conducted 54 key informant interviews across the 11 western states to investigate policy-relatedbarriers to prescribed fire on federal lands. In particular, they examined how laws, policies, and policy implementationaffect prescribed fire application, and identified common challenges to and opportunities for increasing application. |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #23 - Fire and Land Cover Change in the Palouse Praire-Forest Ecotone Year 2021 The Palouse Prairie is a highly endangered ecosystem found along the Idaho–Washington border. The Palouse Prairie intermixes with the imperiled ponderosa pine savanna along this border, making the ecotone between these communities particularly diverse and ecologically important. Unfortunately, like many grassland and savanna communities across North America and the world, this rich prairie–… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #24 - Wildfire Risk in Western Oregon and Washington Year 2022 The wildfires that ignited September 7-9, 2020 (collectively named the “Labor Day Fires”) on the west side of the Oregon Cascades (Westside) were a devastating reminder that these communities and forests are at risk from wildfires. The fires collectively burned more than 2.2 million acres, caused fatalities and billions of dollars in damage, placed more than 10% of the state’s residents under… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #2: Private Forest Owners and Wildfire Risk: Policy Implications in a Diverse Population Year 2014 To better understand NIPF owners, and subsequently the types of policies that are most likely to engage them in fuel mitigation strategies, researchers at the USFS Pacific Northwest Research Station and Oregon State University surveyed and interviewed private forest landowners living in fire-prone forests in eastern and central Oregon. Over 500 survey responses and 60 one-on-one interviews… |
Research Brief | NWFSC Research Brief #3: Songbird response to wildfire-Species abundance after a southwest oregon wildfire Year 2014 In this study, researchers gathered vegetation and songbird abundance data in the Little Applegate Valley of Jackson County, Oregon. After one year of data collection, a portion of the study area experienced a 6,177-acre mixed-severity wildfire (23% low, 36% moderate, 42% high severity). To better understand how the wildfire affected songbird abundance, they continued to collect data in the… |