Fire Effects and Fire Ecology
Exposure and carbon risk for mature and old-growth forests from severe wildfire in the Pacific Northwest, U.S.A.
Year of Publication
2026
Publication Type
Mature and old-growth forests (MOG) provide essential ecosystem services, yet they face increasing threats. Currently, high-intensity, high-severity wildfires are the main driver for loss of MOG on federally managed forests across the United States. Quantifying MOG forests with greatest exposure to stand-replacing wildfires provides essential information for land managers.
Soil Moisture is a Stronger Predictor of Forest Fire Spread Potential Than Weather in the U.S. Northern Rocky Mountains
Year of Publication
2025
Publication Type
Accurate prediction of forest fire spread is a critical management and scientific challenge as the world adapts to rapidly changing fire regimes. We reconstructed 5,400 daily burned area progression maps for 196 U.S. Northern Rocky Mountain wildfires (2012–2021) and used machine learning to estimate daily fire growth given local weather, hydroclimate, fuels and topography.
Insights from a 25-year database of post-fire debris flows in California
Year of Publication
2025
Publication Type
Background
Post-wildfire debris flows (PFDFs) frequently threaten life, property and infrastructure in California. To date, there is no comprehensive assessment of their spatial distribution, seasonality, atmospheric drivers and interannual variability across the state.
Aims
The hidden variable: Impacts of human decision-making on prescribed fire outcomes
Year of Publication
2025
Publication Type
This study investigates the key drivers influencing prescribed fire effects across 16 sites in northern and central California, with particular emphasis on how operational decisions by fire practitioners shape burn outcomes.
Fire refugia in forest ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest, USA: Science and applications for conservation, adaptation, and stewardship
Year of Publication
2025
Publication Type
Concepts and models of fire refugia are increasingly important components of forest management and adaptation discussions in the context of wildland fire, forest and habitat conservation, and global change.
Wildfire-initiated dead wood legacies: Post-fire habitat and fuels trajectories in westside Pacific Northwest forests, USA
Year of Publication
2025
Publication Type
Managers grappling with questions about dead wood in productive, often high-volume, westside Pacific Northwest forests seek to balance wildlife habitat quality and fire hazard reduction, especially following wildfires which can both consume and generate exceptional quantities of dead wood.
Offsetting the noise: a framework for applying phenological offset corrections in remotely sensed burn severity assessments
Year of Publication
2025
Publication Type
Background
Phenological correction of pre- and post-fire imagery is used to improve remotely sensed burn severity evaluations. Unburned offset values standardize greenness between image pairs; however, efficacy across diverse scenarios remains underexplored.
Aims