Sarah McCaffrey
November 2014 at Northern Arizona University
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Fire Regime Reconstruction Methods
This working paper discusses several methods for reconstructing historical fire regimes.Each of these methods will be discussed in terms of advantages, disadvantages, inherent uncertainties, and assumptions as well as temporal and spatial precision. The potential value and limitations for reconstructing historical forest structure and composition with each method are also briefly covered. Working Paper 32, …
September 17, 2014: Fire management in the Gila National Forest and Saguaro National Park
Presenter: Molly Hunter – Northern Arizona University Fire suppression has been the dominant fire management strategy in the West over the last century. However, managers in the Gila National Forest and Saguaro National Park have allowed fire to play a more natural role for decades. In a newly published report, we summarize the effects of …
August 27, 2014: A panel perspective on regeneration in Southwest pine forests after high severity wildfire
Panelists: Pete Fulé – Northern Arizona University, Collin Haffey – USGS Jemez Field Station, José Iniguez and Suzanne Owen – USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station, Jim Youtz – USFS Southwestern Region, Joy Mast – Carthage College The Southwest Fire Science Consortium is hosting a panel discussion on regeneration of pine forests after high severity wildfires. …
August 21, 2014: Pinaleño Mountain Range
We conducted a single day field trip to learn about the fire and disturbance history of the Pinaleño Mountain Range in southeastern Arizona. We discussed the disturbance history, primarily from fire and insect, the local management plans to restore mixed conifer and spruce-fir through the Pinaleño Ecosystem Restoration Project, the threatened and endangered species concerns, …
Every Fire is an Opportunity to Treat a Landscape
On the afternoon of May 20, the Slide Fire was reported towards the south end of Oak Creek Canyon between Flagstaff and Sedona, Arizona. The canyon is steep and rugged – not the type of country that firefighters prefer for taking on a fire directly. After the initial threat to nearby homes passed, fire managers decided to use a confine-and-contain strategy, drawing a large box around the fire perimeter and using low-intensity burnout operations to rob the main head of the fire of fuel. This video describes the how fire officials managed the Slide Fire, and how the chosen tactics lessened negative impacts to the forest and watershed while providing for the safety of the more than 1,200 firefighters working the fire. The indirect tactics used on the Slide Fire are part of a national trend, wildfires being managed in ways that can benefit the landscape even while actively accomplishing suppression and protection objectives. National and regional fire experts discuss these changing trends and how fire management can be further improved to lessen negative impacts and actually create benefits for ecosystems.
Click here for an accompanying “Every fire is an opportunity” write up containing more detail.
June 13, 2014: Slide Fire-9 days Post-Fire
We toured the area of the Slide Fire in Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona. The human caused fire began on May 20, 2014 and burned 21,227 acres before being 100% contained on June 4, 2014. We were able to see this area less than one month post-fire. We learned how suppression staff were able to catch …
June 11, 2014: People, fire, and insects: Three centuries of disturbance interactions along an ecological gradient of the Pinaleño Mountains, Arizona
Presenter: Kit O’Connor, University of Arizona In the Pinaleño Mountains of Southeast Arizona, a series of high-severity insect outbreaks and fires in recent decades appear to be unprecedented in the historical record. These disturbances raise concerns about forest resilience and long-term sustainability of one of the most ecologically diverse landscapes in the southwest. We used …
May 29, 2014: A resilience ecology framework for southwestern forests: Ecosystem shifts, landscape disturbance and climate change
Presenter: Donald Falk, University of Arizona In this webinar, Dr. Don Falk will review the basic concepts of ecological resilience as it applies to fire-adapted ecosystems in the Southwest. He will discussion how these concepts apply to the challenge of maintaining resilience in a rapidly changing world. Lastly, he will explore how maintaining resilience can …
Climate Change, Bark Beetles, and Fire
This working paper summarizes how climate change influences presence of bark beetles, how this impacts drought-stressed trees, and the role fires play when drought and beetles occur. Working Paper 31, June 2014 by Monica Gaylord