As a key piece of infrastructure, mangers focused on protecting the TriState Transmission Lines through low-intensity fire in order to prevent future high-intensity fire in the area. Photo credit: Lorena Williams, San Juan NF.

An Evolution in Thinking About Fire: A Panel Discussion

In a nutshell: This panel discussion reflects on fire management decisions made – and opportunities missed – during the San Juan National Forest’s 2023 fire season, and how those decisions represent an organizational evolution toward more nuanced and strategic thinking about fire response. Photo description: As a key piece of infrastructure, mangers focused on protecting …

Salamander on a log

Fires, forest management, and the future of New Mexico’s endemic salamanders

Date: Thursday, March 30 at 10am Mountain Time/ 9am Arizona Time Description: Uncharacteristically severe and frequent wildfires represent a significant threat to populations of two amphibian species of conservation concern in New Mexico: the Jemez Mountains salamander (Plethodon neomexicanus; Federal Endangered) and the Sacramento Mountain salamander (Aneides hardii; State Threatened). Both species are endemic relicts of past glacial events whose populations remain perched …

Series of 4 images that show a range of forest health.

Wildfire and Climate Change Adaptation

IN A NUTSHELL Experts tell the story of forest change since colonization, and share insights and answer questions about how we might steward a legacy of forest change and mitigate climate change impacts. Description: Climate change and wildfires pose an existential threat to western North American forests, a reality which necessitates place-based strategies to increase …

Vegetation Type Conversion

Presenter: Christopher H. Guiterman, Research Scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University of Colorado Boulder and NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) Date: September 21, 2022 at 12:00pm AZ / 1:00pm MDT Ecosystems of the Western United States are experiencing vegetation type conversions (VTC) in response to …

Repeat Photography and Post-Fire Ecosystem Change in SE Arizona

Date: October 26, 2021 1pm AZ/2pm MDTPresenters: Jim Malusa, University of Arizona, with an introduction by Don Falk, University of Arizona While making a vegetation map of the Chiricahua Mts in 2010, I took georeferenced photos and notes on the canopy cover of dominant species, in ecosystems ranging from grassland to spruce-fir.  The next year, …

Fire Science and Management in an Uncertain Future

Tuesday 1 December 2020, 9:00 am to 12:45 pm PST; Virtual format (Zoom) Key Purpose Identify fire science and management needs and discuss tools and approaches to natural resource assessments and adaptation strategies for fire dynamics in future climates in Southwest (DOI Regions 8 & 10 [CA, NV, AZ]) bioregions. Take-Aways This four-hour, virtual Summit …

May 5, 2020: Adaptation strategies for climate and fire in the Southwest

Presenters: Martha Sample and Andi Thode, Northern Arizona UniversityDate: May 5, 2020 12pm AZ/1pm MDT We will be presenting recent work on a Fire-Climate Adaptation ‘menu’ of strategies and approaches that can be used to align fire-specific management goals with climate impacts. The strategies that we have developed fit neatly into an existing climate adaptation framework …

The New Normal: Wildfire in the 21st Century

The New Normal: Wildfire in the 21st Century, is intended for public use. It explains current issues as they relate to fire management and what managers are doing to help build resilient landscapes. Please share widely and help spread the message about positive fire management.

There is growing recognition that many forests need fire to thin dense vegetation that chokes forest health and creates favorable settings for more destructive fires. Also, climate change has produced hotter, drier weather across the West, and this has directly led to more extreme wildfire behavior over the past few decades. View the YouTube video here

August 26, 2015: Climate change and fire in the Southwest

Presenter: Larissa Yocom, Northern Arizona University Global climate change will lead to shifts in climate patterns and fire regimes in the Southwest over coming decades. The intent of this webinar is to summarize the current state of scientific knowledge about climate change predictions in the Southwest as well as the pathways by which fire might …

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, …