November 2015: Fire effects: Restoration of watersheds and springs

This 1-day workshop/session was held in conjunction with the Society for Ecological Restoration Southwest Chapter Conference. It provided participants with information on trends in fire effects on watersheds, streams, and springs; offered tools to respond to these impacts before and after fires; and fostered discussion on next steps for restoration practitioners. The main focus was …

Fire and Wildlife Impacts

This paper focuses on the use and effects of wildfire (natural ignition), prescribed fire (purposeful ignition), and restoration treatments (thinning and prescribed fire) on terrestrial fauna in dry coniferous forests primarily in the southwestern U.S. Working Paper 36 by Tzeidle N. Wasserman RELATED CONTENT

October 21, 2015: Local Ecological Knowledge and Fire Management: What Does the Public Understand?

Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2015 1pm MDT (12pm AZ) Presenters: John Diaz, North Carolina State University As fire management agencies seek to implement more flexible fire management strategies, local understanding and support for these strategies become increasingly important. One issue associated with implementing more flexible fire management strategies is educating local populations about fire management and identifying …

Whitetail photo

September 10, 2015: Fire Management on the San Carlos Apache Reservation

We took a full day field trip to visit various fires managed through partnership between the San Carlos Apache (SCA) Tribe and the BIA San Carlos Agency. Over the last several years, they have built a mosaic of fire by allowing fire to retake its natural role across the Nantac Rim. Recent fires on the …

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 …

September 2015: Immediate post-wildfire effects on bats in the Southwest

Presenters:  Erin Saunders Northern Arizona University and U.S. Forest Service, and Carol Chambers, Northern Arizona University Ponderosa pine forests in the southwestern U.S. have increased in density over the last 100 years which has dramatically increased the size and frequency of wildfires. Although wildfires rarely kill animals, they have immediate consequences to bat populations by drastically …

May 12, 2015: The Southwest Fire Season: 2014 Overview and 2015 Outlook

Presenter: Zander Evans, Forest Guild and Chuck Maxwell, Predictive Services Please join us for a webinar to review last year’s fires and look ahead toward conditions for this year. Dr. Zander Evans will present an overview of the 12 largest fires in the Southwest during 2014. He will share summaries of forest types and burn severities …

April 2015: Planning for the Next Big One: Managing the Post-fire Environment in a Time of Change

The Burned Area Learning Network Workshop Together with the Fire Learning Network, the SWFSC hosted a collaborative workshop to improve advance planning for post wildfire impacts April 16-17, 2015 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Materials and Notes from the workshop can be downloaded below. If you have further questions, contact Anne Bradley with The Nature …

April 15, 2015: Effects of climate variability and accelerated thinning on watershed-scale runoff in Southwestern ponderosa pine forests

Presenter: Marcos Robles, The Nature Conservancy The recent mortality of up to 20% of forests and woodlands in the southwestern United States, along with declining stream flows and projected future water shortages, heightens the need to understand how management practices can enhance forest resilience and functioning under unprecedented scales of drought and wildfire. To address …

April 2, 2015: Tamarisk invasion and fire in Southwestern desert ecosystems

Presenter: Gail Drus, St. Francis University Increased wildfire has been observed with the displacement of native cottonwood-willow (Salix and Populus spp.) gallery forests by invasive, non-native tamarisk (Tamarix spp.) in desert riparian zones of North America. Greater post-fire recovery of Tamarix relative to native species suggests a Tamarix fire trajectory where repeated fire excludes native …