Pacific Northwest Research Station

Title: A management study template for learning about postwildfire management.

Author: Bormann, B.T.; Laurence, J.A.; Shimamoto, K.; Thrailkill, J.; Lehmkuhl, J.; Reeves, G.; Markus, A.; Peterson, D.W.; Forsman, E.

Date: 2008

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-777. Portland OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 27 p.

Station ID: GTR-PNW-777

Description: The concept of management studies—implemented by managers as normal business to meet priority learning needs—is applied to a priority regional question: how to manage after a large wildfire to better meet preexisting or new societal needs. Because of a lack of knowledge and studies, deciding how to manage after wildfire is fraught with uncertainty. We have developed the concept of a network of management studies with a rigorous experimental design to fill this need. Details on how to implement this generic landscape-scale management study on future wildfire areas are provided. We emphasize documenting expectations, conceptual modeling, scaling for major questions, analyzing for similarity, and monitoring cost-effectively. The design compares a wide range of management strategies at the landscape scale. Replication and blocking are used to better attribute results to individual strategies. Examples of more specific prescriptions for each of the strategies are provided, and the Tripod Fire in eastern Washington in 2006 is used as an example of how to apply the similarity analysis technique. A typology is also presented to define approaches and reduce confusion over terminology that has hindered the debate about how to implement adaptive management.

Keywords: Adaptive management, options forestry, management studies, management experiments, postwildfire management, salvage logging, landscapes, monitoring.

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Citation

Bormann, B.T.; Laurence, J.A.; Shimamoto, K.; Thrailkill, J.; Lehmkuhl, J.; Reeves, G.; Markus, A.; Peterson, D.W.; Forsman, E.  2008.  A management study template for learning about postwildfire management..   Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-777. Portland OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 27 p.