Fire

The U.S. Geological Survey conducts fire ecology research to understand the effects of wildland fire on ecosystem structure and function, and on other ecological attributes such as wildlife habitat. Research is also directed as understanding fire history and fire regimes; interactions of fire with invasive species (e.g. cheatgrass) and climate variability; fire relations with vegetation structure and effectiveness of fuel treatments; and development of guidelines for restoring and rehabilitating fire-impacted ecosystems and watersheds.

Listed below are examples of research projects available online and general information from USGS about fire, its effects, and fire treatments.

• Post-Fire Assessment
  
  
• Fire Effects

• Fire Rehabilitation, Restoration, and Monitoring
  
  
  

Post-Fire Assessment

• Post-Fire Treatment Impacts on Fine Fuels in Westside Sierra Nevada Forests (WERC)
  
  
• Satellite image mosaics of recent fire years from western Montana and central Idaho (NRMSC)
  
  
  

Fire Effects

• Assessing Wildland Fire Impacts on the Winter Habitat Use and Distribution of Caribou Within Alaska's Interior Boreal Forest Ecosystem (ASC) (also related to Forests)

• Biological Research on Fire in the West. Fact Sheet. Download the File. (460 KB, PDF--get Adobe Reader) (West, California, Sierra Nevada, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Great Basin, Mojave desert, Sonoran desert) (FRESC) (also related to Arid Lands, Forests, Grasslands, Invasive Species, Urban Expansion)

• Effect of Fire and Herbicides on Microphytic Crust Dynamics in High Desert Ecosystems (Oregon, Idaho) (FRESC) (also related to Arid Lands)

• Effects of Fire in the Northern Great Plains (NPWRC) (also related to Grasslands)

• Exploring Fire Effects on Amphibian Communties (California, Idaho, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon) (FRESC)

• Fire Science at the National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC)

• Taking the Long View: Using Satellite Images to Assess Wildfire Effects  (FORT)
  

Fire Rehabilitation, Restoration, and Monitoring

• Ecological Effects of Fire Retardant Chemicals and Fire Suppressant Foams (NPWRC, in collaboration with CERC, PWRC)

• Ecology and Management of Fire in Hawaii (PIERC) (also related to Invasive Species)

• Effects of Invasive Alient Plants on Fire Regimes. Download the File. (512 KB, PDF--get Adobe Reader) (WERC) (also related to Invasive Species)

• Evaluating Public Responses to Wildland Fuels Management (Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Utah) (FRESC)

• Fire Ecology Research at the Western Ecological Research Center (Sierra Nevada forests, California shrublands, Mojave and Sonoran deserts) (also related to Arid Lands) (WERC)

• Fire History and Ecology in the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Northern New Mexico (FORT) (also related to Montane)

• Fire Science at the National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC)

• Forest and Woodland Restoration in the Southwest (FORT) (also related to Forests)

• Managing Fire in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert: A Review and Analysis of the Literature. Open-File Report. Download the File. (6,151 KB, PDF--get Adobe Reader) (Arizona, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico, Northern Chihuahuan Desert, Texas) (SBSC) (also related to Arid Lands)

• Monitoring Post-Fire Vegetation Rehabilitation Projects: A Common Approach for Non-Forested Ecosystems (FRESC)
  

• Pre-Fire Fuel Manipulation Impacts on Alien Plant Invasion of Wildlands (WERC)
  
  
• Standardized Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Monitoring Protocols (FRESC)

• Understanding Our Changing Forests. Fact Sheet. Download the File. (13,398 KB, PDF--get Adobe Reader) (Washington, Oregon, Idaho) (FRESC) (also related to Global Change, Forests)

• Use of Fire as a Tool for Controlling Invasive Plants. Download the File. (2,648 KB, PDF--get Adobe Reader) (WERC) (also related to Invasive Species)

• Wildfire and Invasive Plants (New Mexico) (FORT) (also related to Forests, Invasive Species)

• Wyoming Sagebrush Fire (Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge, Great Basin, Oregon) (FRESC)

	More Research Samples from: Alaska Science Center (ASC) Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC) Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center (FRESC) Fort Collins Science Center (FORT) National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC) Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NRMSC) Pacific Island Ecosystems Research Center (PIERC) Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC) Southwest Biological Science Center (SBSC) Western Ecological Research Center (WERC)