Pacific Northwest Research Station

East-Side Forest Health Restoration Team

2008 Science Accomplishments

Historical forest conditions supported a range of fire severities

Forest structure is one variable that influences fire severity. Credit: Tom Iraci

To effectively use fire as a land management tool, it is helpful to know the typical severity of historical fires in the area. In a recent study, scientists found that mixed-severity fires were most prevalent in eastern Washington, regardless of forest type.

After analyzing aerial photos from the early 1900s of unharvested forest on about 750,000 acres in eastern Washington, scientists found that mixed-severity fires were most prevalent, regardless of forest type. The structure of mixed-conifer patches in the eastern Washington Cascades, in particular, was formed by a mix of fire severities. In moist mixed conifers, stand-replacement fire effects were more widespread than surface fire effects, whereas in dry mixed conifers, surface fire effects were more widespread by nearly 2 to 1. The relatively low abundance of old, parklike or similar forest patches in comparison with the abundance of young and intermediate-aged patches, and evidence of partial-stand and standreplacing fires suggested that variable fire severity and nonequilibrium patch dynamics were primarily at work.

This suggests that some of the contemporary effects from wildfires may better meet management objectives than once thought, particularly when the objective is to create patch conditions achieved through low- and mixed-severity fires.

Partners: USDA Forest Service Intermountain, Northern, and Pacific Northwest Regions; USDI Bureau of Land Management

To learn more, contact Paul Hessburg at phessburg@fs.fed.us.

Restoring spotted owl habitat may take landscape approach

The threatened northern spotted owl continues to decline despite 15 years of intense management effort. One significant threat continues to be the loss of habitat in dry forests from wildfire. Habitat gain and loss from uncharacteristic fire disturbance regimes has been extensively documented by station scientists. Their research has documented landscape dynamics, owl prey demography, and conflicts with competitive barred owls that are directly relevant to recovery plans for the northern spotted owl. This information was central in shifting the recovery strategy for northern spotted owl habitat from a species-oriented reserve strategy to a whole-landscape strategy.

Partners: Sustainable Ecosystems Institute, University of Washington, USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region, USDI Fish and Wildlife Service

To learn more, contact John Lehmkuhl at jlehmkuhl@fs.fed.us.

Photo: Restoring.jpg
Caption: Habitat lost to wildfire is one issue that points to the benefits of adopting a landscape approach in the recovery strategy for the northern spotted owl. Credit: Tom Iraci

Tool: Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) 4.0

Description: EMDS 4.0 provides integrated, multiscale landscape analysis and planning for any spatial scale or combinations of scales. EMDS is an extremely general solution framework that has been applied to many environmental management problems around the world since its initial release in 1997.

Use: This latest version maintains compatibility with contemporary operating systems and geographic information systems (GIS) widely used in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, and state, federal, and private institutions. A significant improvement is the implementation of .NET, a programming interface that increases speed and stability. The latest version also offers an alternative, stand-alone implementation for less technically inclined end users who may be uncomfortable with conventional GIS interfaces. EMDS 4.0 supports evaluation of performance with respect to outcomes over the long term, thus supporting a key requirement of environmental management systems.

Contact: Keith Reynolds at kreynolds@fs.fed.us.

How to get it: http://www.institute.redlands.edu/emds/