A5051385336- Fire effects on ecosystems
- Rangeland and Wildlife Management
- Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
- Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
- Forest ecology and management
- Landslides and related hazards
- Remote Sensing and LiDAR Applications
- Tree-ring climate responses
- Forest Management and Policy
- Fire dynamics and safety research
- Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
- Remote Sensing in Agriculture
- Forest Insect Ecology and Management
- Forest Biomass Utilization and Management
- Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
- Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence
- Botany and Plant Ecology Studies
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Mathematical and Theoretical Epidemiology and Ecology Models
- Climate variability and models
- Information and Cyber Security
- Radiation Detection and Scintillator Technologies
- Thermochemical Biomass Conversion Processes
- Wind and Air Flow Studies
- Aeolian processes and effects
University of California, Berkeley
2016-2025
US Forest Service
2010-2025
Pacific Southwest Research Station
2014-2024
Michigan Technological University
2023
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
2021-2022
Ecological Society of America
2020
United States Department of Agriculture
2016
San Francisco State University
2010
Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education at Ensenada
2010
University of California System
2006-2008
Changing disturbance regimes and climate can overcome forest ecosystem resilience. Following high-severity fire, recovery may be compromised by lack of tree seed sources, warmer drier postfire climate, or short-interval reburning. A potential outcome the loss resilience is conversion prefire to a different type nonforest vegetation. Conversion implies major, extensive, enduring changes in dominant species, life forms, functions, with impacts on services. In present article, we synthesize...
Agency incentives undermine policy effectiveness
Massive tree mortality has occurred rapidly in frequent-fire-adapted forests of the Sierra Nevada, California. This is a product acute drought compounded by long-established removal key ecosystem process: frequent, low- to moderate-intensity fire. The recent many implications for future these and ecological goods services they provide society. Future wildfire hazard following this can be generally characterized decreased crown fire potential increased surface intensity short intermediate...
The USDA Forest Service is implementing a new planning rule and starting to revise forest plans for many of the 155 National Forests. In forests that historically had frequent fire regimes, scale current fuels reduction treatments has often been too limited affect severity predominantly focused on suppression. addition continued treatment wildland urban interface, increasing low- moderate-severity would have substantial ecological economics benefits if implemented soon. We suggest Forests...
Resilience and resistance concepts have broad application to ecology society. is an emergent property that reflects the amount of disruption a system can withstand before its structure or organization uncharacteristically shift. Resistance component resilience. Before advent intensive forest management fire suppression, western North American forests exhibited naturally occurring resilience wildfires other disturbances. Using evidence from ten ecoregions, spanning Canada Mexico, we review...
Abstract In areas where fire regimes and forest structure have been dramatically altered, there is increasing concern that contemporary fires the potential to set forests on a positive feedback trajectory with successive reburns, one in which extensive stand‐replacing could promote more fire. Our study utilized an of field plots established following four occurred between 2000 2010 northern Sierra Nevada, California, USA were subsequently reburned 2012. The information obtained from these...
Abstract Current U.S. forest fire policy emphasizes short‐term outcomes versus long‐term goals. This perspective drives managers to focus on the protection of high‐valued resources, whether ecosystem‐based or developed infrastructure, at expense resilience. Given these current and future challenges posed by wildland because Forest Service spent >50% its budget suppression in 2015, a review reexamination existing is warranted. One most difficult revising that agency organizations decision...
Abstract A significant increase in treatment pace and scale is needed to restore dry western US forest resilience owing increasingly frequent severe wildfire drought. We propose a pyrosilviculture approach directly large-scale fire use modify current thinning treatments optimize future incorporation. Recommendations include leveraging wildfire’s “treatment” areas burned at low moderate severity with subsequent management, identifying managed zones, facilitating financing prescribed “anchor,”...
Increasing fire severity and warmer, drier postfire conditions are making forests in the western United States (West) vulnerable to ecological transformation. Yet, relative importance of interactions between these drivers forest change remain unresolved, particularly over upcoming decades. Here, we assess how interactive impacts changing climate wildfire activity influenced conifer regeneration after 334 wildfires, using a dataset from 10,230 field plots. Our findings highlight declining...
Large, severe wildfires continue to burn in frequent-fire adapted forests but the mechanisms that contribute them and their predictability are important questions. Using a combination of ground based remotely sensed data we analyzed behavior patterns 2020 Creek Fire where drought bark beetles had previously created substantial levels tree mortality southern Sierra Nevada. We found dead biomass live densities were most variables predicting fire severity; high severity encompassed 41% area...
Abstract Mature forests provide important wildlife habitat and support critical ecosystem functions globally. Within the dry conifer of western United States, past management fire exclusion have contributed to forest conditions that are susceptible increasingly severe wildfire drought. We evaluated declines in cover southern Sierra Nevada California during a decade record disturbance by using spatially comprehensive structure estimates, perimeter data, eDaRT tracking algorithm. Primarily due...
We re-sampled areas included in an unbiased 1911 timber inventory conducted by the U.S. Forest Service over a 4000 ha study area. Over half of area burned relatively recent management- and lightning-ignited fires. This allowed for comparisons both that have experienced fire with no fire, to same historically based on early forest inventories. Our results indicate substantially altered present conditions, relative data, can largely be attributed disruption key ecosystem process these forests,...
Abstract Placing fuel reduction treatments across entire landscapes such that impacts associated with high-intensity fire are lessened is a difficult goal to achieve, largely because of the immense area needing treatment. As such, scientists and managers have conceptually developed refining methodologies for strategic placement more efficiently limit spread severity forested landscapes. Although these undoubtedly improve managers' ability plan evaluate various landscape treatment scenarios,...
Many managers today are tasked with restoring forests to mitigate the potential for uncharacteristically severe fire. One challenge this mandate is lack of large‐scale reference information on forest structure prior impacts from Euro‐American settlement. We used a robust 1911 historical dataset that covers large geographic extent (>10,000 ha) and has unbiased sampling locations compare past current conditions ponderosa pine mixed conifer in southern Sierra Nevada. The contained records...
Abstract Following changes in vegetation structure and pattern, along with a changing climate, large wildfire incidence has increased forests throughout the western United States. Given this increase, there is great interest whether fuels treatments previous can alter fire severity patterns wildfires. We assessed relative influence of (including wildfire), weather, vegetation, water balance on fire‐severity Rim Fire 2013. did at three different spatial scales to investigate influences...
With air quality, liability, and safety concerns, prescribed burning managed wildfire are often considered impractical treatments for extensive fuels reduction in western US forests. For California's Sierra Nevada forests, we evaluated the alternative analyzed amount distribution of constraints on mechanical USDA Forest Service land. use current standards guides, feedback from practicing silviculturists, GIS databases, developed a hierarchy biological (i.e., nonproductive forest), legal...