Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team

ONLINE CLIMATE CHANGE RESOURCE CENTER

The U.S. Forest Service's three western research stations have officially launched a new online reference site for resource managers and decision makers who need information and tools to address climate change in planning and project implementation in the West. The Climate Change Resource Center (CCRC) is a site that connects climate change information generated by the Forest Service with those who need it. David L. Peterson, Don McKenzie, and several other members of the FERA team have provided both leadership and scientific expertise in the development of this website.

TESTING AND DEVELPMENT OF FCCS CONTINUES AT SAVANNAH RIVER

Investment in various developmental aspects of the Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) continues to meet the needs of Forest Service fire managers responsible for forest management at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. A new study will use the FCCS and a fuelbed building tool to construct fuelbeds and their associated fire behavior predictions. This will permit mapping and analysis of the spatial extent, distribution and continuity of fire hazard, and identify areas where fire hazard threatens infrastructure or other sensitive areas. In addition, we will compare fire hazard and surface fire behavior predicted by FCCS with values generated from FlamMap, strategic placement of treatments (SPOTS), LANDFIRE, and the southern wildfire risk assessment (SWFRA).

FERA CONNECTS CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH WITH MONARCH BUTTERFLY STUDY

In late July, FERA hosted Dr. Isabel Ramirez, one of a handful of researchers worldwide who are focused on ecosystem and land-use dynamics in the Mariposa Monarca Biosphere Reserve in the mountains of central Mexico. Don McKenzie (FERA) and Dr. Ramirez (professor of geography with the National University of Mexico) are studying the interplay of land use and disturbance, vegetation, and microclimate to better understand threats to the butterfly habitat from both human activities and climate change.

PREDICTING THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN WASHINGTON STATE

FERA is collaborating with climatologists, oceanographers, fisheries scientists, public health researchers, and social policy analysts in a multi-disciplinary study funded by the Washington State legislature to predict the effects of climate change. Don McKenzie, along with colleagues Jeremy Littell and Elaine Oneil from the University of Washington and Jeffrey Hicke from the University of Idaho, are specifically looking at the effects of climate change on fire and insect dynamics in interior forests and on the potential productivity of Douglas-fir forests across the state.

EVALUATION OF THE COMPOSITE BURN INDEX FOR ASSESSING FIRE SEVERITY IN ALASKAN BLACK SPRUCE FORESTS

An evaluation of the composite burn index in Alaskan black spruce forests indicates it may be of limited potential for quantifying fire severity in these ecosystems, in particular organic layer consumption, which is an important factor to understand how ecosystems will respond to changing climate and fire regimes in northern regions. Roger Ottmar was one of 6 authors of this article in International Journal of Wildland Fire.