WWETAC Projects
Project Title: Synthesis of effects of insect-caused tree mortality on fire characteristics
Principal Investigators: Jeffrey Hicke, University of Idaho/Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center, USDA Forest Service; Jane Hayes, Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station, USDA Forest Service (FS); Morris Johnson, PNW Research Station
Status: Ongoing
E-mail Contact: Jeffrey Hicke, jhicke[at]uidaho.edu
Issue/Background: Insect outbreaks are killing trees across millions of acres of forest in the US. These dead, red trees have raised public concerns about several issues, including damage to infrastructure, limitations to recreational activities, and, most prominently, wildfire. Some recent scientific studies have reported modifications to fuels following outbreaks, and fire managers and field personnel have reported cases of modified fire behavior in beetle-killed stands. However, results of scientific studies of subsequent wildfire behavior and occurrence are inconsistent. Reconciling these seemingly disparate views is key to furthering a greater understanding of these disturbance interactions.
Objectives: WWETAC has convened a review team of Forest Service and academic scientists to review the scientific understanding of this topic. The WWETAC team is surveying the scientific literature, including reports and papers in scientific journals, to update and augment existing published reviews. Most of the past reviews have focused on bark beetles; the team will also include other relevant studies of tree mortality and subsequent wildfire. In addition, the team is identifying ongoing research in this topic and listing gaps in knowledge.
Status: The team has searched databases of scientific literature and asked active researchers about current literature. Thus far, the team has assessed 37 studies that were not covered in recent reviews; most of these studies were in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. Ongoing projects or completed projects without a final report have been identified through searches of funded projects of the Joint Fire Science Program and the USDA Forest Service Special Technology Development Program and through inquiries of active researchers in the US and Canada. Fire managers and field personnel have been interviewed to identify on-the-ground observations of wildfire in insect-killed stands.
The team will produce an extensive review to be submitted to a scientific journal. This forthcoming report will include:
- a review of the scientific literature, including comparing and contrasting studies to identify assumptions and list strengths and limitations;
- field observations of fire managers and firefighters;
- effects on wildfire characteristics as well as on firefighting operations, costs, and safety;
- an analysis of information needs that span the following: fire variables (e.g., rate of spread, torching index); forest types (e.g., cool/wet, warm/dry); insect types (bark beetle versus defoliator); time since outbreak (red-attack, gray-attack, snagfall/regrowth); type of study (observational/empirical, statistical modeling, process modeling, experimental); topic (ecology/fire behavior, fire operations, firefighter safety, firefighting costs); and
- identification of gaps in knowledge for use in future project planning.
The final report will be completed in Summer 2010.
Project ID: FY10JB71
