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Fire suppression is the primary management response to wildfires in many areas globally. By removing less-extreme wildfires, this approach ensures that remaining wildfires burn under more extreme conditions. Here, we term this the “suppression bias” and use a simulation model to highlight how this bias fundamentally impacts wildfire activity, independent of fuel accumulation and climate change. We illustrate how attempting to suppress all wildfires necessarily means that fires will burn with more severe and less diverse ecological impacts, with burned area increasing at faster rates than expected from fuel accumulation or climate change. Over a human lifespan, the modeled impacts of the suppression bias exceed those...
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As wildfire activity surges in the western U.S., managers are increasingly challenged by decisions surrounding managing post-fire environments.Changing fire regimes and warmer,drier post-fire conditions are increasing the likelihood of post-fire vegetation transitions, for example,from forest to grassland. Given the economic and ecological importance of these ecosystems, transformation is a concern for managers, policy-makers, and the public. As rapid environmental changes occur, management aimed at maintaining historical conditions will become increasingly untenable, requiring managers to make decisions that steward vegetation toward desired or novel conditions. The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework provides...
Categories: Project;
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OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
OGC WMS Service;
Tags: 2022,
CASC,
Data Visualization & Tools,
Data Visualization & Tools,
Drought, Fire and Extreme Weather, All tags...
Drought, Fire and Extreme Weather,
Fire,
Fire,
Forests,
Forests,
Landscapes,
Landscapes,
Northwest,
Northwest CASC,
Plants,
Plants,
Projects by Region,
Science Tools for Managers,
Science Tools for Managers,
Wildlife and Plants,
Wildlife and Plants, Fewer tags
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Increasing wildfire activity in the western US poses profound risks for human communities and ecological systems. Recent fire years are characterized not only by expanding area burned but also explosive fire growth. In 2020, several fires grew by >100,000 acres within a 24-hour period. Extreme single-day fire spread events such as these are poorly understood but disproportionately responsible for wildfire impacts: just the top 1% of fire spread events account for 20% of annual area burned. Extreme events are linked to warmer and drier conditions, and we project that their frequency could double under future climate. Extreme fire spread events defy suppression and overcome traditional fuels reductions treatments,...
Categories: Project;
Types: Map Service,
OGC WFS Layer,
OGC WMS Layer,
OGC WMS Service;
Tags: 2022,
CASC,
Data Visualization & Tools,
Data Visualization & Tools,
Drought, Fire and Extreme Weather, All tags...
Drought, Fire and Extreme Weather,
Fire,
Fire,
Forests,
Forests,
Landscapes,
Landscapes,
Plants,
Plants,
Projects by Region,
Science Tools for Managers,
Science Tools for Managers,
Southwest,
Southwest CASC,
Wildlife and Plants,
Wildlife and Plants, Fewer tags
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