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Ecological
and Economic Impacts of Wildfire and Fire
Mitigation
McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry
Research Program Proposal
D.W. Johnson, G.C. van Kooten, R.F. Walker,
W.W. Miller, J. Englin
NON-TECHNICAL PROJECT SUMMARY
The threat and incidence of catastrophic wildfire
in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains has
been greatly increased in recent years by
past fire suppression that has caused an unnatural
buildup of fuels. Catastrophic wildfire is
inevitable if this situation is not corrected.
Wildfire not only results in the loss of valuable
timber resources and aesthetic and recreational
values, but also results in the long-term
deterioration of soil fertility. Furthermore,
the true costs of wildfire – including
long-term potential losses in soil fertility
and loss of life – have yet to be accurately
assessed. Mitigation of wildfire danger will
require the removal of excess biomass either
by prescribed fire or harvesting, or a combination
of both. These options will likely have undesirable
effects on water and/or air quality and will
prove expensive to implement – perhaps
prohibitively expensive unless the true costs
of wildfire are taken into account. These
costs are unknown because of uncertainty related
to the incidence and intensity of fire. The
objectives of this project are to assess the
effects of prescribed fire and wildfire on
forest health, soils, and water quality. It
will also include an economic assessment.
The proposed project will build on the existing
McIntire-Stennis project (Biomass Management
in Forests of the Tahoe Basin: Effects on
Forest Health, Soil Fertility, and Water Quality;
R.B. Walker, D.W. Johnson, W.W. Miller, and
G.J. Blomquist, S.W. Tyler, and T.R. Harris)
to include an additional site with differing
vegetation and soil type common in the eastern
Sierra Nevada mountains. This project will
produce refereed journal publications, presentations
at national meetings, and includes a plan
for the dissemination of project findings
to extension clientele. This project will
employ five undergraduate students and one
graduate student annually as research assistants/interns
dedicated to field data collection, laboratory
analyses, data management, and information
retrieval. Return
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Biomass
Management in Tahoe Basin Forests: Forest Health,
Soil Productivity and Water Quality
McIntire-Stennis Cooperative Forestry Research
Program Proposal
R.F. Walker, D.W. Johnson, W.W. Miller, S.W. Tyler,
T.R. Harris, E.G. Smith
NON-TECHNICAL PROJECT SUMMARY
The dominant vegetation at the mid elevations
of the eastern Sierra Nevada, including the Lake
Tahoe Basin, is mixed conifer forest. Primary
species include Jeffrey and ponderosa pine among
the yellow pines, sugar pine, which is a white
pine, true firs consisting of either white or
red fir, and incense-cedar. Currently, the most
prevalent species is white fir, which is a substantial
divergence from the historical norm. Because of
the ability of this species to persist in the
shade of an overstory canopy, combined with selective
harvesting of the yellow and white pines during
the Comstock era and fire exclusion during much
of the 20th century, white fir has come to dominate
many eastern Sierra Nevada forests. Consequently,
mixed conifer stands today, in addition to an
excessively high proportion of fir, contain fewer
trees of the more valuble species, large numbers
of small stems, and relatively high canopy closure.
This retards the growth of healthy stands, diminishes
wildlife habitat, and reduces water yield. Furthermore,
white fir is a fragile species under stress conditions,
especially drought, because of its shallow root
system, and it is particularly susceptible to
bark beetle attack. These characteristics predispose
mixed conifer stands dominated by white fir to
excessive mortality, which in turn elevates fuel
loading. Consequently, wildfire behavior in the
eastern Sierra Nevada has tended to change over
time from low-intensity ground fire to catastrophic
stand-replacement fires.
Understory thinnings in mixed conifer stands,
targeting white fir, can potentially provide the
benefits of improved forest health, wildfire suppression,
increased water yield, and enhanced wildlife habitat.
Also, because this practice produces biomass which
is suitable as an alternative energy feedstock,
a monetary return on the investment can be realized
which offsets the costs of implementation. Prescribed
fire in the form of underburning in these stands
may, with the exception of the alternative energy
feedstock, provide many of the same benefits.
Prior to widespread use, however, a better understanding
of the impacts of these management practices on
stand health and productivity, nutrient cycling,
and water quality and yield, plus an assessment
of economic feasibility, is needed.
The proposed project, which will incorporate the
two management practices indicated above in an
experimentally valid design, will be located on
the Nevada side of the Lake Tahoe Basin. It will
encompass investigations of the impacts of these
practices on 1) forest health and productivity,
2) nutrient cycling and soil fertility, 3) sedimentation
and nutrient transport in surface runoff, 4) monetary
costs and benefits, and 5) public perceptions
relating to resource policy implementation. This
project addresses the Nevada Agricultural Experiment
Station Research Priority entitled ìRangelands
and Natural Resources Managementî and will
provide much needed direction for the development
of best management practices for forested landscapes
in the Lake Tahoe Basin and eastern Sierra Nevada.
Return
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Ecosystem
and Socio-Economic Impact of Biomass Adaptive
Management Strategies in the Lake Tahoe Basin
W.W. Miller (PI), D.W. Johnson, R.F. Walker
NON-TECHNICAL PROJECT SUMMARY
The dominant vegetation at the mid elevations
of the eastern Sierra Nevada, including the Lake
Tahoe Basin, is mixed conifer forest. Primary
species include Jeffrey and ponderosa pine among
the yellow pines, sugar pine (which is a white
pine), true firs consisting of either white or
red fir, and incense cedar. Currently, the most
prevalent species is white fir, which is a substantial
divergence from the historical norm. Because of
the ability of this species to persist in the
shade of an overstory canopy, combined with selective
harvesting of the yellow and white pines during
the Comstock era and fire exclusion during much
of the 20th century, white fir has come to dominate
many Sierra Nevada forests. Consequently, mixed
conifer stands today, in addition to an excessively
high proportion of fir, contain fewer trees of
the more valuable species, large numbers of small
stems, and relatively high canopy closure. This
retards the growth of healthy stands, diminishes
wildlife habitat, and reduces water yield. Furthermore,
white fir is a fragile species under stress conditions
(especially drought) because of its shallow root
system, and it is particularly susceptible to
bark beetle attack. These characteristics predispose
mixed conifer stands dominated by white fir to
excessive mortality, which in turn elevates fuel
loading. Consequently, wildfire behavior has tended
to change over time from low-intensity ground
fire to catastrophic stand-replacement fires.
Understory thinnings in mixed conifer stands that
target white fir can potentially provide the benefits
of improved forest health, wildfire suppression,
increased water yield, and enhanced wildlife habitat.
Because this practice produces biomass, which
is suitable as an alternative energy feedstock,
a monetary return on the investment can be realized
may offset the costs of implementation. Prescribed
fire in the form of underburning in these stands
may, with the exception of the alternative energy
feedstock, provide many of the same benefits.
Prior to widespread use, however, a better understanding
of the impacts of these adaptive management practices
on stand health and productivity, nutrient cycling,
and water quality and yield, along with an assessment
of economic feasibility, is needed.
The proposed project incorporates the two management
practices in an experimentally valid design, and
will be located on the Nevada side of the Lake
Tahoe Basin. It will encompass investigations
of the impacts of these practices on: 1) forest
health and productivity, 2) nutrient cycling and
soil fertility, 3) sedimentation and nutrient
transport in surface runoff, 4) monetary costs
and benefits, and 5) public perceptions relating
to resource adaptive management implementation.
This project addresses the Nevada Agricultural
Experiment Station Research Priority entitled
Rangelands and Natural Resources Management and
will provide much needed direction for the development
of adaptive management practices for forested
landscapes in the Lake Tahoe Basin and eastern
Sierra Nevada.Return
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Kings River and Lake Tahoe Basin: Demonstration
Sites for Fuel Treatments
Joint Fire Science Program
C.T. Hunsaker (1), K. Purcell (1), D. Kohut (2),
Ray Porter (2)
(1) Pacific
Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service.
(2) Sierra
National Forest, USDA Forest Service.
ABSTRACT
We propose to develop prescribed fire, thinning,
and control demonstration sites in ponderosa pine
and mixed conifer forest types in the southern
Sierra Nevada (Sierra National Forest) and in
mixed conifer forest in the Lake Tahoe Basin.
These two sites will be used to monitor changes
in wildlife abundance and productivity, snags,
stream flow and chemistry, nutrient cycling, soil
physical properties, and vegetation before and
after fuels treatments. We have two main objectives:
establish easily accessible demonstration sites
with interpretative materials for the public and
perform designed and replicated research at these
sites. These objectives match well with the proposed
Cohesive Strategy, "Protecting People and
Sustaining Resources in Fire-Adapted Ecosystems"
(Forest Service 2000). This proposal allows for
integration of plot and landscape scale treatments
for vegetation, soil and nutrient measurements.
Interpretative signs will be posted and the sites
will be available for public viewing for a minimum
of 15 years. The Kings River Sustainable Forest
Ecosystem Project currently conducts 6-8 field
trips a year to discuss activities on the Administrative
Study and to demonstrate fuels treatments to state
and federal agencies, research scientists, elected
officials, and environmental and other interested
groups. Such outreach activities are expected
to increase with the development of the Museum
of the Central Sierra at Shaver Lake. The Kings
River site will serve a large California Central
Valley population (city of Fresno 400,000, Fresno
county 761,000 people). The Lake Tahoe site,on
the southeast shore of the lake, is close to the
population centers of State Line, Nevada, and
South Lake Tahoe, California; two areas that draw
many visitors for recreation. Researchers at this
site plan to work with the Nevada Cooperative
Extension; educational outreach will occur for
K-12 and undergraduates. The Tahoe site is an
example of an urban/wildland interface while the
Kings River site has multiple ownerships including
rural subdivisions and industry. This research
will support the Sierra Nevada Framework Project
and brings together a diverse set of collaborators:
Pacific Southwest Research Station and Sierra
National Forest within the Forest Service, University
of California, Southern California Edison, University
of Nevada, Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station,
Nevada Cooperative Extension, and the Nevada Department
of Conservation and Natural Resources. Return
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COLLABORATORS
Karen Bagne, Ph.D. student, University of California,
Riverside, CA
Sean Eagan, PSW hydrologist, Fresno, CA
Dave McCandliss, fuels officer, Sierra National
Forest, Prather, CA
John Mount, manager of Forest Resources, Corporate
Real Estate, Southern California Edison, Shaver
Lake, CA
John Rotenberry, professor of Biology, University
of California, Riverside, CA
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University of Nevada, Reno
