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Project ID: 00-1-2-01

Year: 2001

Date Started: 11/20/2000

Date Completed: 06/01/2005

Title: Spatial Interactions Among Fuels, Wildfire, and Invasive Plants

Project Proposal Abstract: We propose the first standardized investigation of the relationships among fuels, wildfire severity, exotic plant invasions, and post-fire fuel flammability in grasslands, shrublands, and forests across the western US. This proposal responds to the 2000-1 Request for Proposals (RFP) authorized by the Joint Fire Science Program. We address all three items specified under Task 2 of the RFP: "(1) the influence of invasive plants on fire behavior and the processes by which invasive plant species are inhibited, stimulated and/or proliferated by wildland fire, (2) which ecosystems or vegetation types are most susceptible to invasion following fire, and (3) the effect of treatments by which invasive plants can be controlled (we focus on pre-fire fuel management)". We also address Task 3: "develop, test, and validate remote sensing tools" (spatial models, in our case) "for use in fuel mapping and inventory" (we add understory vegetation including exotic species), and "fuel and fire management planning" (e.g., risk assessment to reduce potential for exotic species invasions and/or recognize areas likely to have increased fine fuels because of exotic species). We will accomplish the proposed research through a dual approach that involves: (1) assessment of pre-fire fuel characteristics, bum severity, vegetation (native and exotic species), and post-fire flammability based on samples from multi-scale plots and (2) development of spatial prediction models to extrapolate from plot to landscape scales using remote sensing imagery and existing spatial data layers. Our results will allow risk assessments for post-fire exotic invasions by identifying relationships and feedbacks among fuels, wildfires, and exotic plants in multiple systems across the western US. This research will also complement a currently funded assessment of the effect of fuel treatments on wildfire severity through identification of possible linkages among manageable fuel conditions, fire severity, and exotic invasions.

Principal Investigator: Philip N. Omi

Agency/Organization: Omi Associates

Branch or Dept:

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	Molly E. Hunter	Northern Arizona University	School of Forestry
Co-Principal Investigator	Mohammed A. Kalkhan	Colorado State University	Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory
Co-Principal Investigator	Erik J. Martinson	MarLynn Ecological Consulting
Collaborator/Contributor	Thomas J. Stohlgren	USGS-Geological Survey	FORT-Fort Collins Science Center
Federal Cooperator	Geneva W. Chong	USGS-Geological Survey	BRD-National Elk Refuge
Federal Fiscal Representative	Carmen N. Morales	Colorado State University	Sponsored Programs

Project Locations

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Project Deliverables

Final Report ("Results presented in JFSP Final Reports may not have been peer-reviewed and should be interpreted as tentative until published in a peer-reviewed source.")

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Supporting Documents

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