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Project ID: 09-3-01-68

Year: 2009

Date Started: 05/29/2009

Date Completed: 01/18/2012

Title: Can Climate Change Increase Fire Severity Independent of Fire Intensity?

Project Proposal Abstract: We propose to test the idea that climate may affect forest fire severity independent of fire intensity. Pervasive warming can lead to chronic stress on forest trees (McDowell et al. 2008, Raffa et al. 2008), resulting in higher sensitivity to fire-induced damage (van Mantgem et al. 2003). Thus, there may be ongoing increases in fire severity (the number of trees killed), even when there is no change in fire intensity (the amount of heat released during a fire). We will consider this question at a subcontinental scale by synthesizing existing information from plot-based prescribed fire monitoring databases across the western United States of America (USA). Prescribed fire data are particularly well suited to exploring the relationship between climate and fire severity because prescription burns are conducted over a relatively narrow range of fire weather but over a potentially wide range of inter-annual climatic conditions. Results of this study will determine the role of climate on fire severity. Relationships developed here will also help managers predict changes in fire severity from large-scale climatic anomalies (e.g., ENSO, PDO) and from secular trends in climate.

Principal Investigator: Phillip J. van Mantgem

Agency/Organization: USGS-Geological Survey

Branch or Dept: WERC-Redwood Field Station

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	MaryBeth J. Keifer	NPS-National Park Service	Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks
Co-Principal Investigator	Robert C. Klinger	USGS-Geological Survey	BRD-Biological Resources Division
Co-Principal Investigator	Eric E. Knapp	Forest Service	PSW-Silviculture Lab-Redding
Federal Cooperator	Phillip J. van Mantgem	USGS-Geological Survey	WERC-Redwood Field Station
Federal Fiscal Representative	Cindy C. Lu	USGS-Geological Survey	WERC-Western Ecological Research Center HQ

Project Locations

Consortium

California

Northern Rockies

Northwest

Southern Rockies

Southwest

Level	State	Agency	Unit
REGIONAL	Interior West	FS
REGIONAL	Interior West	NPS

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.")

	ID	Type	Title
	9606	Invited Paper/Presentation	Can Climate Change Lead to Increasing Fire Severity Independent of Fire Intensity in Mediterranean Forests?
	9603	Ph.D. Dissertation	The Effect of Prescribed Fire on Sugar Pine Mortality in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (J. Nesmith)
	9605	Website	Project website.

Supporting Documents

There are no supporting documents available for this project.

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