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Project ID:

25-1-01-33

Year:

2025

Date Started:

10/01/2025

Date Completed:

Title:

Assessing reburn potential in the Klamath Mountains using field calibrated fuelbed characteristics

Project Proposal Abstract:

1. Proposal Purpose and Objectives
Recurring high-severity wildfires in the Klamath Mountains underscore the need to better understand reburn potential in post-fire landscapes. Current landscape fuel models poorly represent early-seral fuel and vegetation conditions, limiting their utility in fire behavior modeling. This research will use field-calibrated fuel recovery estimates and fire behavior modeling to evaluate burn probability across a 2–28-year post-fire chronosequence. Objectives include determining how reburn potential varies over time and identifying relationships between reburn potential and fire size, slope position, and adjacent fuels. We hypothesize reburn potential following high-severity fire will be initially low, then rise above landscape averages, peaking between 15 and 20 years.

2. Activities to be Performed
Custom fuel models will be developed from field calibrated fuelbed characteristics and used in landscape-scale burn probability simulations. Simulations, performed across five analysis areas under representative fire weather scenarios, will provide estimates of burn probability and potential fire behavior. Comparative analysis between custom fuel models and standard LANDFIRE fuel models, along with comparisons to historical reburn patterns, will provide further context for results.

3. Expected Deliverables
Deliverables include a peer-reviewed manuscript submission, and a concise management brief distributed to key stakeholders. Findings will be presented at the International Fire Ecology and Management Congress, and a final report with metadata will be submitted to the Joint Fire Science Program database. Additionally, an interactive ArcGIS Story Map will publicly communicate findings.

4. Benefits
The research will directly support public land management and emergency response by improving predictions of reburn risk, aiding strategic placement of fuel treatments, and guiding restoration efforts to promote resilient forests. Additionally, field calibrated fuelbed characteristics can be used to inform landscape-scale estimates of fuel conditions for future work in research and incident management.

Principal Investigator:

Jeffrey M. Kane

Agency/Organization:

Humboldt State University

Branch or Dept:

Department of Forestry & Wildland Resources

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Agreements Contact	Angela Turner	Humboldt State University	Department of Biological Sciences
Agreements Contact	Pia O. Gabriel	Humboldt State University	Sponsored Programs Foundation
Budget Contact	Pia O. Gabriel	Humboldt State University	Sponsored Programs Foundation
Student Investigator	Joseph Nicholas	Humboldt State University	Department of Forestry & Wildland Resources