Publications
The USGS fire science mission is to produce and deliver the best available scientific information, tools, and products to support land and emergency management by individuals and organizations at all levels. Below are USGS publications associated with our fire science portfolio.
Filter Total Items: 301
Expected warning times from the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system for earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest
The ShakeAlert® earthquake early warning system has been live since October 2019 for the testing of public alerting to mobile devices in California and will soon begin testing this modality in Oregon and Washington. The Pacific Northwest presents new challenges and opportunities for ShakeAlert owing to the different types of earthquakes that occur in the Cascadia subduction zone. Many locations in
Authors
Jeffrey J. McGuire, Deborah E. Smith, Arthur D. Frankel, Erin A. Wirth, Sara K. McBride, Robert M. de Groot
Sagebrush conservation strategy—Challenges to sagebrush conservation
The sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) biome, its wildlife, and the services and benefits it provides people and local communities are at risk. Development in the sagebrush biome, for many purposes, has resulted in multiple and often cumulative negative impacts. These impacts, ranging from simple habitat loss to complex, interactive changes in ecosystem function, continue to accelerate even as the need gr
Authors
Thomas E. Remington, Patricia A. Deibert, Steve E. Hanser, Dawn M. Davis, Leslie A. Robb, Justin L. Welty
Weather and distance to fire refugia limit landscape‐level occurrence of fungal disease in an exotic annual grass
The enemy release hypothesis proposes that invasion by exotic plant species is driven by their release from natural enemies (i.e. herbivores and pathogens) in their introduced ranges. However, in many cases, natural enemies, which may be introduced or managed to regulate invasive species, may fail to impact target host populations. Landscape heterogeneity, which can affect both the population dyna
Authors
Cara Applestein, Allison Barbara Simler-Williamson, Matthew J. Germino
Detecting shrub recovery in sagebrush steppe: Comparing Landsat-derived maps with field data on historical wildfires
BackgroundThe need for basic information on spatial distribution and abundance of plant species for research and management in semiarid ecosystems is frequently unmet. This need is particularly acute in the large areas impacted by megafires in sagebrush steppe ecosystems, which require frequently updated information about increases in exotic annual invaders or recovery of desirable perennials. Rem
Authors
Cara Applestein, Matthew Germino
Patterns of conifer invasion following prescribed fire in grasslands and oak woodlands of Redwood National Park, California
The invasion, or “encroachment”, of native conifers commonly occurs in the absence of frequent fire in deciduous woodlands and grasslands of the Pacific Northwest, USA. To effectively target restoration activities, managers require a better understanding of the outcomes of prescribed fire and the spatial patterns of conifer invasions. We examined the duration of prescribed fire effectiveness for c
Authors
Phillip J. van Mantgem, Micah C. Wright, Eamon A Engber
Would you like to know more? The effect of personalized wildfire risk information and social comparisons on information-seeking behavior in the wildland–urban interface
Private landowners are important actors in landscape-level wildfire risk management. Accordingly, wildfire programs and policy encourage wildland–urban interface homeowners to engage with local organizations to properly mitigate wildfire risk on their parcels. We investigate whether parcel-level wildfire risk assessment data, commonly used to inform community-level planning and resource allocation
Authors
James Meldrum, Hannah Brenkert-Smith, Patricia A. Champ, Jamie Gomez, Hilary Byerly, Lilia C. Falk, Christopher M. Barth
Forecasting the frequency and magnitude of postfire debris flows across southern California
Southern California has a long history of damaging debris flows after wildfire. Despite recurrent loss, forecasts of the frequency and magnitude of postfire debris flows are not available for the region like they are for earthquakes. Instead, debris flow hazards are typically assessed in a reactive manner after wildfires. Such assessments are crucial for evaluating debris flow risk by postfire eme
Authors
Jason W. Kean, Dennis M. Staley
Contrasting prescription burning and wildfires in California Sierra Nevada national parks and adjacent national forests
History of prescription burning and wildfires in the three Sierra Nevada National Park Service (NPS) parks and adjacent US Forest Service (USFS) forests is presented. Annual prescription (Rx) burns began in 1968 in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, followed by Yosemite National Park and Lassen Volcanic National Park. During the last third of the 20th century, USFS national forests adjacent
Authors
Jon Keeley, Anne Hopkins Pfaff, Anthony C. Caprio
American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)
American black bears (Ursus americanus) are endemic to North America, having speciated from other ursids some 1.2 to 1.8 million years ago (Kurtn & Anderson 1994). During that time, black bears came to occupy nearly all of the forested areas of the North American continent. Historically, black bears were one of the most important mammals to indigenous peoples of North America by providing food, fa
Authors
Joseph D. Clark, Jon P. Beckmann, Mark S. Boyce, Bruce D Leopold, Michael R. Pelton
Distribution and abundance of Least Bell's Vireos and Southwestern Willow Flycatchers on the middle San Luis Rey River, San Diego County, southern California—2020 data summary
We surveyed for Least Bell’s Vireos (Vireo bellii pusillus; vireo) and Southwestern Willow Flycatchers (Empidonax traillii extimus; flycatcher) along the San Luis Rey River, between College Boulevard in Oceanside and Interstate 15 in Fallbrook, California (middle San Luis Rey River), in 2020. Surveys were conducted from April 13 to July 13 (vireo) and from May 14 to July 13 (flycatcher). We found
Authors
Lisa D. Allen, Barbara E. Kus
Simulating hydrologic effects of wildfire on a small sub-alpine watershed in New Mexico, U.S.
Streamflow records available before and after wildfire in a small, mixed conifer, sub-alpine monsoonal dominated watershed in New Mexico provided a unique opportunity to calibrate a watershed model (PRMS) for pre- and postfire conditions. The calibrated model was then used to simulate the hydrologic effects of fire. Simulated postfire surface runoff averaged 14.7 times greater than prefire for the
Authors
C. David Moeser, Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin
Native American fire management at an ancient wildland–urban interface in the Southwest United States
The intersection of expanding human development and wildland landscapes—the “wildland–urban interface” or WUI—is one of the most vexing contexts for fire management because it involves complex interacting systems of people and nature. Here, we document the dynamism and stability of an ancient WUI that was apparently sustainable for more than 500 y. We combine ethnography, archaeology, paleoecology
Authors
Christopher Roos, Thomas W. Swetnam, T. J. Ferguson, Matthew J. Liebmann, Rachel A. Loehman, John Welch, Ellis Margolis, Christopher H. Guiterman, William Hockaday, Michael Aiuvalasit, Jenna Battillo, Joshua Farella, Christopher Kiahtipes