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Adding fuel to the fire: determining vegetation-specific drought timescales that enhance fuel flammability and fire potential

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By Climate Adaptation Science Centers December 31, 2023
Increasing severe drought events occurring across the Colorado Plateau can harm vegetation and create drier and more flammable fuel for wildfire. Researchers supported by this Southwest CASC project will analyze drought indices and satellite data to show how quickly after drought begins that different types of vegetation across the region show signs of health declines and increased flammability. These results will help land managers detect early signs of drought stress in plants and identify areas of high fire-risk to help make decisions and allocate resources in the region.

 

Plants on the Colorado Plateau have adaptations to withstand short dry spells, but recent severe droughts linked to climate change in the region have prompted questions about the sensitivity of different vegetation types to drought.

This project will help land managers monitor the health of the unique vegetation types on the Colorado Plateau that are crucial for wildlife habitat, cattle grazing, and human recreation. Land managers specifically need information on the timing of when declining vegetation health and increasing flammability and fire risk become evident after the onset of a drought. To address this gap, this project team will correlate drought indices, calculated over varying lengths of time, with satellite-derived metrics of vegetation health and flammability at small (map pixel) spatial scales across the entire Colorado Plateau. Such small-scale analyses will allow the detection of how different vegetation types respond to drought.

Results from this project will include maps displaying these correlations, which will be available on Climate Engine, a web-based platform for analyzing and visualizing spatial data. Each map pixel will depict the drought index and time frame when declines in vegetation health and increases in flammability become detectable. The project team will also train land managers to use these tools to spot early warning signs of unhealthy vegetation and high fire risk for timely resource allocation and improved decision making.



 

Increasing severe drought events occurring across the Colorado Plateau can harm vegetation and create drier and more flammable fuel for wildfire. Researchers supported by this Southwest CASC project will analyze drought indices and satellite data to show how quickly after drought begins that different types of vegetation across the region show signs of health declines and increased flammability. These results will help land managers detect early signs of drought stress in plants and identify areas of high fire-risk to help make decisions and allocate resources in the region.

 

Plants on the Colorado Plateau have adaptations to withstand short dry spells, but recent severe droughts linked to climate change in the region have prompted questions about the sensitivity of different vegetation types to drought.

This project will help land managers monitor the health of the unique vegetation types on the Colorado Plateau that are crucial for wildlife habitat, cattle grazing, and human recreation. Land managers specifically need information on the timing of when declining vegetation health and increasing flammability and fire risk become evident after the onset of a drought. To address this gap, this project team will correlate drought indices, calculated over varying lengths of time, with satellite-derived metrics of vegetation health and flammability at small (map pixel) spatial scales across the entire Colorado Plateau. Such small-scale analyses will allow the detection of how different vegetation types respond to drought.

Results from this project will include maps displaying these correlations, which will be available on Climate Engine, a web-based platform for analyzing and visualizing spatial data. Each map pixel will depict the drought index and time frame when declines in vegetation health and increases in flammability become detectable. The project team will also train land managers to use these tools to spot early warning signs of unhealthy vegetation and high fire risk for timely resource allocation and improved decision making.



 

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