Modeling the effects of fire management alternatives on Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forests
Miller C and Urban DL. 2000. Modeling the effects of fire management alternatives on Sierra Nevada mixed-conifer forests. Ecological Applications. 10(1):85-94
Decades of fire exclusion have led to hazardous fuel accumulations and the deterioration of fire-dependant ecosystems, particularly in the American West. Managers are striving to return the ecological role of fire to many ecosystems and would benefit from a much better understanding of how forest structure and composition might change if fires were reintroduced. A forest gap model was used, which was developed for forests in the Sierra Nevada, CA, that integrates climate, fire, and forest dynamics to investigate forest response to changes in the fire regime. The model simulates a spatially heterogeneous fuel bed that is responsive to changes in forest condition, making it well suited for examining alternative management approaches for restoring Sierra Nevada forests after a century of fire exclusion. Presuppresion forest basal area, species composition, and spatial autocorrelation structure were restored quickly, if simulated disturbances that caused substantial tree mortality were reintroduced. Simulations of harvest induced the highest levels of mortality and, thus, most effectively restored forest structure and composition. However, prescribed fires were just as effective in restoring forest structure and composition if they were sufficiently severe.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Miller, Carol; Urban, Dean
- Units
- SIEN
- Keywords
- Fire (Behavior Ecology Effects), fire exclusion, fire reintroduction, Fire Suppression, forest gap model, fuel treatment, mixed conifer forest, prescribed fires and forest restoration, Sierra Nevada California, Spatial autocorrelation, structure vs. process debate