ERRAKINA: PASTORAL FIRE USE AND LANDSCAPE MEMORY IN THE BASQUE REGION OF THE FRENCH WESTERN PYRENEES

People in the French Western Pyrenees have used fire for millennia in order to shape and manage landscapes. This history has left cultural and ecological legacies that both reflect and ensure the relative persistence of landscape patterns and processes. In this paper I draw on ethnographic research, ethnohistorical evidence, and Bayesian spatial analyses of historical fire use locations and land use maps to shed some light on human-firelandscape dynamics in the Pyrenees for the years 1830 to 2011. I show how cultural and ecological legacies reflect a self-organized fire management regime that emerges from fire use driven by the production goals of individual households. I frame the self-organizing dynamic inherent in Pyrenean pastoral fire use as ''landscape memory.'' This conclusion has implications for the future direction of fire-related conservation policy for the Pyrenees and for analogous systems characterized by self-organized land management regimes. Key words: fire use, fire management, historical ecology, landscape memory, French Western Pyrenees Dans les Pyrénées occidentales françaises, le feu est utilisé depuis des millénaires pour la gestion des paysages. Cette histoire a laissé un héritage culturel et écologique qui se reflète dans les paysages actuels et qui garantit leur persistance relative. Dans cet article, je m'appuie sur des recherches ethnographiques et ethnohistoriques, sur des analyses spatiales bayésiennes du feu pastoral ainsi que sur des cartes d'usages des sols pour éclairer les relations entre anthropisation, feu et paysage dans les Pyrénées entre 1830 et 2011. Je démontre comment cet héritage culturel et écologique reflète un régime de feu auto-géré. Ce régime se caractérise par une utilisation du feu motivée par les objectifs de production des fermes. Je montre comment cette auto-gestion inhérente à la pratique du feu pastoral a contribué à la formation d'une « mémoire du paysage » dans les Pyrénées. Cette conclusion a des implications pour l'orientation future des politiques de conservation associées au feu dans les Pyrénées, ainsi que pour d'autres systèmes également caractérisés par des régimes auto-gérés

Oregon Department of Forestry's Landscape Resiliency Program : assessing the project selection process for the 2021-2023 biennium

35 pagesThe Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) Landscape Resiliency Program (LRP) is a grant program to support cross-boundary restoration of landscape resiliency and fuels reduction within Oregon. In fall 2021, ODF requested the Ecosystem Workforce Program (EWP) at the University of Oregon (UO) devise and carry out a plan for monitoring investments and outcomes of the LRP. LRP monitoring focuses on three stages– Project Selection, Implementation, and Outcomes. The purpose of this working paper is to report the results of the Project Selection monitoring phase. This report presents 1) stakeholders’ experiences with the LRP program development, application process, and project selection, 2) characterization of grantee organizations, and 3) characterization of project geographies.Funding for this study was provided by the Oregon Department of Forestry to the University of Oregon’s Ecosystem Workforce Program (Agreement number M0177, Task order #5)

Federal Forest Restoration Program use of the Good Neighbor Authority : 2016-2021 activities and outcomes

2 pagesRestoration is a pressing need across Oregon’s forests—over 7 million acres are experiencing declining forest health and are at elevated risk of large and destructive wildfires. Oregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) Federal Forest Restoration Program partners with federal agencies to restore and steward these important lands to enhance and protect the valuable benefits they provide for Oregonians. ODF supports three key elements of restoration: Planning – Implementation – Monitoring, all integral to restoring land in an ecologically sound, scientific manner. This fact sheet summarizes the results of ODF’s efforts to increase the pace, scale and quality of restoration on federal lands in Oregon.Funded by Oregon Department of Forestry

Federal Forest Restoration Program update : 2016-2022 activities and outcomes

4 pagesOregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) Federal Forest Restoration (FFR) Program is continuing its work partnering with federal land managers, who manage 60% of Oregon’s forests, to address the 5.6 million acres of Oregon’s forests in need of landscape treatments to reduce threats such as insect, disease, and stand-replacing wildfire, and create economic opportunities and jobs in the natural resources sector. With 65% of the highest risk acres occurring on federal lands, efforts to create landscapes resilient to disturbance must involve federal lands in a meaningful way. This report summarizes the state’s activities to mitigate the effects of severe wildfires and create healthy federal forests in Oregon. The report also fulfills the requirement of ORS 526.276 to report activities and outcomes of ODF’s work on federal forestlands in Oregon.Funded by Oregon Department of Forestry

Biospheric Monitoring and Ecological Forecasting

The latest generation of NASA Earth Observing System (EOS) satellites has brought a new dimension to monitoring the living part of the Earth system - the biosphere. EOS data can now measure weekly global productivity of plants and ocean chlorophyll and of related biophysical factors, such as changes to land cover and to the rate of snowmelt. However, the greatest economic impact would be realized by forecasting biosphere conditions. This predictive ability would be an advanced decision-making tool used to mitigate dangers or to exploit positive trends

The social-ecological landscape of herding on the high mountain commons of Larrau in the western Pyrenees (France)

IntroductionMuch has been written about herding, pastoralism and the ethos of the commons that persists in Soule and the valley republics of the western Pyrenees. However, more has been written about the idealized norms of the practice than the social dynamics of alliance formation on which cooperation in herding on the high mountain commons in Soule has depended for centuries. We use empirical evidence from the parish-commune of Larrau to analyze the emergence, social alliance, and landscape placement of Cayolar, a syndicate of herders associated with a named inholding within the high mountain commons, to inform our understanding of the process of settling down in the western Pyrenees.MethodsWe abstract the institutional features of herding in the Soule Valley then proceed with a (1) Bayesian analysis of calibrated radiocarbon dates from herding sites across the commons, (2) a Bayesian social network analysis of herders and other alliance-relevant information, and (3) a landscape analysis of the placement of Cayolar inholdings.ResultsA syndicate of herders organized as a Cayolar succeed by following mutually agreed upon rules, making credible commitments to each other, and monitoring members' conformance to the rules. The organizational performance of a Cayolar depends on the articulation of herders to the members of the Soule community of interest through nested levels of institutional decision-making. Archaeological, historical and ethnographic results provide direct evidence for use of Cayolar structures and inholdings by c. 1000 CE and the institutional and organizational aspects of decision-making by c. 1100 CE.DiscussionThe Cayolar is an enduring place-based organization with an average use-span of c. 850 years. Members have a regulatory interest in enforcing the collaboration of others in collective herding and little incentive to defect since unlike Hardin's herders, Cayolar members share a past and expect to share a future as members of the Soule community of interest. Íñigo Arista established the Basque kingdom of Navarra in 824 CE, and his donations contributed to the founding of the Benedictine monastery of Leyre that established a pastoral enterprise at Betzula within the Soule Valley. Other monastic orders soon turned their attention to the western Pyrenees responding to attempts by the Catholic Church to counter civil unrest in southern France. The real turning point for collective herding on the high mountain commons was the introduction of primordial fueros on the Iberian side of the Pyrenees. These direct royal agreements with freemen encouraged resettlement and repopulation of the western Pyrenees and provided the means for local communities of interest to coalesce and develop institutions to organize the collective effort of individuals for the benefit of a group

Asymmetric warming over coastal California and its impact on the premium wine industry

Climatic changes over coastal California from 1951 to 1997 may have benefited the premium wine industry, as seen in higher quality wines and larger grape yields. Observed temperature warming trends were asymmetric, with greatest warming at night and during spring. Warming was associated with large increases in eastern Pacific sea surface temperatures (SST) and amounts of atmospheric water vapor. Although the average annual temperature warming trend was modest (1.13°C/47 yr), there was a 20 d reduction in frost occurrence and a 65 d increase in frost-free growing season length. In the Napa and Sonoma valleys, warmer winter and spring temperatures advanced the start of the growing season by 18 to 24 d, and enhanced atmospheric water vapor resulted in a 7 % reduction in evaporative demand. Given the strong coupling between Pacific SSTs and the coastal California climate, and because regional-scale SSTs persist for 6 to 12 mo, additional research may allow the possibility of predicting vintage quantity and quality from previous winter conditions

Federal Forest Restoration Program update : 2016-2024 activities and outcomes

4 pagesOregon Department of Forestry’s (ODF) Federal Forest Restoration (FFR) Program looks forward to playing a role in implementing Oregon’s 20-year Landscape Resiliency Strategy, which has identified over five million acres of forestland as a top priority for treatment due to high wildfire risk, and other ecological and social factors. 57% of these priority geographies are under federal jurisdiction. The FFR Program’s federal partnership and work with forest collaboratives will play a key role in helping realize the strategy. The work of the FFR Program is also guided by the Oregon state law ORS 526.275 which created “…the policy of the state to pursue projects under the [Good Neighbor Authority] that increase timber harvest volume, contribute to job creation, reduce wildfire risks to all lands, improve wildlife habitat and watershed health, and stimulate local economies.” For this biennium, the FFR Program will be releasing four fact sheets roughly every six months containing program updates, activities and outcomes instead of one comprehensive monitoring report released prior to the end of the biennium. After June 30, 2025, the program will publish a comprehensive report that captures all activities within the 2023-25 biennium.Funded by Oregon Department of Forestry

Oregon Wildfire Smoke Communications and Impacts: An Evaluation of the 2020 Wildfire Season

50 pagesOregon Health Authority and the University of Oregon partnered to conduct a survey-based evaluation of wildfire smoke communications and impacts experienced by Oregon residents during the 2020 wildfire season. The purpose of this survey was to (1) understand how Oregonians respond to wildfire smoke and (2) provide an open-source evaluation tool and data to support wildfire smoke communication practitioners in Oregon. This evaluation is intended to guide improvement of public risk communication, programs, and recommendations. This document is intended to inform practitioners and staff at public agencies (public health, emergency management, natural resource management), academics, and community members about key findings and recommendations from the survey related to: 1. patterns and correlations surrounding information sources and needs. 2. patterns around health behaviors related to preventing smoke exposure. 3. information relevant for raising awareness and preparedness of specific risk groups. 4. potential areas and questions for future research