Issues in forest restoration: Forest restoration treatments: Their effect on wildland fire suppression costs

We modeled the effects of proposed forest restoration treatments in Arizona's Four Forest Restoration Initiative (4FRI) on fire behavior characteristics and fire suppression costs. We found two significant factors that help explain total wildfire suppression costs: 1) distance from the wildfire to the wildland-urban interface and 2) the proportion of fires with high burn severity. Given our results, we estimate a range for wildland suppression costs at $706-$825 per acre for the current conditions of the 4FRI landscape. After the proposed forest restoration treatments, the suppression costs should be reduced to $287-$327 per acre for the same size fire

Seeding versus natural regeneration: a comparison of vegetation change following thinning and burning in ponderosa pine

The decision whether to seed with native species following restoration treatments should be based on existing vegetation, species present in or absent from the soil seed bank, past management history, microclimate conditions and soils. We installed three permanent monitoring plots in two areas (total 18.6 ha) at Mt. Trumbull, AZ. Trees were thinned and the sites burned in 1996 and 1997. A 5 ha area was seeded with native shrub, grass and forb species; the remaining 13.6 ha were unseeded. Pretreatment species richness ranged from none to five species per plot. We recorded 13 graminoid and eight shrub species in the seeded area, and four graminoid and four shrub species in the unseeded area. The greatest increase in species richness in both seeded and unseeded plots occurred approximately 1.8 years posttreatment. Perennial native species dominated plant cover by 2.8 years, although annual native forbs dominate the soil seed bank. Perennial grasses are nearly absent from the seed bank. The seeded area had the highest diversity, but it also had twice as many nonnative species (14 versus 7 in the unseeded plots). By August 1999, maximum species richness reached 51 species on the seeded plot. Of these species, 80 percent were native. Although seeding increases diversity, it may also have the long-term tradeoff of introducing new genotypes and species, both native and nonnative

Breaking barriers, Building bridges: Collaborative forest landscape restoration handbook

Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges: Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Handbook explores the various barriers to landscape-scale, collaborative forest restoration and the innovative ways to bridge those barriers. The handbook, which is published by the ERI, features a foreword by Dr. W. Wallace Covington, chapters about collaboration, ecological economics, planning and NEPA development, multi-party monitoring, implementation, and adaptive management all within the context of landscape-scale forest restoration projects across the American West. It also chronicles pioneering ventures in large-scale, collaborative forest restoration and the emerging process that stakeholders, agencies, environmental groups, Native American tribes, and others have begun under the auspices of the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program and other collaborative efforts. While the process is an evolving one, people with diverse interests continue to work collectively under a shared goal: to restore health and resiliency to the nation's forested landscapes, while protecting people, communities, and enhancing local and regional economies