Cooperative Agreement L23AC00384

THREE CHALLENGES HINDER WILDFIRE MANAGEMENT: A LEGACY OF FOREST FUEL ACCUMULATION, EXPANSION OF THE WILDLAND URBAN INTERFACE (WUI), AND A CHANGING CLIMATE (SCHOENNAGEL ET AL. 2017). AMONG THESE CHALLENGES, FUEL ACCUMULATION WOULD SEEM TO LEND ITSELF MOST READILY TO ACTION. FUEL TREATMENTS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO EFFECTIVELY CHANGE FIRE BEHAVIOR IN EMPIRICAL STUDIES (TUBBESING ET AL. 2019, WIMBERLY ET AL. 2019) AND SIMULATION MODELS (MCCAULEY ET AL. 2019, LOEHMAN ET AL. 2018), WHERE SIMULATION MODELS SUGGEST THAT AS LITTLE AS 1-2 OF LAND TREATED PER YEAR COULD REDUCE HIGH-SEVERITY FIRE (FINNEY ET AL. 2007). HOWEVER, STUDIES ON OPTIMAL TREATMENT PLACEMENT AND TIMING ARE CRITICALLY NEEDED. IN PARTICULAR, A SYNTHESIS ON THE STATE OF THE FUEL TREATMENT LITERATURE (JAIN ET AL. 2019) STATES RESEARCH IS NEEDED IN UNDERREPRESENTED ECOSYSTEMS AND UNDERDEVELOPED TOPICS INCLUDING... SIMULATION STUDIES THAT EXAMINE CONDITIONS EXPECTED UNDER FUTURE CLIMATE SCENARIOS (JAIN ET AL. 2019). WE PROPOSE TO ADDRESS THE ABOVE CHALLENGES THROUGH AN ASSESSMENT OF SIMULATED FUEL TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS COMBINED WITH THE EFFECTS OF CLIMATE AND LAND USE CHANGE ON WILDFIRE REGIME CHANGE, PROPERTY RISK, BIODIVERSITY, AND CARBON STORAGE. IN JAIN ET AL. (2019) S REVIEW OF THERE WERE NO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA STUDIES OF FUEL EFFECTIVENESS IN MONTANE FORESTS, DESPITE THE FACT THAT OVER A THIRD (24) OF THE 65 HIGH RISK FIRESHEDS IN CALIFORNIA ARE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA S FORESTS AND SHRUBLANDS (USFS WILDFIRE CRISIS IMPLEMENTATION PLAN).