Douglas McRae

Influence of logging on the effects of wildfire in Siberia

The Russian boreal zone supports a huge terrestrial carbon pool. Moreover, it is a tremendous reservoir of wood products concentrated mainly in Siberia. The main natural disturbance in these forests is wildfire, which modifies the carbon budget and has potentially important climate feedbacks. In addition, both legal and illegal logging increase landscape complexity and affect burning conditions and fuel consumption. We investigated 100 individual sites with different histories of logging and fire on a total of 23 study areas in three different regions of Siberia to evaluate the impacts of fire and logging on fuel loads, carbon emissions, and tree regeneration in pine and larch forests. We found large variations of fire and logging effects among regions depending on growing conditions and type of logging activity. Logged areas in the Angara region had the highest surface and ground fuel loads (up to 135?t?ha?1), mainly due to logging debris. This resulted in high carbon emissions where fires occurred on logged sites (up to 41?tC?ha?1). The Shushenskoe/Minusinsk and Zabaikal regions are characterized by better slash removal and a smaller amount of carbon emitted to the atmosphere during fires. Illegal logging, which is widespread in the Zabaikal region, resulted in an increase in fire hazard and higher carbon emissions than legal logging. The highest fuel loads (on average 108?t?ha?1) and carbon emissions (18?28?tC?ha?1) in the Zabaikal region are on repeatedly burned unlogged sites where trees fell on the ground following the first fire event. Partial logging in the Shushenskoe/Minusinsk region has insufficient impact on stand density, tree mortality, and other forest conditions to substantially increase fire hazard or affect carbon stocks. Repeated fires on logged sites resulted in insufficient tree regeneration and transformation of forest to grasslands. We conclude that negative impacts of fire and logging on air quality, the carbon cycle, and ecosystem sustainability could be decreased by better slash removal in the Angara region, removal of trees killed by fire in the Zabaikal region, and tree planting after fires in drier conditions where natural regeneration is hampered by soil overheating and grass proliferation.

Fire impact on carbon storage in light conifer forests of the Lower Angara region, Siberia

This study focused on structural analysis of ground carbon storage following fires in light conifer stands of the Lower Angara region (Siberia, Russia). Experimental fires of varying frontal intensity were conducted at Scots pine and mixed larch forests of southern taiga. Considerable amounts of surface and ground forest fuels (21‐38 tC ha −1 ) enhanced low- to high-intensity fires. Post-fire carbon storage decreased by 16‐49% depending on fire intensity and rate of spread, with depth of burn being 0.9‐6.6 cm. Carbon emissions varied from 4.48 to 15.89 t ha −1 depending on fire intensity and forest type. Depth of burn and carbon emissions for

Satellite remote-sensing technologies used in forest fire management

Satellite remote sensing has become a primary data source for fire danger rating prediction, fuel and fire mapping, fire monitoring, and fire ecology research. This paper summarizes the research achievements in these research fields, and discusses the future trend in the use of satellite remote-sensing techniques in wildfire management. Fuel-type maps from remote-sensing data can now be produced at spatial and temporal scales quite adequate for operational fire management applications. US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellites are being used for fire detection worldwide due to their high temporal resolution and ability to detect fires in remote regions. Results can be quickly presented on many Websites providing a valuable service readily available to fire agency. As cost-effective tools, satellite remote-sensing techniques play an important role in fire mapping. Improved remote-sensing techniques have the potential to date older fire scars and provide estimates of burn severity. Satellite remote sensing is well suited to assessing the extent of biomass burning, a prerequisite for estimating emissions at regional and global scales, which are needed for better understanding the effects of fire on climate change. The types of satellites used in fire research are also discussed in the paper. Suggestions on what remote-sensing efforts should be completed in China to modernize fire management technology in this country are given.

Biomass dynamics of central Siberian Scots pine forests following surface fires of varying severity

In 2000–2002 nine 4-ha prescribed fires of various severities were conducted on experimental plots in mature Scots pine forest in the central Siberian taiga, Russia. Total above-ground living biomass decreased after low- and moderate-severity fires by 10 and 15%, whereas high-severity fire reduced living above-ground biomass by 83%. We monitored changes in fuel structure and biomass for 6–8 years following these fires. By 6–8 years after burning the ground fuel loading had recovered to 101, 96 and 82% of pre-fire levels after fires of low-, moderate- and high-severity. Down woody fuel loading increased by 0.18±0.04kgm–2year–1. We developed regressions relating time since fire to changes in above-ground biomass components for fires of different severity for feather moss–lichen Scots pine forest of Siberia. Our results demonstrate the importance of both burn severity and composition of pre-fire surface vegetation in determining rates and patterns of post-fire vegetation recovery on dry Scots pine sites in central Siberia.

Fuel classification and mapping from satellite imagines

This paper summarizes the fuel type systems currently adopted by the fire danger rating systems or fire behavior prediction systems of some countries, such as Canada, the United States, Australia, Greece, and Switzerland. As an example, the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System organizes fuel types into five major groups, with a total of 16 discrete fuel types recognized. In the United States National Fire Danger Rating System, fuel models are divided into four vegetation groups and twenty fire behavior fuel models. The Promethus System (Greece) divides fuels into 7 types, and Australia has adopted only three distinct fuel types: open grasslands, dry eucalyptus forests, and heath/shrublands. Four approaches to mapping fuels are acceptable: field reconnaissance, direct mapping methods, indirect mapping methods, and gradient modeling. Satellite remote-sensing techniques provide an alternative source of obtaining fuel data quickly, since they provide comprehensive spatial coverage and enough temporal resolution to update fuel maps in a more efficient and timely manner than traditional aerial photography or fieldwork. Satellite sensors can also provide digital information that can be easily tied into other spatial databases using Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis, which can be used as input in fire behavior and growth models. Various fuel-mapping methods from satellite remote sensing are discussed in the paper. According to the analysis of the fuel mapping techniques worldwide, this paper suggests that China should first create appropriate fuel types for its fire agencies before embarking on developing a national fire danger rating system to improve the current data situation for its fire management programs.

Use of Forest Ecosystem Classification systems in fire management.

Forest Ecosystem Classification (FEC) systems have been used in the past mainly for forest management decision-making. FEC systems can also serve an important role for decision-making in other disciplines, such as fire management for both wildfire suppression and prescribed burning operations. FEC systems can provide an important means of identifying potential fuels that may be present on a forest site. This fuel information, in combination with current fire weather conditions, as determined by the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) system, can assist fire managers in determining potential fire behaviour if ignition should occur. FEC systems provide a means of identifying the possible presence of a live understory vegetation component, a fuel layer that has been largely ignored in the past due to a lack of information. Dense understory vegetation can produce a very moist microlimate that can effectively hinder fire spread. The use of FEC systems can help in setting priorities on which wildfires need to be attacked aggressively. For prescribed burning, FEC systems can assist in achieving burn objectives better and more safely.