Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) is a key deciduous species in southwestern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests and is important for wildlife habitat, soil processes, and human values. This report (1) summarizes Gambel oak's biological characteristics and importance in ponderosa pine forests, (2) synthesizes literature on changes in tree densities and fire frequencies since Euro-American settlement in pine-oak forests, (3) suggests management prescriptions for accomplishing various oak management objectives (for example, increasing diameter growth or acorn production), and (4) provides an...

Water withdrawals to cities, farms, and other offstream uses in the United States have increased over ten-fold during the twentieth century in response to tremendous population and economic growth. Further rapid growth in population and income is almost certain to occur, placing additional demands on water supplies. As withdrawals to offstream users increase, more water is consumed, leaving less water in streams. Streamflows have dropped at the same time as additional instream uses have been found by scientists studying the needs of aquatic plants and wildlife and the hydro-geologic...

Rothermel's surface fire spread model was developed to use a value for the wind speed that affects surface fire, called midflame wind speed. Models have been developed to adjust 20-ft wind speed to midflame wind speed for sheltered and unsheltered surface fuel. In this report, Wind Adjustment Factor (WAF) model equations are given, and the BehavePlus fire modeling system is used to demonstrate WAF calculation and effect on modeled fire behavior. There are differences in implementation of the same basic wind adjustment models in various fire behavior applications, including the Fireline...

The purpose of this Change Management and Implementation Guide is to provide the US Forest Service's Fire and Aviation Management with pertinent information to help build a strategy when faced with an operational change. This includes change to the agency, a particular program or any other change that has potential to significantly impact personnel or operations whether originating from inside or outside the agency. As directed from the Chief's Safety Policy, "The prevention of accidents can only occur if we commit to safe work practices, continually assess our changing environment, refuse to...

The Wilderness Visitor Experience Workshop was held at the Lubrecht Experimental Forest near Missoula, MT, April 4-7, 2011. The science and management of wilderness visitors is now more than half a century old. Much has been learned over this period. And yet it seems that enthusiasm for recreation research generally and for wilderness visitor science specifically has been waning recently. With the 50th Anniversary of The Wilderness Act approaching in 2014, it seemed timely to celebrate and capture what has been learned over the past 50 years. We also wanted to revitalize this research...

Cultural resources refer to the physical evidence of human occupations that cultural resource specialists and archaeologists use to reconstruct the past. This includes the objects, location, and landscapes that play a significant role in the history or cultural traditions of a group of people. Cultural resources include artifacts of historical significance left by prehistoric aboriginal peoples. Archaeological constituents, the basic units of archaeological analysis, consist of artifacts and features. Artifacts include carved objects, pottery, and ceramics, flaked and ground stones, faunal...

This state-of-knowledge review about the effects of fire on flora and fuels can assist land managers in planning for ecosystem management and fire management, and in their efforts to inform others about the ecological role of fire. Chapter 1 presents an overview and a classification of fire regimes that is used throughout the report. Chapter 2 summarizes knowledge of fire effects on individual plants, including susceptibility to mortality of aerial crowns, stems, and roots; vegetative regeneration; seedling establishment from on-site and off-site seed sources; seasonal influences such as...

Fire is a natural disturbance that occurs in most terrestrial ecosystems. It is also a tool that has been used by humans to manage a wide range of natural ecosystems worldwide. As such, it can produce a spectrum of effects on soils, water, riparian biota, and wetland components of ecosystems. Fire scientists, land managers, and fire suppression personnel need to evaluate fire effects on these components, and balance the overall benefits and costs associated with the use of fire in ecosystem management. This publication has been written to provide up-to- date information on fire effects on...

A Safety Management System (SMS) is essentially a quality management approach to controlling risk. It provides the organizational framework to construct and support a sound safety culture that actively controls its risk exposure. With increased aviation activity and decreased resources, the SMS pushes the limits of current safety strategies and practices by developing and implementing a structured management system to control risk and meet legal responsibilities in aviation operations. Our goal is to develop a safety culture that achieves and maintains a zero accident rate. A highly...

In response to the 2002 fire season's fatal aircraft accidents, the USDA Forest Service and USDI Bureau of Land Management (BLM) jointly established an independent, five member Blue Ribbon Commission (the panel - Appendix A) to identify essential information for planning a safe and effective future aviation program. On August 15, 2002, the Chief of the Forest Service and Director of the BLM asked the panel to identify weaknesses and fail points in the current aviation program, focusing on safety, operational effectiveness, costs, sustainability, and strategic guidance. Assuming an integrated...