Outreach and delivery of fire refugia datasets and products
NEW! 03/20/2024. Our v4 fire refugia products based on 2021 GNN data are now available. These include scenarios: holistic refugia p10W, holistic refugia p50W, holistic refugia p90W, and holistic refugia p10FWG, p50FWG, and p90FWG. To access these updated data layers use the Fire Refugia Toolbox > Library of data resources (fire refugia map layers for download).
We have developed numerous Outreach Materials to help socialize the fire refugia datasets and concepts. This page will continue to be developed through Fall 2023 and Winter 2024.
Feedback always welcome!
The fire refugia manager's brief
In a nutshell: The manager's brief provides a short summary of the holistic fire refugia and topo-climatic fire refugia products and concepts, and links to all data products and resources for the region. The manager's brief includes an FAQ for ideas relating to management and project planning.
Concepts and models of fire refugia are increasingly a part of forest management discussions in the context of wildland fire and global change. However, translating new science and data products to management decisions and treatment prescriptions is not an easy task. These applications can be better informed by collaboration between scientists and managers to identify best uses of new data products, and spending time creatively discussing and integrating the "so what?"" from science into decisions on the ground. Scientists and managers from the US Forest Service Little White Salmon Forest Resilience and Wildfire Risk Mitigation Project area on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WA DNR) worked collaboratively with Oregon State University scientists to develop this manager's brief to facilitate integration of fire refugia science into forest project planning, providing a case study for actionable science and a template for future projects using fire refugia concepts across the region.
The fire refugia manager's brief covers two objectives outlined by the Little White Salmon (LWS) project team, as key elements required to effectively integrate fire refugia concepts and products into project-level planning. The first objective is a synthesis tailored to the manager audience describing:
- What are fire refugia? We summarize the concept of fire refugia as locations on the landscape burned less severely and/or less frequently than surrounding areas, and provide an overview of how these concepts can be considered in relatively moist vs. dry landscape settings. We emphasize that our challenge is to identify information on fire refugia pertinent to land management goals and tailored to the focal ecosystem.
- What products are currently available to map fire refugia in the region? We introduce the holistic fire refugia models and the topo-climatic fire refugia models, describe their key components and how they complement each other in the context of refugia science. We briefly introduce the WA DNR Large Dense Forest Sustainability maps and their relationship to fire refugia, and connect all of the work to cornerstone research by Camp et al. (1997) on fire refugia in the Swauk Late-Successional Reserve.
- What are the drivers of fire refugia? We provide a short summary of the models and important variables that contribute to the holistic fire refugia and topo-climatic fire refugia products. We describe the vegetation/fuels, topography, fire weather, and fire growth components of the holistic fire refugia models, and describe the topography and climate components of the topo-climatic fire refugia models.
- Where are fire refugia located in the Little White Salmon project area? We produce maps of the LWS area to showcase fire refugia products in the Resilience Block and High Risk Block of the project area, illustrate multiple scenarios of the holistic fire refugia and topo-climatic fire refugia models, and develop an example of how overlays of the scenarios can provide interpretations valuable for vegetation management decisions.
The second objective was to engage with LWS scientist and manager partners to discuss and summarize potential implications of vegetation management treatments on fire refugia characteristics, including understanding of:
- How do fire refugia overlap with other highly valued resources in the LWS project area? We provide ideas for the types of data that could be useful for map analysis with fire refugia products, and provide an example for using map products of OGSI80 and OGSI200 (mature and old-growth forests) and fire refugia products to inform management decisions and planning.
- What do fire refugia models tell us about management at the stand and watershed scale? We use a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) approach to illustrate ideas that can contribute to ongoing community discussion and decisions integrating fire refugia data. We emphasize that the FAQ does not represent prescriptive or comprehensive coverage of the information, but starts a conversation on ideas based on academic and management expertise.
- How could forest management increase the extent and sustainability of refugia? We continue the FAQ format to illustrate ideas for management informed by fire refugia products.
The report concludes with:
- Additional resources on fire refugia. We provide a collection of resources related to fire refugia concepts, including links to data products, webinars, copies of journal articles, links to websites, etc.
We look forward to ongoing evolution of conversations and implementation of fire refugia concepts and data within this community of practice, supporting effective management decisions in the context of climate change.
Webinars
Links to short presentations from the 2023 Post-Fire Research and Monitoring Symposium with relevance to fire refugia
- Merschel et al. (2023). 800 years of post-fire forest development data in west side Douglas-fir forests. Presented for the 2023 Post-Fire Research and Monitoring Symposium.
- Krawchuk et al. (2023). Fire refugia, old forests, & spotted owls. Presented for the 2023 Post-Fire Research and Monitoring Symposium.
- M. A. Krawchuk. 2021. Fire refugia: where and why do conifer forests persist through multiple fire events. Presented for the Forest Stewards Guild.
Posters
Infographic
