20260914-002, Wildfire Symposium Summary Part 4 — original pdf

Backup

Wilcox, B. P., and Y. Huang (2010), Woody plant encroachment paradox: Rivers rebound as degraded grasslands convert to woodlands, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L07402, doi:10.1029/2009GL041929. Nowak et al 2014 calculated that across the United States 17 million tons of NO2, O3, PM2.5, SO2 were removed by trees in 2010. In Travis and Hays Counties a range of 1.87-3.37 tons/km2 of NO2, O3, PM2.5, SO2 were removed by trees in 2010. “96.3 percent of pollution removal from trees occurred on rural land” Brabec et al. 2002 concluded that impervious cover needed to be refined with forest versus open cover to accurately predict pollution attenuation and surface runoff for land planning. ” In addition to the focus on impervious thresholds, there is preliminary evidence in the scientific literature that the new model for watershed-based water quality planning requires an equal focus on threshold amounts of forest cover in the watershed that can act to mitigate the impervious areas within the system.” Nowak, David J.; Hirabayashi, Satoshi; Bodine, Allison; Greenfield, Eric. 2014. Tree and forest effects on air quality and human health in the United States. Environmental Pollution. 193: 119-129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2014.05.028 Available from: https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/46102 Brabec, Elizabeth; Schulte, Stacey; and Richards, Paul L. 2002. Planning Impervious Surfaces and Water Quality: A Review of Current Literature and Its Implications for Watershed: Journal of Planning Literature 2002 16: 499. DOI: 10.1177/088541202400903563. Available at: http://jpl.sagepub.com/content/16/4/499 • Wildfire/prescribed burning in general result in increasing runoff, soil erosion, loss of sequestered carbon, release of downstream nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, algal blooms with potential for toxic cyanobacteria, and release of mercury (Planas et al 2000; Lucotte et al., 2016). • Worldwide release of stored carbon, phosphorus and nitrates (Pellegrini et al., 2018) • Wildfires are calculated to contribute 800 tons per year of airborne mercury which constitutes 25% of all anthropogenic sources of mercury (Cyberwest, 2001). • Particulate matter >2.5 microrons “air pollution called PM2.5 – responsible for an estimated 4.2 million premature deaths every year globally. This includes over a million deaths in China, over half a million in India, almost 200,000 in Europe, and over 50,000 in the United States.” Cyberwest. 2001. Mercury emissions found in wildfire smoke: Cyberwest Magazine August 24, 2001. Available from: Mercury emissions found in wildfire smoke (cyberwest.com) Feiger Erin. 2023. Research uncovers stunning factor behind nearly 200,000 cases of dementia each year: ‘Toxins for the brain’ :Cool Down 9/14/2023 https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/research-uncovers- stunning-factor-behind-nearly-200-000-cases-of-dementia-each-year-toxins-for-the- brain/arAA1gHHlP?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=8c30c91bd5364edb886e77908ea42c28&ei=6 Pellegrini, Adam F,. A., Ahlström, Anders Hobbie, Sarah E., Reich, Peter B., Nieradzik, Lars P., Staver, A. Carla, Scharenbroch, Bryant C., Jumpponen, Ari, Anderegg.William R. L., Randerson, James T. & Jackson, Robert B. 2018. Fire frequency drives decadal changes in soil carbon and nitrogen and ecosystem productivity: 553 194-198, doi:10.1038/nature24668 Planas, D., Desrosiers, M., Groulx, S.-R., Paquet S. and Carignan, R., 2000. Pelagic and benthic algal responses in eastern Canadian boreal shield lakes following harvesting and wildfires. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 57: 136-145. (17) Pelagic and benthic algal responses in eastern Canadian Boreal Shield lakes following harvesting and wildfires | Mélanie Desrosiers - Academia.edu (6) Pelagic and benthic algal responses in eastern Canadian Boreal Shield lakes following harvesting and wildfires | Mélanie Desrosiers - Academia.edu Lucotte, Marc; Campbell, Linda; Clayden, Meredith; Eckley, Chris; Harris, Reed ; Kelly, Mark; Kidd, Karen; Lean, David; Moingt, Matthieu; Paquet, Serge; Pannu, Ravinder; Parsons, Michael; Paterson, Mike. 2012. Influences of anthropogenic activities on mercury transport, methylation and bioaccumulation: Canadian Mercury Science Assessment Chapter 8. Environment and Climate Change Canada. Available from: Canadian mercury science assessment: summary of key results - Canada.ca (16) (PDF) Influences of anthropogenic activities on mercury transport, methylation and bioaccumulation (researchgate.net) long-unburned forest was least likely to experience large wildfires. Our results () showed that forest and woodland regions had the strongest and most persistent negative “Long-unburned forest was least likely to experience large wildfires. Our results showed that forest and woodland regions had the strongest and most persistent negative relationship to the likelihood of very large wildfires if less prescribed burning had occurred in the region in the prior 30–45 years. “ (Campbell et al 2022) Worldwide increases in wildfires have increased because of forest disturbance, including tree clearing, prescribed burns and increased agriculture “Where disturbance is found to stimulate flammability, then key management actions should consider the long-term benefits of: (i) limiting disturbance-based management like logging or burning that creates young forests and triggers understorey development; (ii) protecting young forests from disturbances and assisting them to transition to an older, less- flammable state; and (iii) reinforcing the fire-inhibitory properties of older, less-flammable stands through methods for rapid fire detection and suppression.” (Lindenmayer and Zylstra 2023) Higher Wildfire Risk with Tree Logging Campbell, Tristan; Bradshaw, S. Don; Dixon, Kingsley W; and Zylstra, Philip. 2022. Wildfire risk management across diverse bioregions in a changing climate: GEOMATICS, NATURAL HAZARDS AND RISK VOL. 13, NO. 1, 2405–2424 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19475705.2022.2119891 Lindenmayer, David and Zylstra, Phil. 2023. Identifying and managing disturbance- stimulated flammability in woody ecosystems: Biol. Rev. (2023), pp. 1-16. doi: 10.1111/brv.13041 Photos from 2011 Steiner Ranch Fire where houses and grassy areas were burned and tree fires were relatively minor • Baylor University assessment of wildfire risk concluded: “Presence of heavy woodlands and forests at adjacencies of BCP properties and private lands has the lowest risk evaluated by hazard, severity, and behavior measures“ (White 2009) • Models that consider trees solely as dead fuel or rate risk as cost of homes adjacent to wilderness areas do not consider that trees and soil retain moisture and cooling reducing wildfire risks • Crown fires are extremely rare and resulted from poor land management in Austin • Good management practice to fence park/preserve perimeter except public trails to reduce campfires, fireworks, hunting, etc.. • Nearly all fires in Austin are grass fires and largest (540-acre) 1960 Westbank fire resulted from tree clearing conditions • • Statements regarding wildfire suppression by pioneers of natural/Native American–set wildfires lacking in data and likely insignificant. Studies suggest prescribed burns contaminate water and air, reduce recharge, and are not associated with wildfire-risk reduction O’Donnell, L. 2021. History of Fire Incidents On and Near Balcones Canyonlands Preserve Western Travis County, Texas April 1961–April 2020: Balcones Canyonland Preserve Investigative Report IP 202002. 92 p. Available from: (19) (PDF) History of Fire Incidents On and Near Balcones Canyonlands Preserve Western Travis County, Texas, April 1961-April 2020 (researchgate.net) Campbell, Tristan; Bradshaw, S. Don; Dixon, Kingsley W; and Zylstra, Philip. 2022. Wildfire risk management across diverse bioregions in a changing climate: GEOMATICS, NATURAL HAZARDS AND RISK VOL. 13, NO. 1, 2405–2424 https://doi.org/10.1080/19475705.2022.2119891 Kellett, Michael J. ; Maloof, Joan E.; Masino, Susan A.; Frelich, Lee E.; Faison, Edward K.; Bros, Sunshine L. and Foster, David R. 2023. Forest-clearing to create early-successional habitats: Questionable benefits, significant costs: Forest Management Frontiers in Forests and Global Change Front. For. Glob. Change 5:1073677. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2022.1073677 Available from: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2022.1073677/full White, J. and J. Thomas, D. Murray, M. Sides, and J. Yao. 2009. The Balcones Canyonlands Preserve fire risk and management: characterization of woodland fuels and simulated fire behavior in the wildland-urban interface. Spatial Ecology Laboratory, Baylor University. “Land managers, elected officials, and members of the public must question some of our most deeply ingrained assumptions regarding fire. For the sake of fiscal responsibility, scientific integrity, and effective outcomes, it’s high time we abandon the tired and disingenuous policies of our century-old all-out war on wildfire and fuel treatments conducted under the guise of protecting communities.” Cohen and Stromaier 2020. "Another potential source of early-successional habitats is the use of intensive forest management to increase climate “adaptation” and “resilience” of forests, which includes clearcutting, thinning, prescribed burning, and “assisted migration” through tree plantings…The assumed loss of management by Native people is also cited as a major cause of the transition now underway of many oak forests to forests dominated by shade-tolerant species. Native burning and other subsistence practices, such as hunting, fishing, plant gathering, and small-scale farming had notable ecological impacts in the immediate vicinity of native encampments and settlements in the Northeast and Upper Great Lakes regions. However, modern land managers seem to be inappropriately misinterpreting a set of novel landscape conditions created by European land use over the last few centuries as having pre-European origins. Extrapolating this misinterpretation to a regional scale has led to claims of widespread and intensive Native manipulation for millennia before European settlement. Unfortunately, these sweeping assumptions are being used to justify large-scale clearing and prescribed burning of established and recovering forests“ Kellett et al 2023. Cohen, J., Strohmaier, D. 2020. Community destruction during extreme wildfires is a home ignition problem. Wildfire Today September 21, 2020. Available at: https://wildfiretoday.com/2020/09/21/community- destruction-during-extreme-wildfires-is-a-home-ignition-problem/#comments Kellett, Michael J. ; Maloof, Joan E.; Masino, Susan A.; Frelich, Lee E.; Faison, Edward K.; Bros, Sunshine L. and Foster, David R. 2023. Forest-clearing to create early-successional habitats: Questionable benefits, significant costs: Forest Management Frontiers in Forests and Global Change Front. For. Glob. Change 5:1073677. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2022.1073677 Available from: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ffgc.2022.1073677/full Nagra, Gurinder; Treble, Pauline C; Andersen, Martin S.; Fairchild, Ian J.; Coleborn, Katie; and Baker, Andy. 2016. A post-wildfire response in cave dripwater chemistry: Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 1–14, 2016. hess-20-2745-2016.pdf (copernicus.org) doi:10.5194/hess-20-1-2016 National Academy of Science 2008: “Of all the outputs of forests, water may be the most important—streamflow from forests provides two-thirds of the nation’s clean water supply. Removing forest cover accelerates the rate that precipitation becomes streamflow; therefore, in some areas, cutting trees causes a temporary increase in the volume of water flowing downstream. This effect has spurred political pressure to cut trees to increase water supply, especially in western states where population is rising. However, cutting trees for water gains is not sustainable: increases in flow rate and volume are typically short-lived, and the practice can ultimately degrade water quality and increase vulnerability to flooding…Removing trees for water yield can also cause degraded water quality (due to increased water temperatures and sedimentation), increased risk of flooding in downstream areas, and negative ecological impacts, such as loss of habitat and other ecosystem services otherwise provided by forests” ”Forest management practices evolve over time. The forces that modify forests today are triggering forest managers to institute novel and contemporary forest management practices. These new practices—such as thinning for fuel reduction and best management practices that manage wider riparian buffers for species protection—have not yet been assessed for their attendant hydrologic effects. Hydrologic effects of these contemporary management practices need to be understood over long temporal and large spatial scales.” National Academy of Science National Research Council. 2008. Hydrologic Effects of a Changing Forest Landscape. Brief of Committee on Hydrologic Impacts of Forest Management. 4 p. Available from: https://nap.nationalacademies.org/resource/12223/forest_hydrology_final.pdf 2012 report on Austin Water land management on first 12 years https://hillcountryalliance.org/uploads/HCA/AWQPPPresentation.pdf To (supposedly) increase recharge to Barton Springs, reduce wildfire risk, restore native prairies, increase resiliency. Additional clearing/burning by Austin Parks & Rec., Nature Conservancy, University of Texas, Shield Ranch Photo of Dr. Hauwert from Stephen Scheibalf. June 6, 2000 Austin seeks innovative ways to preserve rural Hays land: Austin American-Statesman. Stephanie Becerra. 2025 March 4. Crews fight against 150-acre Onion Creek Fire near Buda, another in Kyle: https://cbsaustin.com/ Adams, Chris. 2025. MAP: Where have wildfires burned in Central Texas in 2025: KXAN Dec 17, 2025. https://www.kxan.com/weather/2025-central-texas-wildfire- map/ Andy Zahn Washington State legislative candidate August 21, 2026 The Sage Creek Fire is now at 71 acres, and we can now make out some really informative facts about it's movement; it has spread rapidly through plantation and clearcut areas, but what is likely more mature forest in the buffer zone along Sage Creek has slowed its progress. This makes for a very clear example of how clearcutting and low- diversity short-cyle plantation forestry exacerbates fire danger, and how stream buffers provide advantages beyond just protecting streams. It also demonstrates how the misleading rhetoric around "fuels reduction" and "managed forests" is really just timber industry propaganda. Ellison David, Pokorný Jan, Wild Martin. 2024. Even cooler insights: On the power of forests to (water the Earth and) cool the planet: Global Change Biology V 30. 20 p. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17195 Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/gcb.17195 Thijs, Ann. 2014. Biotic and Abiotic Controls on Carbon Dynamics in a Central Texas Encroaching Savanna: University of Texas Dissertation. 183 p. Fargione JE, Bassett S, Boucher T, Bridgham SD, Conant RT, Cook-Patton SC, Ellis PW, Falcucci A, Fourqurean JW, Gopalakrishna T, Gu H, Henderson B, Hurteau MD, Kroeger KD, Kroeger T, Lark TJ, Leavitt SM, Lomax G, McDonald RI, Megonigal JP, Miteva DA, Richardson CJ, Sanderman J, Shoch D, Spawn SA, Veldman JW, Williams CA, Woodbury PB, Zganjar C, Baranski M, Elias P, Houghton RA, Landis E, McGlynn E, Schlesinger WH, Siikamaki JV, Sutton-Grier AE, Griscom BW. Natural climate solutions for the United States. Sci Adv. 2018 Nov;4(11) eaat1869. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aat1869. PMID: 30443593; PMCID: PMC6235523. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aat1869