PARENT SESSION
Oral Session - Wildlife Conservation - Day 2 Chair(s): Cross, Chad¹, ¹ Landscape Ecology Branch, Las Vegas, NV
Friday, April 2, 2004 1:00 PM - 2:20 PM Apollo Room 6

Effects of restoration treatments on fire behavior and biodiversity: can fire hazard be reduced while minimizing impacts to wildlife? ^*PRATHER, JOHN W. ¹, HAMPTON, HAYDEE M. ¹, DICKSON, BRETT G. ², XU, YAGUANG ¹, AUMACK, ETHAN N. ¹ and SISK, THOMAS D. ¹, ¹ Center For Environmental Sciences and Education, Flagstaff, AZ, USA² Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology, Fort Collins, CO, USA

ABSTRACT- The Forest Ecosystem Restoration (ForestERA) Project is an effort to help land managers prioritize areas for restoration treatment and determine the effects of alternative management scenarios on attributes such as fire hazard and biodiversity. Using remotely-sensed imagery, we created Geographic Information System (GIS) data layers representing vegetation structure (basal area, tree density, and canopy cover) and composition across two-million acres of forested land in Northern Arizona. We also derived physiographic layers for the area (slope, aspect, and elevation) from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). Using these basic data layers we were able to create models of fire behavior using the FlamMap fire-modeling program, and predictive models of habitat for sensitive wildlife taxa, such as Mexican Spotted Owl, Northern Goshawk, and Tassel-eared Squirrel. Areas of high fire hazard often overlap with critical habitats for these species, creating the perception that fuels reduction treatments in southwestern forests will have negatively impacts. While our models confirm that conflicts do arise, we were able to identify a variety of ways to mitigate those impacts while still significantly reducing the chance of catastrophic wildfire. Mitigation processes include choosing lower intensity treatments in critical wildlife habitat, restricting treatments from critical wildlife habitat, or distributing treatments spatially, such that they limit impacts on habitat in any one location. In addition, it may be possible to improve habitat for some species by identifying and treating areas where forest structure diverges from that preferred by the species in question. The ForestERA toolbox provides these and other approaches that can help managers prioritize areas and design plans to reduce fire hazard while minimizing impacts to sensitive species.

KEY WORDS: Biodiversity, Fire Behavior, Forest Restoration, Ponderosa Pine, Southwest