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Uncharacteristic disturbances exacerbated by climate change are challenging forests and social systems of North America. To improve efficiency and effectiveness of forest management to address these challenges, we demonstrated structured decision-making in the collaborative development of a novel 20-year dry forest management strategy for southwestern Oregon, USA. We framed priorities and evaluated options with a wildfire risk assessment, then modeled stand-scale prescriptions to estimate management outputs (e.g., area treated, fuels reduced, and timber volume). We mapped landscape-scale objectives and used optimization software to prioritize treatment placement constrained by realistic access considerations and robust habitat protections. The resulting prioritization integrated proactive forest adaptation and fire management (ecological forest thinning, prescribed fire) with protection of imperiled species. To evaluate tradeoffs, we tested three 20-year scenarios, finding that the All-Lands scenario best mitigated wildfire risk; it reduced risk overall by 70%, to homes by 50%, and to core northern spotted owl habitat by 47%. This scenario treated 25% of the 1.9 million ha landscape, including 31% of federal land and 40% of the community at risk. Clear articulation of collaborative objectives and evaluation of scenarios have expanded partnerships and co-investment in actions supporting a shared vision of resilient southwestern Oregon forests applicable to other landscapes. Key words: climate adaptation, forest restoration, wildfire risk, ecological forestry, prescribed fire. Des perturbations inhabituelles accentuees par le changement climatique menacent les forets et les systemes sociaux de l'Amerique du Nord. Dans le but d'ameliorer l'efficience et l'efficacite de l'amenagement forestier pour faire face a ces menaces, nous presentons un processus de prise de decision structure dans le cadre du developpement collaboratif d'une nouvelle strategie d'amenagement de la foret seche sur une periode de 20 ans pour le sud-ouest de l'Oregon, aux Etats-Unis. Nous avons formule des priorites et evalue des options accompagnees d'une evaluation des risques de feu de foret. Nous avons ensuite modelise des prescriptions a l'echelle du peuplement pour estimer les resultats de l'amenagement (p. ex., superficie traitee, reduction des combustibles et volume de bois). Nous avons cartographie des objectifs a l'echelle du paysage et utilise un logiciel d'optimisation pour prioriser l'emplacement des traitements avec comme contraintes des considerations realistes d'accessibilite et des mesures robustes de protection de l'habitat. L'etablissement consecutif des priorites integrait l'adaptation proactive de la foret et la gestion du feu (eclaircie ecologique de la foret, brulage dirige) avec la protection des especes menacees. Pour evaluer les compromis, nous avons teste trois scenarios d'une duree de 20 ans. Nous avons trouve que le scenario qui incluait tous les terrains reduisait le plus les risques de feu de foret; il reduisait les risques de 70 % globalement, de 50 % dans le cas des habitations et de 47 % dans le cas de l'habitat principal de la chouette tachetee nordique. Ce scenario traitait 25 % du paysage de 1,9 millions d'hectares, incluant 31% de terrain federal et 40% de communautes a risque. Une articulation claire des objectifs collaboratifs et l'evaluation des scenarios ont permis de developper des partenariats et un coinvestissement dans des actions supportant une vision partagee des forets resilientes du sud-ouest de l'Oregon applicables a d'autres paysages. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : adaptation au climat, restauration des forets, risques de feu de foret, foresterie ecologique, brulage dirige., Introduction Globally, land managers are challenged to integrate diverse societal goals with fire and forest management (Bowman et al. 2011). In the western United States, climate change is increasing fire [...]

Extreme spread events (ESEs), often characterized by high intensity and rapid rates of spread, can overwhelm fire suppression and emergency response capacity, threaten responder and public safety, damage landscapes and communities, and result in high socioeconomic costs and losses. Advances in remote sensing and geospatial analysis provide an improved understanding of observed ESEs and their contributing factors; however, there is a need to improve anticipatory and predictive capabilities to better prepare, mitigate, and respond. Here, leveraging individual-fire day-of-arrival raster outputs from the FSim fire modeling system, we prototype and evaluate methods for the simulation and categorization of ESEs. We describe the analysis of simulation outputs on a case study landscape in Colorado, USA, summarize daily spread event characteristics, threshold and probabilistically benchmark ESEs, spatially depict ESE potential, and describe limitations, extensions, and potential applications of this work. Simulation results generally showed strong alignment with historical patterns of daily growth and the proportion of cumulative area burned in the western US and identified hotspots of high ESE potential. Continued analysis and simulation of ESEs will likely expand the horizon of uses and grow in salience as ESEs become more common. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses place, culture, community, and mobility in relation to Indigenous food sovereignty and TEK (traditional ecological knowledge). We start with a reflection on what it means to live in the Pacific Northwest of the United States for people from tribes that use Three Sisters agriculture. Two of the authors grew corn, beans, and squash using wintertime, indoor hydroponics and other methods in a performance art mode in Kalapuya ilihi (Western Oregon, USA). Growing these sacred companion plants out of soil, out of sun, out of season, and out of place served as a meditation on our own senses of dislocation and disjuncture as well as modes of connection as Southeastern Natives living in the Pacific Northwest. The politics and practice of growing and/or tending traditional Indigenous food plants in both traditional and non-traditional ways and places provided new language for understanding Indigenous cultural and social health in relation to Indigenous traditions, mobility, and relationality. The three authors (two from Southeastern tribes, one from a Northwestern tribe) provide a model for collaborative intercultural Indigenous ecological projects as a mode of learning, a mode of relational Indigenous mobility, a mode of community-building, and a mode of engaging in Indigenous food sovereignty. Working on community and educational projects together helped us understand companion planting as an analogy, an aesthetic, a method, and a mode for building relational futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Assessment of crown fire potential requires quantification of canopy fuels. In this study, canopy fuels were measured destructively on plots in five Interior West conifer stands. Observed canopy bulk [...]