Aftermath Of Wildfire Research Articles

Écouter le feu. The aftermath of wildfires and the question of rebuilding in high risk fire areas

Mega-fires have become frequent in areas around the world. They are no longer limited to areas in the Mediterranean climate. Extreme fires are now burning in Canada and Siberia due to more frequent fire weather conditions. Such conditions are strongly linked to the warming of the earth's atmosphere. In the US the term mega-fires came into use after the 1988 fire at Yellowstone Park. Such fires can permanently transform a landscape into a non-forested habitat. Wildfires are uncontrolled fires that burn in the wildland urban interface. No longer are wildfires a topic of interest only to foresters. Those in the practice of urban design and planning need to take notice. Land-use changes made by local governments have permitted urban development within forested areas and they have further exacerbated fire risks.

Modelling fire-induced perturbations in sediment flux based on stream widening and accelerated bank migration

Watersheds impacted by wildfires undergo alterations in water, sediment, and biogeochemical fluxes owing to, e.g., soil destabilization and loss in evapotranspiration potential. Enhanced sediment availability and surface runoff are known to make burnt slopes susceptible to localised slope failure, whereas larger watershed-scale (>1,000 km2) changes in sediment flux are largely unconstrained. This shortcoming results from the scarcity of direct measurements from most large, remote watersheds, which makes modelling efforts particularly relevant. Here, we develop a two-fold model to estimate sediment flux from hillslopes to a river based on characteristic rates of catchment erosion and relationships with riverbank migration. We apply this model to the watershed of the Bonaparte River (British Columbia, Canada), which was heavily impacted by the Elephant Hill megafire in the summer of 2017. Photogrammetric data collected from three meandering reaches reveal sharp post-fire channel widening and accelerated migration (up to 130% and 230%, respectively) in the fire’s aftermath. Field observations link these trends to enhanced post-fire suspended- and wash-load fluxes to floodplain reaches, whereas input of bedload sediments was likely restricted to bedrock reaches. Our model predicts a power-law relationship between fire-induced sediment-supply enhancement from hillslopes and riverbank mobility, consistent with the hypothesis that sediment flux affects meander migration. Future integrations of these results with sub-catchment-scale mapping of burn severity and direct data on sediment capacity may help better inform alterations in sediment and biogeochemical fluxes in the aftermath of wildfires elsewhere.

Initial ecological change in plant and arthropod community composition after wildfires in designated areas of upland peatlands.

Wildfires are an increasing concern due to rising temperatures and incidence of droughts associated with changing climate, poor land management, and direct human interference. Most studies of the impact of fire on temperate heathland and bog examined the consequences of controlled or prescribed burning. Less is known about the impacts of uncontrolled wildfires on sites designated for their conservation value. We examined the initial impact and short-term trajectory (3.5 years) of cool temperate peatland plant and arthropod communities on designated upland sites in Northern Ireland following wildfires, that is, unplanned with respect to where and when they occur, severity, and duration. These near simultaneous wildfires were often due to a failure to control prescribed burns. Wildfires were associated with a loss of blanket bog and heath indicator species. Broad vegetation groups showed initial recovery characterized by a decrease in bare ground and increasing cover of shrub species and bryophytes. However, at a species level, Sphagnum spp and bryophyte communities, which are central to peatland ecosystem functioning, showed no sign of recovery to prefire composition. Rather, bryophyte communities became more divergent over the course of the study and were mainly characterized by increased abundance of the alien pioneer acrocarp Campylopus introflexus. Similarly, composition of arthropod communities (ground beetles and spiders) differed between burnt and unburnt areas and showed no evidence of a return to species composition in unburnt areas. The nationally rare beetle Carabus nitens was more common in the aftermath of wildfire. Synthesis. Whilst, long-term recovery was not investigated, these short-term changes suggest enduring detrimental impacts on the distinctive communities associated with peatlands, primarily through the loss of Sphagnum spp., affecting ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and water and soil retention. It may not be possible to restore exact prefire species composition of plant and animal communities. We suggest a precautionary approach involving management of upland vegetation, public education, and vigilance, to prevent further wildfires and protect these key upland habitats.

Long-term response of open-habitats species to wildfire salvage logging: the endangered European wild rabbit as example

Salvage logging treatments, a type of logging to economic returns after natural disturbance, are often applied in the aftermath of wildfires. Specialist or dependent species of open-habitat usually increase their populations in the short-term after wildfires and post-fire salvage logging. However, the long-term effects on threatened open-habitat species such as the European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus L.) are still poorly known. Thus, plant productivity, habitat heterogeneity and rabbit abundance were studied in the north-east Iberian Peninsula in four type of post-fire treatment plots: (1) unburnt, (2) salvage logging with branches left on the ground, (3) salvage logging and manual removal of branches, and (4) recurrent fires. Both the time since the fire and the treatment affected plant productivity and habitat heterogeneity. Plant productivity was quicker in treatments when branches were left on the ground or when branches were removed than in recurrent fire plots. Rabbit relative abundance increased in the short term but dramatically declined over time after fires, especially in the plots where branches were left on the ground and with recurrent fires, in which rabbit abundances fell dramatically. In the long-term, the lack of food availability and adequate habitat structure are the main factors affecting the maintenance of the rabbit population. An appropriate moment for managing burnt areas to favour the persistence of rabbit is between the fifth and sixth year after the fire. These actions also benefit the reduction of environmental biomass and so help prevent future severe wildfires.

A Note from the Editor

A Note from the Editor Noe Montez I fell in love with academic work because I fell in love with the real-time process of seeing research and writing about theatre developed and distributed to an eager audience. It is a pleasure to hear work presented at a conference, and then to watch the author reimagine that presentation into a monograph or article. Four years ago, I joined the editorial staff at Theatre Topics hoping to highlight the ways that theatre moves between theory and practice to reach communities in and beyond our classrooms. This is my final issue, and I am truly moved by the generosity, care, and commitment to academic activism that many of you have written about over my time on the masthead. I look upon the work that my colleagues and I have published and I leave with a sense of appreciation for scholars and artists who have willingly written about their experiences with reproductive health in the academy, the value of theatre pedagogy in the aftermath of wildfire and mass shooting, the need to reimagine academic life in the wake of catastrophic climate change, and the labor that one must take on as a non-binary performer in order to create safe spaces. These are just a few among the many examples of the care work, classroom exercises, and productions that have asserted the value of theatre and performance in these pages. I am proud of the special issue on Graduate Education that captured the precarity of PhDs in the field, while offering suggestions about how our doctoral programs might better support those who matriculate. I am also grateful to my colleague and friend Kareem Khubchandani who coedited the special issue on Queer Pedagogy and Performance with me, giving space to those who practice pedagogy everywhere, from the classroom to the dance hall. It has been a joyful privilege to oversee this journal and build a representative editorial board, find more diverse external evaluators, and support authors of color who I hope will continue to see themselves represented in this journal and eventually apply for editorial positions here and elsewhere. I also want to thank several people. Soyica Colbert, DJ Hopkins, and Christin Essin have done tremendous work advocating for the journal during their respective terms as ATHE Vice President for Research and Publications. Gwendolyn Alker and Lisa S. Brenner brought me into the journal, created a system where I could learn from them, and have generously continued to offer guidance. Peter Campbell and Margherita Laera have invented and imagined the online editor roles in ways that have richly enhanced Theatre Topics’ offerings. Megan Sanborn Jones and Jessica Del Vecchio have been tireless book review editors doing unflagging work in an often-underappreciated role. Tufts University has supported me by providing graduate assistants, and I am deeply appreciative of Stephanie Engel, Jenny Herron, Teri Incampo, Mia Levenson, and Jessica Pearson-Bleyer for their careful proofing, initial evaluations of submissions, and other assistance. Finally, Bob Kowkabany and the staff at Johns Hopkins University Press make the journal run efficiently. Theatre Topics will remain in strong hands under the thoughtful editorship of John Fletcher (Editor), Susanne Shawyer (Coeditor), Jessica Del Vecchio (Book Review Editor), and Shannon Walsh (Online Editor). I am confident of the journal under their care. I leave the journal with four essays and one note from the field. These texts highlight a diversity of voices and demonstrate the ways in which the pedagogy moves people to reimagine themselves and the worlds they live in. [End Page ix] In “Developing Fontera Aesthetic through New Work Creation,” three professors from the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) examine their process for investigating a performance aesthetic that is unique to the Texas/Mexico borderlands through the development and staging of Georgina Escobar’s Monsters We Create. The material was developed through three separate classes to promote student ownership of the artistic process while facilitating rigorous skill-building of playwriting techniques. The result is the creation of a “sci-femme frontera” aesthetic that enables UTEP students to embrace the inherent duality of their Latinx identity. Nicolas Shannon Savard writes of their attempts to engage undergraduate students with...

Grassland Wildfires in the Southern Great Plains: Monitoring Ecological Impacts and Recovery

Devastating wildfires in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas in 2016 and 2017 resulted in significant social, economic, and environmental losses, with the agricultural sector among those severely affected. Several satellite-based indices were evaluated as potential monitoring tools for post-wildfire ecological recovery and management of grasslands. All indices evaluated provided useful information and indicated rapid vegetation recovery from wildfire. The Leaf Water Stress Index (LSWI) and Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) showed a distinct response to the wildfire events, and differentiated between burned and unburned areas throughout the post-wildfire growing seasons better than the Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetative Index (EVI). In particular, the LSWI may provide a useful tool for mapping the footprint of wildfire, with potential utility for organizations that provide post-fire recovery resources. The GPP, which estimates the biomass productivity of vegetation, can provide information to livestock operators to guide the re-stocking of cattle in the aftermath of wildfire. In sum, satellite-based proxies can provide timely information both to characterize a wildfire’s footprint and to guide post-fire grazing management in a manner that balances short term needs for forage with long-term productivity and ecological function.

The hazards of wildfire smoke exposure for children

Studies evaluating the health impacts of climate change, predict that the frequency and intensity of wildfires will increase as climate change creates longer, warmer, and drier seasons. Although respiratory morbidity in the immediate aftermath of wildfires is well documented for pediatric populations, other acute and chronic health effects from wildfires for pediatric populations are less well known. This manuscript addresses questions that arise for families, healthcare providers and school districts in areas affected by wildfires and reviews key messages that healthcare providers may provide to pediatric patients and families to minimize adverse health effects from exposure to the smoke and ash from wildfires.

Releases of Fire-Derived Contaminants from Polymer Pipes Made of Polyvinyl Chloride.

In order to assess the human exposure risks from the release of contaminants from water pipes made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), experiments were carried out by subjecting the PVC pipe material to burning and leaching conditions followed by analysis of the emission and leachate samples. The emissions of burning pipes were analyzed by both infrared spectrometry and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The emission test results indicate the presence of chlorinated components including chlorine dioxide, methyl chloride, methylene chloride, allyl chloride, vinyl chloride, ethyl chloride, 1-chlorobutane, tetrachloroethylene, chlorobenzene, and hydrogen chloride were detected in the emissions of burning PVC pipes. Furthermore, the concentrations of benzene, 1,3-butadiene, methyl methacrylate, carbon monoxide, acrolein, and formaldehyde were found at levels capable of affecting human health adversely. The analysis of PVC pipe leachates using GC-MS shows that there are 40–60 tentatively identified compounds, mostly long-chain hydrocarbons such as tetradecane, hexadecane, octadecane, and docosane, were released when the burned PVC materials were soaked in deionized water for one week. Quantitative analysis shows that 2-butoxyethanol, 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, and diethyl phthalate were found in the burned PVC polymer at the average levels of 2.7, 14.0, and 3.1 micrograms per gram (μg/g) of pipe material. This study has significant implications for understanding the benzene contamination of drinking water in the aftermath of wildfires that burned polymer pipes in California.

Research note: Quick assessment of recreation use and experience in the immediate aftermath of wildfire in a desert river canyon

There is limited research on recreationists’ responses to changes in resource conditions after wildfire. Existing studies often rely on presenting visitors with hypothetical wildfire scenarios or simulated changes in conditions. We completed a quick assessment of recreation visitation and visitor experience in the months immediately following an actual high-severity wildfire within a popular river canyon in Oregon, USA. We also explored the influence of wildfire on the recreation plans of campers. We found that recreation use dropped sharply in the immediate aftermath of the wildfire, but rebounded to long-term averages within months. In addition, visitors reported the burned landscape had little influence on their recreation experience. Forty-five percent of campers reported having changed a planned camping trip within the prior two years because of smoke or wildfire. Nearly half of respondents reported that potential for wildfire would be a factor in where they planned to camp in the future. Management implicationsOur findings are consistent with other studies in showing that visitation losses do happen after wildfire but are short-lived and may differ between day and overnight users.· Although visitors were often saddened to see the burned landscape, their recreation experiences and satisfaction appeared largely unchanged.· Distributing up-to-date information about conditions at recreation destinations may be useful for potential visitors concerned about smoke and wildfire.· Recreationists substitute between recreation destinations or seasons to avid wildfire or smoke. Managers may do well to prepare for receiving visitors displaced by wildfire or smoke and having more visitors outside primary recreation seasons