Collaborative Research: Fire Risk and Ecological Intergrity in the Wildland Urban Interface of Colorado Front Range

在美国西部，资源管理者越来越关注将生态系统恢复到定居前的状况，同时减轻火灾对财产和资源价值的风险。 生态恢复和减轻火灾风险的双重管理目标并不总是兼容的，特别是在自然火灾状况由大而严重的火灾组成的情况下。 这个合作研究项目将探讨森林管理，土地利用变化，火灾风险和生态完整性之间的关系，在荒地-城市界面（WUI）跨越四个县的科罗拉多前线范围。 调查人员将开发空间明确的基线研究，评估火灾排除和土地利用模式如何影响野火行为以及火灾风险对WUI景观中人员和财产的空间范围。 在这些基线评估的基础上，该研究将考虑土地使用和森林管理方案的空间组合将大大减少火灾风险，同时保护异质荒地-城市界面的生态完整性。 这项工作整合了自然和人类层面的恢复力和景观变化的WUI的科罗拉多前线范围。科学和通信产品将通过这个项目产生，与许多具有应用程序的社会问题，如何恢复人类和自然社区可以持续在一个火灾多发，不断扩大的WUI。 产品预计将包括（1）整个科罗拉多前线WUI的历史火灾制度和森林结构的基线研究，（2）历史郊区发展模式及其对WUI野火风险程度和分布的影响的研究，（3）偏离历史生态条件的分析和改进的野火风险地图，以及（4）对关键的火灾缓解和森林恢复方案的空间明确评价。

In the western U.S. resource managers are increasingly concerned with the objectives of restoring ecosystems to their pre-settlement conditions while also mitigating the risks of fires to property and resource values. The dual management goals of ecological restoration and fire-risk mitigation are not always compatible, especially where natural fire regimes consisted of large, severe fires. This collaborative research project will explore relationships among forest management, land-use change, fire risk, and ecological integrity in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) spanning four counties of the Colorado Front Range. The investigators will develop spatially explicit baseline studies that evaluate how fire exclusion and land-use patterns have affected wildfire behavior and the spatial extent of fire risk to people and property across the WUI landscape. Building upon these baseline assessments, the study will consider which spatial combination of land-use and forest-management scenarios would significantly reduce fire risk while also protecting ecological integrity across a heterogeneous wildland-urban interface. This work integrates natural and human dimensions of resilience and landscape change in the WUI of the Colorado Front Range.Scientific and communication products will be generated through this project, with many having application to societal questions of how resilient human and natural communities can be sustained in a fire-prone, ever-expanding WUI. Products are expected to include (1) baseline studies of historical fire regimes and forest-stand structures across the Colorado Front Range WUI, (2) studies of historical exurban development patterns and their effect on the degree and distribution of wildfire risk across the WUI, (3) analysis of departure from historical ecological conditions and an improved wildfire risk map, and (4) spatially explicit evaluation of key fire-mitigation and forest restoration options.