RAPID The American Fire: Evaluating the ecosystem impact of a master variable.

美国西部野火的生态和管理构成了一个艰巨的挑战。该项目利用了一个独特的机会，直接测量野火对美国西部森林健康的影响。2013年，美国大火烧毁了43平方英里的加州太浩国家森林。在此过程中，它碰巧烧毁了一项现有的研究，该研究旨在评估燃料管理对火灾后树木存活、新苗建立、地面植被、野生动物以及水质和水量的有效性，随后将在小规模实验模式中实施火灾处理。事实上，在美国火灾发生时，所有的火灾前测量都刚刚完成，所有的树木和燃料库存地块都是未经处理和处理的。这项新的奖励将允许在野火发生后立即重新测量所有地块，但在计划的打捞伐木作业开始之前，测试燃料管理处理是否实际上缓和了火灾的影响并减少了对森林的破坏。这项研究将在西部国家森林现行管理制度的范围内进行。由于这项研究将与当地联邦和州森林管理者合作进行，因此研究结果将立即为这些森林的未来管理提供信息。这种情况也使学习和教学的机会。例如，将举办重点讲习班和网络研讨会，解释、讨论和剖析该项目的结果对管理和自然资源政策的意义。内华达山脉森林中的野火往往比过去燃烧得更强烈、更大。对生态系统结构和功能的影响可能是变革性的。与此同时，可以减少火灾风险的采伐和间伐作业引起了人们对森林健康影响的担忧。火灾是一种景观水平的过程，通常通过小规模实验、现场参数化模型或回顾性现场研究来研究。在这种情况下，很少有机会通过配对流域研究和前后控制影响设计提供的控制水平来对野火影响和火灾处理进行实证测试。该项目将通过量化与野火和减少野火影响的处理相关的固有权衡，直接促进我们的理解。

The ecology and management of wildfire in the American West poses a daunting challenge. This project takes advantage of a unique opportunity to directly measure the impacts of wildfire on forest health in the forests of the western United States. In 2013, the American Fire burned through 43 square miles of the Tahoe National Forest in California. In the process, it coincidentally burned through an existing research study that was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of fuel management on tree survival, new seedling establishment, ground vegetation, wildlife, and water quality and quantity after a fire, where the fire treatments were to be imposed later in a small-scale experimental mode. In fact, all the pre-fire measurements had just been completed on an extensive network of tree and fuel inventory plots that were both untreated and treated when the American Fire broke out. This new award will enable the re-measurement of all the plots immediately after the wildfire, but before planned salvage logging operations begin to test whether the fuel management treatments in fact moderated the fire effects and reduced the damage to the forests. This research will be conducted in the context of the prevailing management regime for National Forests in the West. And since it will be done in partnership with local federal and state forest managers, the results will immediately inform the future management of these forests. This circumstance also enables an exceptional learning and teaching opportunity. For example, focused workshops and webinars will be held to explain, discuss, and dissect the meaning of the results of this project for management and natural resources policy. Wildfires in the forests of the Sierra Nevada Mountains tend to burn more intensely and larger than they have in the past. The consequences on ecosystem structure and function can be transformational. At the same time, harvest and thinning operations that could reduce fire risks raise concerns about impacts on forest health. Fire is a landscape level process that is most often studied with smaller-scale experiments, field-parameterized models, or retrospective field studies. It is very rare when there are opportunities to empirically test wildfire effects and fire treatments with the level of control offered by a paired watershed study with a before-after-control-impact design, as presented in this circumstance. This project will very directly advance our understanding by quantifying the inherent trade-offs associated with wildfire and treatments to reduce wildfire impacts.