Fire Regime Alteration in Natural Areas
Fire regime alteration in natural areas underscores the need to restore a key ecological process
By Michelle Coppoletta
Ecologist, Sierra Cascade Province, USDA Forest Service
4:00 p.m. Friday, October 25, 2019
Holt Hall room 170, CSU Chico
Event Flyer
Research Natural Areas (RNAs) are part of a national network of federal lands set aside for research, baseline monitoring, education, and biodiversity protection. Protected from direct manipulation, RNAs offer some of our best examples of minimally disturbed ecosystems on public lands. However, these natural areas are also embedded within a matrix of federal lands, where landscape-scale fire regime alteration has resulted in significant changes to both the frequency and severity of wildfires. A recent study from a group of Forest Service ecologists suggests that fire regime alteration in RNAs can significantly impact the ecological values that these natural areas were set aside to protect. This talk will present the findings from that study, as well as a series of case studies that illustrate how disruption of the natural fire regime and recent wildfire activity have impacted RNAs in California. Fire management strategies will be presented for those tasked with managing protected natural areas, like RNAs, which may require intervention to restore and maintain their natural fire regimes and target ecosystems.
Omicron refreshments next door 3:30-4:00
Everyone is invited to an open house, tours, and to visit with the speaker from 2:30‐3:30 p.m. in the Herbarium (Holt Hall 129).
Friends of the Herbarium Annual Meeting
5:15‐6:15 p.m. in the Herbarium following the talk
This will include short talks about the research of the two 2019 Jokerst Award winners:
Constantin Raether
Defense against herbivory by galling Cynipidae wasps in valley oak (Quercus lobata): testing the Plant Vigor Hypothesis (PVH) and the Phenological Synchrony Hypothesis (PSH) in a large common garden experiment
Gabrielle Wyatt
Heavy metal phytoremediation at the Butte College Bioswale: Phenological variance in three California natives