On-the-ground findings point to a mixed-severity fire regime: Findings of the Fire Regime Team

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On-the-ground findings point to a mixed-severity fire regime: Findings of the Fire Regime Team

In this final piece summarizing the results of each Landscapes in Motion team, we discover what the Fire Regime Team learned from tree rings and fire scars carefully collected within the study area. Contrary to the usual assumption of stand-replacing fires, they discovered mixed-severity fire regimes with different characteristics (and different implications) in lodgepole pine and Douglas-fir forests.

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Two years of Landscapes in Motion: What have we learned?

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Two years of Landscapes in Motion: What have we learned?

Two years and countless hours of field, lab, and computer study by three diverse research teams have added up to new insights on the fire history of Alberta’s Southern Rockies. One of the key findings of the Landscapes in Motion research program to-date is that fire regimes in the Southern Rockies are complex, including low-severity burns and historical influences of fire suppression and Indigenous cultural burning. In this post, project coordinator Dr. David Andison and fire regime team lead Dr. Lori Daniels share what the implications of these findings might be, what questions remain to be answered, and where our work is going next.

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Why model partial mortality?

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Why model partial mortality?

One potential consequence of mixed severity fire regimes is that some trees may survive lower intensity fires. This phenomenon is called “partial mortality”, and it can have a variety of consequences for what the landscape looks like and becomes after a fire. When trees survive, they may offer refuge for wildlife, help speed up revegetation by producing seeds, and/or help to maintain the presence of other types of vegetation like lichens. In this blog post, we discuss how the Landscapes in Motion modeling team is studying partial mortality in the Southern Foothills of Alberta using simulation models, and why this research is important for understanding the fire history of this region.

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Unforeseen Resilience to Frequent Fires in Lodgepole Pine Forests of Alberta’s Foothills

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Unforeseen Resilience to Frequent Fires in Lodgepole Pine Forests of Alberta’s Foothills

One of the main goals of the Landscapes in Motion Fire Regime team is to reconstruct forest fire dynamics of Alberta’s Southern Rockies using evidence from tree ring samples. After two years of field sampling, lab work, and analyzing and interpreting the data, Fire Regime researcher Dr. Cameron Naficy has started to see the fruits of his labour. He and his team have learned that the lodgepole pine forests of Alberta’s Southern Rockies were more resilient to frequent burning and more structurally complex than previously thought. In this post, we share more about Dr. Naficy’s findings and what the implications might be for managing Alberta’s forests.

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Recent study in Southern Alberta shows loss of grasslands across the landscape, with implications for fire risk and fire history

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Recent study in Southern Alberta shows loss of grasslands across the landscape, with implications for fire risk and fire history

A recent study led by Landscapes in Motion collaborator Dr. Chris Stockdale shows that since the early 1900s, 25% of grasslands have been lost in a large area of Alberta’s Southern Rocky Mountains. Our blog team sat down with Dr. Stockdale to discuss the implications of these findings, the exciting opportunities of oblique photography, and the connections between this research and the Landscapes in Motion project. Dr. Stockdale is currently a Fire Research Scientist with the Canadian Forest Service.

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Ignition Point: The Underappreciated Influence of Indigenous Burns

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Ignition Point: The Underappreciated Influence of Indigenous Burns

In both the present and the past, it is clear that humans have had a strong effect on why, where, and how forests burn. Recently, LIM researcher Dr. Cameron Naficy found some clues in the Southwestern Foothills showing that Indigenous cultural burning was likely a stronger influence on this landscape than previously documented in the academic literature. In this post, we share some context for the different ignition sources of Alberta wildfires and present a sneak peek into some of Dr. Naficy’s early findings.

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Bringing oblique photography and wildfire research together using viewsheds

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Bringing oblique photography and wildfire research together using viewsheds

What are viewsheds, and why use them? With the Landscapes in Motion teams now analyzing data and sharing the results, our teams are starting to explore new ways of collaborating and combining datasets. Here we share some insights on the process from a collaborator with the Oblique Photography Team, Mountain Legacy Project researcher James Tricker.

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