Webinar: Smoke on the Water (9/28/2016)
Channel: Conservation and Adaptation Resources Toolbox
Date: 2016-10-04

Biophysical transformations of riparian ecosystems over the last century have resulted in exotic species and heavy and flashy fuels that, together with severe droughts in last 3-50 years, are driving anomalous fire intensities and frequencies in many bottomland riverine ecosystems. These changing fire regimes threaten to further deteriorate ecosystem services provided by these critical ecosystems, and may result in cascading impacts to entire assemblages of wildlife (e.g., tree cavity excavating and cavity-using small mammals and birds) that rely on less-fire-tolerant native riparian species. Restoration projects have produced mixed results that may not be effective in reducing fire threats in the long-term. 

A team was established by Desert LCC in 2013 to document and quantify how these potential fire-regime changes may be affecting bottomland biodiversity, sediment and water runoff, and riparian community function and resilience. Central objectives include:
• Better understanding the trends in wildfire events (e.g. ., frequency, size, seasonality, and severity) over the past 30-40 years for southwest riparian river systems; and
• Identifying land stewardship practices (e.g., wildfire preparedness, planning, hazardous fuel treatments, riparian restoration) that might be effective in reducing future deterioration of the ecosystem services that bottomland ecosystems provide.
The Desert LCC has identified and initiated several key actions, including: 
• Conducting a literature review to summarize and synthesize the state of knowledge of fire effects on riparian vegetation, wildlife, post-fire vegetation recovery ecology, and the influence of management activities on fire effects and recovery (this was conducted by Amanda Webb as part of her thesis work); 
• Developing a geodatabase of bottomland riparian restoration projects that have either been impacted by fire and/or are using prescribed fire to meet conservation objectives; and
• Convening meetings with fire and riparian experts to discuss the perceived importance of this issue, identified gaps in riparian fire ecology research to better inform future best management practices and adaptation strategies that will help mitigate further decay of riparian ecosystem services.
We will review highlights and results of Desert LCC efforts and propose next steps toward developing a comprehensive strategy to help resource managers reduce deterioration of these keystone ecosystems in the context of future wildfire trajectories and climate change.