Fire Effects

Information System

by Melanie Miller

Fire Ecologist

National Office of 

Fire and Aviation

Background

As resource managers, we all have the

problem of too much information and

not enough time to read and assimilate

it. We sometimes make decisions with

inadequate knowledge because we

don’t have time to find pertinent information or think that it doesn’t exist.

The Fire Effects Information System

(FEIS) was developed with the intent

of solving this problem, providing

information on how fire affects

individual species, knowledge that

is beneficial to prescribed fire in

particular, and fire management in

general.

FEIS (Figure 1) is an Internet database that contains fire ecology and

effects information for about 900

species of plants and 100 species of

wildlife. Each species summary

contains a written literature review,

organized in a standard format, and

includes full citations for all references. FEIS is more than simply an

annotated bibliography.

Specific Content

Information in each plant species

summaries includes:

• General Information: Name, synonyms, taxonomy, Federal legal

status

• Distribution and Occurrence:

Geographic distribution, Kuchler

types, Society of American

Foresters (SAF) and Society of

Range Management (SRM) cover

types

• Value and Use: Wood products,

wildlife, livestock, rehabilitation of

disturbed sites; management

considerations

• Botanical and Ecological

Characteristics: Description,

method of regeneration, characteristics of sites on which it occurs

including soils, elevation, and

commonly associated species; successional status

• Fire Ecology: Plant susceptibility

to fire and its ability to resist damage from fire, fire regimes, fuels

and fire characteristics

• Fire Effects: Immediate effects of

fire, variations due to fire severity,

season, and other plant factors,

plant response to fire in the first

growing season and over the

long-term

• Case studies: Description of specific fire studies on this species

which can be non-published

material

• References: Full citations for all

literature

The wildlife species category, in

addition to general taxonomic

information and distribution, also

contains information on:

• Biological Data and Habitat

Requirements: Preferred habitat,

cover requirements, food habits,

predators

• Fire Effects and Use: Known

direct effects on individuals, effects

of fire or its exclusion on habitat

including variation in effects

because of fire frequency, severity,

and season

Value of the Information

Many users only read the “Fire

Ecology” and “Fire Effects” sections

of a summary. However, there is valuable knowledge in other categories,

such as “Botanical and Ecological

Characteristics,” which can help you

make inferences about effects for those

species about which little is known relative to fire. The “Regeneration

Processes” subsection may describe

resprouting of a riparian species

RESOURCE NOTES

NO. 39 DATE 08/15/00

Range

Fire

FEIS KNOWLEDGE BASE

PLANT SPECIES WILDLIFE SPECIES PLANT COMMUNITIES

(Kuchler types)

Introductory

Information

9 topics

Distribution &

Occurrence

8 topics

Value & Use 7 topics

Botanical &

Ecological Characteristics 6 topics

Fire Ecology 2 topics

Fire Effects

5 topics

Fire Case

Studies

9 topics

References

References

References Fire Case

Studies

9 topics

Fire Effects & Use

3 topics

Botanical Data & Habitat Requirements 6 topics

Distribution &

Occurrence

8 topics

Introductory

Information

9 topics Introductory

Information

4 topics

Distribution 6 topics

Value & Use 5 topics

Fire Ecology

& Management 7 topics

Subject Matter Areas

Subject Matter Areas

Subject Matter Areas

Figure 1. Subject matter content of the FEIS knowledge base1.

1

from Fischer, William C., Melanie Miller, Cameron M. Johnson, Jane Kapler Smith, Dennis G. Simmerman and James K. Brown, 1996.

Fire Effects Information System: User’s Guide, USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, General Report INT-GTR 327, p3.

Range
observed after flooding or heavy

browsing. You can infer that the

species may have some ability to

resprout after fire. A species summary

may report that a significant amount

of seedling establishment has been

observed on road cuts. You may conclude that if a postfire seed source is

present, germination and establishment may be more likely to occur on

severely burned sites where the

organic layer has been removed.

A species summary can help you assess

how a species growth or decline can

affect other ecosystem components

and resource values. The species summaries can help answer some of the

following questions: Will its postfire

increase pose competition to other

plant species? Will its increase be only

temporary? Is a change in productivity

significant because it provides food

for key wildlife species during a critical life stage? Does the species have a

fairly short life span, and rejuvenation

by fire is the only feasible means of

ensuring long-term species presence?

The information in FEIS can be used

in many aspects of our jobs, not just

for fire management planning and

implementation. It is a readily accessible database about species biology.

FEIS can provide an ecological basis

for Land Use Plans, Environmental

Impact Statements, Environmental

Assessments, rehabilitation plans, and

implementation plans for specific

resource components such as wildlife

or range. If you are detailed or transferred to a new geographic area,

species summaries allow you to more

quickly understand the ecological

issues in the local environment.

Continued Development

One of the most amazing things

about FEIS is that it still exists, and

continues to improve, 14 years after

it was initiated. A key reasons for its

success is that it has strong interagency support. Funding has come

not just from Forest Service research,

but also from BLM, National Park

Service, Fish and Wildlife Service,

National Forest Systems, and the

Department of the Interior.

The Fire Effects research work unit at

the Missoula Fire Sciences Lab began

FEIS development in 1986, with

intent to design a system that would

be easy to keep current. Between

1986 and 1995, nearly 1,000 species

summaries were written. Currently,

over 100 species summaries are being

revised, using money provided by the

Department and the Forest Service fire

programs. Work is done under contract, and the cost for each species is

the same. For this reason, we have

decided not to add summaries for

Threatened and Endangered Plant

species because there is often so little

information that it is not cost efficient to pay a contractor to prepare a

summary.

Tips on Use

All species summaries are organized

according to the same hierarchical

format, using identical titles for individual sections. You navigate through

system menus the same way as in any

other Internet database. Enter by

selecting a species from an alphabetical

list of Latin names. If you cannot

find a listing for the Latin name of a

species, it may be because the name

has been changed. Search the database

for the old name or a common name,

using the search window on the FEIS

home page. The search engine will list

the species summaries in which that

name is contained in the Introductory

section, and a click on an item will

direct one to that place. Check the

synonyms listed in the introductory

section to confirm that it is the correct

species. If you want to see the complete species summary without going

back to the main menu, you can delete

the words “introductory.html” from

the address in the location box at the

top of your computer screen. Hit the

enter key, and the main menu for that

species will appear.

References within the text of a

species summary are indicated by a

bracketed number. You can click on a

citation index number in the text,

and the full citation will show immediately. A list of all citations used is

included in the “References” section

of each summary.

Revisions

Currently, if you want to save a species

summary or print it from the Internet,

you have to do it by information

category. The software will soon be

changed so that you can save or print

an entire species at the same time, by

selecting the last item in the menu

for an individual species, called

“Complete Species Writeup” (for

printing purposes). When this window opens, you can save or print

using the features in your Internet

software. It can be convenient to

store frequently used species summaries on your computer or as hard

copies in a binder.

The Citation Retrieval System is the

companion database to FEIS that

contains all of the references used in

the species summaries, as well as

other current literature on fire effects

on plants and animals, annotated by

key word. It will soon have its own

web page and a search engine that

will allow you to search the over

30,000 citations that it contains.

A list of the 100 species summaries

being revised is available on request.

Contact

Melanie Miller, Fire Ecologist

National Office of Fire and Aviation

phone (208) 387-5165

e-mail melanie_miller@nifc.blm.gov.

FEIS is available on the Internet

through the Forest Service Home

Page:

http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/

Range

Resource Notes are intended to be early

announcements of technical and informational topics for

Bureau of Land Management personnel and some of their customers.

Information in this Resource Note is based on the opinion and

experience of the author and has not been peer-reviewed. Conclusions

and opinions expressed herein do not

necessarily represent those of BLM. Use of trade names does not

imply U.S. Government endorsement of commercial products.

If you have received a copy of or found out about Resource

Notes in an indirect way and would like to be included in future

mailings, please send the following:

NAME, TITLE, MAILING ADDRESS and a list of the two or three

subject areas that you are most interested in or that most directly

relate to your job. Send this information to Phil Dittberner, BLM,

RS-140, P.O. Box 25047, Denver, CO. 80225-0047 or

phil_dittberner@blm.gov or FAX 303-236-3508.

If you would like to prepare a Resource Note for

distribution, or you have an idea and author in mind for a good

Resource Note, please contact Phil Dittberner at

303-236-1833, FAX 303-236-3508 or phil_dittberner@blm.gov with

the topic and the name of writer, including an address, phone number, and e-mail address.

Thank you for your interest in Resource NoteS.