Abstract: |
Assumptions made by resource managers about the level of acres that will be burned by wildfire over a planning horizon will significantly impact the level of resources that can be set as realistic goals for sustainable management. We apply a spatially explicit, stochastic, landscape level simulation model on different geographic areas within the Northern Rocky Mountains to quantify different levels of extreme fire behavior. The landscape simulation system provides an integrated view of disturbance ecology by modeling an interaction between insect and disease processes and fire events. We compare differences in vegetation inventories, acres burned, size of fire events, and acres of insect and disease activity from the simulations that reflect different assumptions on the probability of extreme fire behavior. Regional economic and financial effects will be presented. |
