Annual Reports

2001–2002 Fire Research Science Report: Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service

Introduction

The Canadian Forest Service (CFS) is one of five sectors within Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and the largest forest research organization in Canada. A main part of the CFS mandate is to conduct science and technology (S&T) development activities to facilitate sustainable forest management and to assist Canada in meeting its international commitments to global stewardship. The CFS S&T program currently focuses on interdisciplinary projects delivered within a framework of five issue-oriented networks:

• Climate Change and Fire
• Enhanced Timber Production and Protection
• Forest Ecosystem Processes
• Forest Health and Biodiversity
• Synthesis of Knowledge and Information

The CFS has conducted forest fire research since the 1920s, and numerous fundamental and applied research achievements have assisted Canada in becoming one of the world's leading nations in forest fire management. CFS fire research capacity reached its peak in the 1970s, and, although reductions and numerous changes have occurred since then, the program's resources have stabilized in the past few years. The strength of the fire research program has been its ability to use field-oriented, empirically based approaches to knowledge generation in combination with the development of decision support tools and techniques. Central to this process has been a strong collaborative working relationship with the operational forest fire management agencies in Canada. Recently, the number and type of clients requiring CFS fire research expertise have expanded significantly to include the forest industry, other research organizations, and federal and provincial policymakers.

The growing interest in understanding the role and impact of natural disturbances in Canada's forest ecosystems has resulted in an overall increase in the number of organizations and individuals outside of the CFS involved in forest fire research. This, along with changes in the federal government's S&T priorities and programs, has resulted in a shift of the CFS fire research program toward national and international issues. In this regard the CFS is taking a strong leadership role in addressing key fire management issues through interdisciplinary, multiagency initiatives in five subdisciplines of fire research (i.e., fire and global change, fire ecology, fire environment, fire management systems, and integrating fire and forest management). Where mutually beneficial opportunities exist, the CFS will also continue to collaborate on local or regional issues within the context of its national and international goals and objectives.

Currently the CFS has 29 indeterminate employees/positions at 5 establishments who are involved, at least partly, in forest fire research. This report presents a brief overview of their major activities for the fiscal year 2001–2002 followed by information on national research partners and collaborators and a list of current research personnel.

Major Accomplishments and Activities (April 2001 to March 2002)

The major accomplishments and activities of CFS fire research staff for the 2001–2002 fiscal year have been organized on the basis of relevance to the five CFS networks (although many projects have applicability or linkages to more than one network). A sixth category has been used to list work in the area of fire behavior and danger rating research.

Climate Change and Fire

• Research into predicting future Canadian forest fire regimes under a changing climate continued over the past year through funding from the Climate Change Action Fund (CCAF), the Program on Energy Research and Development, and Action Plan 2000. Preliminary estimates of future area burned of Canadian forests by ecozone have been computed using fire weather relationships in tandem with Global Circulation Model output. This is a first step in determining the susceptibility of Canadian forests to an altered fire regime because of climate change. Additionally, the length of the fire season is changing, and this has also been modeled. Results suggest an average increase of 75% to 125% in area burned by 2100, which would translate into an area burned of 4 to 6 million ha per year.
  
  
• The large-fire database, consisting of Canadian fires greater than 200 ha for the period 1959 to 1999, is now available on the Internet (Canadian Large Fire Database). The database includes the fire start location, start date, fire number and agency, total area burned, ecozone of fire, and fire cause. A journal paper is in press describing this data set. A database of polygons for these large fires is being finalized and will be available on the Web within the next year.
  
  
• Future fire occurrence and prediction have been evaluated through the analysis of lightning ignition patterns and human-caused ignitions due to climate change. A study was completed assessing the ability of the Regional Climate Model (RCM) to simulate current weather conditions in British Columbia, and create scenarios of current and future fire weather and fire danger conditions; the study analyzed historic fire occurrence and fire weather relationships. Development of a tool for predicting fire occurrence in British Columbia using Pacific sea surface temperatures will commence this year.
  
  
• CFS fire scientists are actively contributing to the Global Change Terrestrial Ecosystems and International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme to address fire impacts and feedbacks on the earth–climate system and to perform fire and vegetation dynamics modeling.
  
  
• CFS fire scientists are involved at the climate change science–policy interface, working closely with policy experts in the development of Canada's negotiation strategy with respect to the Kyoto Protocol and subsequent agreements. This has involved a concerted effort to determine the carbon sink–source strength of Canadian forests and an evaluation of carbon sequestration opportunities within the managed forest in Canada. A number of fire scientists remain active in international research organizations dealing with fire-related issues at a global scale.
  
  
• Studies on carbon flux following fires have continued. This work is linked to the Canadian and international FLUXNET program, which involves measurements of carbon dioxide exchange between forests and the atmosphere. The CFS operates towers on recently burned sites in Saskatchewan. Data collected during 2001 showed that a 3-year-old burn was a net carbon source of approximately 50 g carbon m² annually.
  
  
• The use of the SPOT-VGT (Système pour l'Observation de la Terre – VEGETATION) satellite sensor to age fire scars was evaluated for a large part of Canada. The prediction of age from fire scars depends on ecoregion and can be successful over periods as short as 6 years to about 30 years. The residual mean square error for all ecoregions ranged from 5 years for recent burns to about 12 years for three decades following fire. This tool is useful to get approximate fire scar ages, but accuracy is limited because of the variation in forest succession on the landscape, and it cannot replace more detailed mapping currently performed by fire agencies.
  
  
• Within a multiyear cooperative research program, the Russian FIRE BEAR (Fire Effects in the Boreal Eurasia Region) Project, five 4-ha experimental forest fires were completed in central Siberia in 2001. This project was initiated to understand the landscape extent and severity of forest fires and of factors affecting fire behavior; the effects of fire on carbon storage, air chemistry, vegetation dynamics, and structure; and forest health and productivity in the Russian boreal forest.
  
  
• Aerial smoke plume measurements were made during spring grass burns in southern Ontario. In addition, analysis and reporting were completed for carbonaceous aerosol measurements made during aerial smoke plume sampling in the International Crown Fire Modeling Experiment (ICFME) 1999 and 2000 prescribed burns in the Northwest Territories. These data are being gathered as model inputs for regional climate modeling. Analysis and reporting of mercury concentrations in the plumes sampled during ICFME 2000 were also completed. These data are being gathered for environmental modeling of mercury fluxes.
  
  
• A study to develop techniques for assessment of present and future fire behavior potential of forest landscapes continued during this year. The primary effort focused on estimating spatial and temporal variation in potential head fire intensity in Saskatchewan under a changing climate using the Canadian RCM. A report is currently being reviewed.

Enhanced Timber Production and Protection

• Further research and development was conducted in the area of wildfire threat rating. This included the completion of a prototype application for the Robson Valley Ministry of Forests District in British Columbia. A second pilot threat assessment has been initiated in the Greater Vancouver Watershed in coastal British Columbia. The CFS has participated as a member of the Alberta Landscape Fire Task Force and assisted with the Whitecourt pilot landscape fire assessment project. Collaborative work is being initiated with Saskatchewan.
  
  
• An 11-year remeasurement of BC Stony Lake site preparation (fire and mechanical) trials was completed and reported in a master's thesis at University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George.
  
  
• Continued research and development related to "fire-smart forest management" produced new projects integrating fire risk into timber supply modeling and suggesting various landscape fuel management strategies to mitigate timber lost to forest fires. This work has evolved from a recent "fire-smart forest management" pilot study that produced a journal publication and a report.
  
  
• With increasing interest in tailoring harvesting practices to emulate natural disturbances, a review was completed comparing wildfire and forest harvesting and their implications in forest management.
  
  
• The CFS participated in the workshop "Forest Management and Fire", held in Chicoutimi, Quebec, in April 2002. CFS staff presented at the conference and participated on the Organizing Committee.
  
  
• A framework of natural-based management for fire-regulated boreal forests was completed, as was a technical report on the fire regime and vegetation dynamics and the implications for sustainable forest management in the Lake Abitibi Model Forest.
  
  
• The CFS continued to be involved in synthesis and dissemination of information on assessing and mitigating the threat of wildfire to homes and communities at Canada's wildland–urban interface. This work is being conducted in conjunction with Partners in Protection and includes the distribution of FireSmart: Protecting Your Community from Wildfire as a manual, CD-ROM, and on the Web (http://www.partnersinprotection.ab.ca).

Forest Ecosystem Processes

• Several studies looking at the long-term fire history of the boreal forest in eastern Ontario and western and central Quebec have been completed. Reconstruction of fire occurrence revealed that fire frequency has changed several times in the past 8000 years in response to climate change and that vegetation response was delayed in comparison to the timing of the change in fire frequency.
  
  
• Validation of the BORFIRE model, which simulates fire regime and vegetation dynamics at the stand level, was completed and a report was prepared. The model suggests significant changes in carbon dynamics and stand composition in the boreal forest with a changing climate. Various fire management scenarios were also incorporated and reported.
  
  
• Studies on the use of prescribed fire in the montane ecoregion of Jasper National Park continued. An intense fire was completed in May 2001, and the effects of fire were monitored by sampling vegetation in permanent plots. Results to date were summarized for a less intense fire that occurred in May 1999. Little impact on ground vegetation cover and phytodiversity has been detected, but this may change as the tree canopy opens up and the solar radiation environment changes. A few more years may be needed to detect the full impact of fire and elk interactions. The information is being used to evaluate the success of prescribed burning as an ecosystem management tool in this ecoregion.
  
  
• A study looking at the relationship between fire severity, vegetation type (hardwood, mixedwood, or coniferous forest), and establishment of black spruce (Picea mariana), jack pine (Pinus banksiana), and trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) has been completed in Quebec, and two manuscripts are being prepared. CFS scientists are also participating in projects within Quebec studying relationships between prefire stand characteristics and postfire regeneration, as well as succession changes over a 300-year chronosequence.
  
  
• The CFS hosted the 22nd Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference at Kananaskis, Alberta, in October 2001. The conference was attended by 200 delegates from Canada and the USA and a number of overseas representatives. There were 34 oral presentations and 42 poster presentations on 5 theme topics: historical fire regimes, fuels management, managing fire at the wildland–urban interface, fire management in the Yellowstone to Yukon (Y2Y) corridor, and fire effects research in the ICFME.
  
  
• A preliminary fire regime analysis was performed on two relatively natural ecosystems in the Northwest Territories. Results of the fire history reconstructions showed the importance of topography in influencing fire size.
  
  
• A systematic investigation on how forest age-distribution is related to the fire regime provided a theoretical explanation as to why the negative exponential shape of age-distribution is not always observed in the field. The results suggested that a stable forest age-distribution might never be achieved if the forest landscape is subjected to large, irregular fire disturbances.
  
  
• Completion of a comparative study of different concepts and methods for estimating fire frequency and fire cycle suggested that different definitions are interrelated, except the number-based fire frequency definition. The bias associated with the estimate depends on fire disturbance history and data structure.

Forest Health and Biodiversity

• The CFS continued its involvement in the Ecosystem Management by Emulating Natural Disturbance (EMEND) study in northwestern Alberta. This major international study is comparing the effects of various logging and fire treatments on ecosystem processes, biodiversity, and forest productivity in the boreal mixedwood forest. Weather and other factors have limited the number of burns completed so far. CFS staff are participating in the development of harvest treatments and slash fire prescriptions for new compartments that are to be burned as early as fall 2003. Several CFS scientists received the NRCan Merit Award for team achievement for their contributions to the EMEND project.
  
  
• Two multidisciplinary studies examined fire and insect interactions in British Columbia. The first determined the impacts of mountain pine beetle attacks on stand and ecosystem dynamics by using long-term stand dynamics plots. Impact plots were re-established 17 years after mountain pine beetle attack to assess the long-term effects of mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae) outbreak on growth, stand dynamics, and fire behavior potential. The second project involved construction of fire and insect databases, Web site development, and initial analysis of factors influencing mountain pine beetle outbreak patterns and fire incidence and behavior.

Synthesis of Knowledge and Information

• The Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS) displays, over the Internet, daily national maps of potential fire danger as modeled by the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System and the Canadian Forest Fire Behavior Prediction (FBP) System. Weather data from provincially operated stations in Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Saskatchewan have been incorporated into CWFIS calculations. Weather data from several stations in neighboring American states are also included. Output maps have also been transferred to The Weather Network/MétéoMédia for Internet and television display.
  
  
• A prototype fire management system for Northern Europe and Russia has been running since May 1, 2001. Output maps are being transferred to the Northern Forestry Centre (NoFC) ftp site and retrieved by the Global Fire Monitoring Centre in Freiburg, Germany. For further information see the Fire Management Systems Web site at http://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/.
  
  
• A fire management system for Mexico continues to be run out of the NoFC. Arrangements are being made to have the system and operations moved to Mexico City.
  
  
• An Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer receiving station was installed at the NoFC during February 2002. This unit is operational with data received and archived from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 satellites during portions of the 2002 fire season. The CFS has also become capable of calibrating and geocorrecting the imagery and generating output products including fire masks for hotspot detection, vegetation and land indexes such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and albedo. This imagery will also be used to produce spatial information about snow cover and other meteorological phenomena.
  
  
• A new fire information system, the National Forest Fire Information System is being developed by the Fire Management Systems group. This site includes comprehensive information on current fire weather, historical normals, smoke, and remote sensing applications.
  
  
• The Fire Monitoring, Mapping and Modeling (M3) project displays active fire locations (hotspots) identified from infrared satellite imagery. National daily hotspot maps and data are provided over the Internet. This project is operated in cooperation with the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing (CCRS), a sector of NRCan, and the US Forest Service.
  
  
• Development and support for the Spatial Fire Management System (sFMS) is ongoing. New features include a fire occurrence prediction extension that incorporates existing lightning-caused and human-caused fire occurrence prediction models. Parts of the extension were validated in Saskatchewan. The sFMS has also been adjusted for use by New Zealand's National Rural Fire Authority.
  
  
• Enhancements to the fire occurrence prediction models were completed, which gave them the capacity to predict the daily number of fire occurrences across the landscape.
  
  
• Continued support was provided to the Canadian Wildland Fire Growth Model Steering Committee for the development of the Prometheus fire growth model.
  
  
• CFS fire researchers continued to represent Canada on the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) Global Observation of Forest Cover fire team by attending a satellite product validation workshop. This workshop provided an update on developments in satellite fire mapping and explored opportunities for international coordination of validation.The workshop resulted in the recommendation of a future meeting on the topic of atmospheric emissions from biomass burning. In addition, the CFS contributed to the final report of the CEOS Disaster Management Support Group Fire Hazard team.
  
  
• Refinements are being made to the Prescribed Fire Analysis System (PFAS) to increase the model's ability to predict potential fire growth over various time scales. Fire growth is modeled using deterministic modeling of cellular fire growth (short range), probabilistic modeling based on forecasted weather and reliability ranges (medium range), and modeling of fire spread probabilities and fire-stopping event probabilities (long range).
  
  
• The Fire Management Systems program at NoFC has undertaken a project to implement fire danger rating systems in several Southeast Asian countries. Studies to adapt Canadian danger rating models to Southeast Asian conditions have commenced, with initial results applied to operational products. Several technical and training missions have taken place, including a 3-week study tour in October 2001, during which Southeast Asian delegates traveled to Alberta. Detailed information on the project can be found at the Indonesian Fire Danger Rating System Web site, launched in July 2001 (http://www.fdrs.or.id/).

Fire Behavior/Danger Rating

• A special session devoted to the ICFME near Fort Providence, Northwest Territories, was included in the 22nd Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference at Kananaskis, Alberta.The session featured nine oral presentations and nine poster-paper presentations. Spatial patterns and variability spread rates were analyzed and plotted for experimental fires conducted as part of ICFME. Manuscripts are currently being prepared for submission in a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research.
  
  
• The CFS has maintained significant activity producing technical tools and presentation materials for wildland firefighter safety and public safety at the wildland–urban interface. CFS staff received two awards for their contributions in the development of the multimedia CD-ROM products "Wildland Fire - Safety on the Fireline and Principles of Fire Behavior."
  
  
• Continued technology transfer related to the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) occurred at various venues. Contributions to the development of a multimedia CD-ROM training course titled "Understanding the Fire Weather Index (FWI) System" were also made.
  
  
• Research into the prediction of extreme fire behavior and enhancements of the CFFDRS continued through collaboration with universities in Canada and the USA. Enhancements to the CFFDRS included research on the use of remote sensing technology for fire danger monitoring.
  
  
• CFS scientists initiated a research project to explore the feasibility of using satellite remote sensing data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program for modeling spatial precipitation. The goal of the project is to develop a model for producing a daily, 25-km grid of precipitation to be used in producing enhanced, spatial FWI estimates for Canada. The project is a cooperative effort between the CFS, FedNor, York University, and the Upper Lakes Environmental Centre in Sault Ste. Marie.
  
  
• Research continued on improving the Canadian Forest FBP System for the mixedwood fuel component. In cooperation with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, one experimental fire was ignited on a 1-ha plot during the spring burning period of 2001. Three plots now remain unburned and available for future burning.

National Partners and Collaborators

The key to success in the current research environment in Canada and elsewhere is networking, formation of alliances, cooperative research ventures, and effective technology transfer of research products. CFS fire research staff have been highly visible in all these areas by forging partnerships with industrial clients (Daishowa-Marubeni International, Canadian Forest Products, Millar Western); provincial and territorial governments; foreign countries such as Indonesia, Mexico, New Zealand, and Russia; Forest Renewal BC; and universities (e.g., through the Sustainable Forest Management Network of the National Centres of Excellence and other federal government funding bodies such as ENergy from the FORests and CCAF). In addition, research collaboration with government scientists from CCRS, the Meteorological Service of Canada, Natioanl Research Council of Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and Parks Canada has resulted in synergies with regard to research productivity and stretching of resources. The close working relationship between CFS fire research staff and the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre working groups on Fire Science and Technology and Fire Training persists and continues to be nurtured. Alliances with members of the Canadian Model Forest system (McGregor, Foothills, Manitoba, and Lake Abitibi model forests) have also proven highly beneficial in terms of funding support, formulation of research questions and priorities, testing of products, and technology transfer activities.

CFS Fire Research Personnel

As of April 2002 the CFS had 30 indeterminate staff members plus 12 term employees working on various aspects of forest fire research. They are listed according to their establishment and main field(s) of study/work.

Further Information

Further information about NRCan, the CFS, and its fire research program is available through the following Web sites:

NRCan - http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/
CFS - http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/cfs-scf/
CFS Fire Research - http://fire.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/