Research & Education in Wildland Fire Science at the University of California, Berkeley
In early March 2021, members of the Stephens lab joined other UC Berkeley forestry women to lead a workshop at Expanding Your Horizons.
This event virtually hosted local middle school girls to share STEM career paths. This year, our group shared some fire ecology concepts, different research methods we use, and a burn board experiment to test how slope, wind, and forest density can impact fire severity.
Read a summary of 20 years of research and over 40 publications on how prescribed fire and restoration thinning can meet fuel reduction objectives to create forest stands more resilient to wildfires, here.
Read a general summary of twelve peer-reviewed research papers conducted in the Illiouette Creek and Sugarloaf Creek Basins by the Stephens Lab and the Center for Fire Research and Outreach at Berkeley Forests, here.
UC Berkeley and CAL FIRE Formalize Partnership
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Fire Research and Outreach and Berkeley Forests have entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalize an agreement to partner on research related to critical forest and fire issues. Highlighted by the recent large and damaging wildfires plaguing the state, the program of research will leverage both agencies’ unique expertise and perspective to collaborate on defining key research topics, methods, and paths for communicating results.
Read the full MOU, here.
A new paper in the journal BioScience discusses how the recent widespread tree die-off in California may affect wildfire risk.
See the press release, New York Times story, or the paper itself.
The workshop, held in Washington, D.C., was entitled “A Century Of Wildland Fire Research: Contributions To Long-term Approaches For Wildland Fire Management.” It was hosted by the National Academy of Sciences Board on Earth Sciences and Resources on March 27, 2017. Prof. Stephens’ talk was entitled, “Fire and fuels management: What works where?.” See the slides here and video here.
Prof. Scott Stephens delivered the opening remarks at the Little Hoover Commission’s public hearing on California Forest Management at the state capital in Sacramento. Read more and access his full testimony here.
Stephens Lab research on restored fire in the Illilouette Basin of Yosemite National Park was covered by Berkeley media relations. Read the story here.
The New York Times article “Fighting Fire with Fire “ discusses the importance of prescribed fire in managing fire risk. Relying on quotes from Scott Stephens, the Times also reports why other strategies beyond prescribed fire are necessary in Southern California. The article is part of the special feature “California Today.”
Stephens lab research into hydrological effects of wildfire was featured on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Gabrielle Boisrame conducts research in Yosemite’s Illilouette Basin.