Changes in vegetation and fuels due to the Warm Fire on the Kaibab National Forest

Fire is a significant and essential disturbance in ponderosa pine ecosystems but the management and the re-introduction of fire across the landscape is a difficult task for land managers. In this study we worked with land managers, stakeholders and researchers to examine the effects of a large wildfire on the Kaibab Plateau in northern Arizona. We analyzed litter and duff depth, downed woody debris and understory vegetation responses to low and high burn severity and assessed the response of the understory vegetation to seeding with Lolium perenne ssp. multiflorum in high severity burn areas. To assist land managers in future decision making we collected and analyzed data on ponderosa pine mortality, and overstory characteristics by fire severity. In addition, we looked for correlations between pre-fire predictions for fire behavior and fire hazard compared to fire severity