The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Master's Projects and Capstones Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects Spring 5-18-2018 Causal Fire Relationships in Sonoma County & Identification of Suitable Fire Management Strategies Allison Howlett [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone Part of the Environmental Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Howlett, Allison, "Causal Fire Relationships in Sonoma County & Identification of Suitable Fire Management Strategies" (2018). Master's Projects and Capstones. 785. https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/785 This Project/Capstone is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Projects and Capstones by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This Master’s Project Causal Fire Relationships in Sonoma County & Identification of Suitable Fire Management Strategies by Allison Howlett is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Science in Environmental Management at the University of San Francisco Submitted: Received: __________________________ __________________________ Allison Howlett Date Amalia Kokkinaki, Ph. D. Date i TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................................... I LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................................................... II LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................................................... III ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................................. 1 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 2 2. BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1. FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE OCCURRENCE OF WILDFIRES .................................................................. 5 2.1.1. LAND COVER AND FIRE WEATHER ............................................................................................................ 5 2.1.2. PHYSICAL SETTING AND SOIL.................................................................................................................... 6 2.1.3. FIRE INTENSITY AND SEVERITY ................................................................................................................. 7 2.2. ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................................................ 8 2.3. IMPORTANCE OF FIRE MANAGEMENT ......................................................................................................... 9 2.4. SONOMA COUNTY: ECOSYSTEM, POPULATION DEMOGRAPHICS AND DISTRIBUTION .............................. 10 3. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................................................... 12 4. RESULTS ...................................................................................................................................................... 15 4.1. FACTORS AND IMPACTS RELATED TO FIRE OCCURRENCE .......................................................................... 15 4.1.1. FIRE SEVERITY IMPACTS ......................................................................................................................... 15 4.1.2. EROSION AND PRECIPITATION ............................................................................................................... 17 4.2. HABITAT RESILIENCE AND RESTORATION ................................................................................................... 21 4.2.1. CALIFORNIA CHAPARRAL ....................................................................................................................... 21 4.2.2. CALIFORNIA COASTAL OAK WOODLAND................................................................................................ 23 4.2.3. HARDWOOD & CONIFER FORESTS ......................................................................................................... 24 4.3. WILDFIRES IN CALIFORNIA .......................................................................................................................... 25 4.3.2. RIM FIRE, 2013 ....................................................................................................................................... 26 4.3.3. THOMAS FIRE, 2017 ............................................................................................................................... 27 4.3.4. NORTH BAY WILDFIRES, OCTOBER 2017 ................................................................................................ 28 4.3.4.1. ATLAS FIRE, OCTOBER 2017 ................................................................................................................... 28 4.3.4.2. NUNS FIRE, OCTOBER 2017 .................................................................................................................... 30 4.3.4.3. TUBBS FIRE, OCTOBER 2017 ................................................................................................................... 34 4.3.4.4. POCKET FIRE, OCTOBER 2017 ................................................................................................................. 37 4.3.5. COMPARING NORTH BAY CENTRAL LNU COMPLEX FIRE TO HISTORICAL FIRES ..................................... 40 4.4. POST FIRE LAND MANAGEMENT AND FIRE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES ................................................... 51 4.4.1. FIRE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES ........................................................................................................... 51 4.4.2. FIRE MONITORING PROGRAMS ............................................................................................................. 58 4.4.3. MONITORING OF HABITAT RESTORATION ............................................................................................. 61 5. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SONOMA COUNTY ................................................................. 63 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................................................................... 66 i LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Fire Disturbance Cycle (Jain, et al. 2008). ....................................................................................... 6 Figure 2: Omenrik Level II Ecoregions (Hawbaker et al,. 2013). ................................................................... 10 Figure 3: Fire Perimeters of Nuns Canyon Fire (1964) and Nuns Fire (2017) [County of Sonoma, 2017]. .... 26 Figure 4: North Bay Wildfires Location Parameters, 2017 (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection 2017). ......................................................................................................................................... 29 Figure 5: Nuns Incident Fire History Map, 1951 To Present (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, 2017) ......................................................................................................................................... 32 Figure 6: Soil Burn Severity of Nuns Fire, 2017 (Sonoma Open Space, 2017). ............................................. 33 Figure 7: Debris Flow Likelihood Following Nuns Fire With 6 mm of Rainfall Within 15 Minutes (Sonoma Open Space, 2017). ...................................................................................................................................... 33 Figure 8: Tubbs Fire History Map From 1951 To 2017 (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, 2017c) ....................................................................................................................................... 35 Figure 9: Soil Burn Severity Of Tubbs Fire, 2017 (Sonoma Open Space, 2017). ........................................... 36 Figure 10: Debris Flow Likelihood Following Tubbs Fire With 6 Mm of Rainfall Within 15 Minutes (Sonoma Open Space, 2017). ...................................................................................................................................... 36 Figure 11: Acres Burned and Average Annual Precipitation Correlation with error bars representing annual rainfall range. .............................................................................................................................................. 45 Figure 12: Acres Burned Versus Average Elevation (ft) ................................................................................ 45 Figure 13: Acres Burned versus Difference in Elevation Range, calculated from lowest and highest elevations at which fire burned. .................................................................................................................