Dr. Nathan Gill and graduate fellows Maria Anastacio and Badri Ghimire were interviewed by NBC News' Denise Chow about the complexities of climate change and the drivers of the ongoing Texas Panhandle Wildfires. The article can be found here. It is our sincere hope that the fires will soon be extinguished and that those directly affected will be supported in their long road to recovery.

In collaboration with the USFS, New Mexico Highlands University, and University of Northern Colorado, TTU's Laura Fischer and Nathan Gill have received funding to investigate resident perceptions of Wildfire Crisis Strategy activities in the Enchanted Circle landscape, New Mexico. We will work with local partners to better understand human experiences with wildfire hazard and mitigation efforts in Enchanted Circle firesheds.

The LEAF Lab team participated in the New Mexico Wildland Urban Fire Summit held in Ruidoso, including a plenary talk delivered by Dr. Gill explaining why managers, landowners, and other stake holders should care about fire behavior modeling. Pictured here are Holden, Badri, Dr. Gill, and Maria on the summit's field trip to Lake Bonito, where we looked at restoration efforts after the 2012 Little Bear Fire.

Dr Gill and the grad students of the LEAF Lab completed a service project with the USFS in south central New Mexico. They spent the day building beaver dam analogs (BDAs), or dams that the forest service is using to restore riparian habitat by mimicking the role of long-extirpated beavers. The BDAs restore many ecological benefits, including water retention, water filtering, increased biodiversity, and more. 

MS Student Dayton Wood will be presenting a poster in the coming weeks at the Western Region meeting of the American Association for Agricultural Education. His poster, entitled "Igniting Reflection: Using Photovoice to Enhance Experiential Learning in a Prescribed Burning Course" was selected as one of the top ten poster presentations submitted for the conference, and will be featured in a competition for a people's choice award. Congrats to Dayton, and best of luck at the conference in Logan, UT!

Collin Norvell presented a poster of his research on re-evaluating the Composite Burn Index at the Undergraduate Research Conference in Lubbock, TX and won the outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award from the Center for Transformative Undergraduate Experiences. Congrats to Collin!

Congratulations to Catherine Lechnar on the successful defense of her thesis entitiled "Determining optimal combinations of herbicide application and prescribed fire for biological invasion control in Attwater’s Prairie Chicken habitat". We celebrated this great achievement with Macartney Rose-themed orange and poppyseed cake. The same weekend, Catherine clinched the coveted title of LEAF Lab March Madness Champion 2023- another lofty feat! Congrats to Catherine! 

LEAF Lab members gave a total of eight presentations of their fire ecology research at two disciplinary conferences this week. At the International Association for Landscape Ecology-North America inn Riverside, CA, Catherine Lechnar, Ashlyn Sneed, and Nathan Gill gave oral presentations on Macartney rose control, subalpine forest regeneration after short interval fire, and simulations of fuel treatment pattern effectiveness, respecectively. Badri Ghimire and Collin Norvell presented their work on measuring fire severity, and Maria Anastacio and Beighlee Franks had a poster on communicating fire science. At the American Association for Geographers meeting in Denver, Nathan and Badri again presented their work and George Gyan gave a poster presentation on the use of GIS to improve emergency response time to urban fires in Ghana.

LEAF Lab PI Nathan Gill collaborated on a large study of postfire regeneration across the Western US with Kimberly Davis and 61 other authors, recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Titled "Reduced fire severity offers near-term buffer to climate-driven declines in conifer resilience across the western United States", the paper compares the relative importance of fire-caused mortality and loss of seedbank to climate conditions that influence regeneration rates. We combined data from >10,000 plots and found declining regeneration capacity across all conifers studied due to seedbank limitations and increasingly warm and dry conditions. Our results suggest that there is an opportune window of time in the next few decades where efforts to preserve seedbanks will allow for regeneration until climate warming reaches a point where regeneration is unlikely.

Tara Durboraw (MS '21) led the writing of a manuscript based on some of her thesis research that has been accepted for publication in Fire Ecology. The article, titled "Long-term recovery of Mexican spotted owl nesting habitat after fire in the Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico", communicates her research about the recovery of the structure of nesting habitat for Mexican spotted owls up to one hundred years after wildfires. We found important differences and long-lasting effects of fires that burned at different severities. The article is available online here.

LEAF Lab undergraduate research Collin Norvell has received a $2,000 undergraduate research grant from the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. This grant will support his efforts to study how the Composite Burn Index might be improved to align more closely with satellite-derived estimates of fire severity in forests that have experienced short interval fires and other compounded disturbances. The grant will also support Collin's travel to present his research at the International Association for Landscape Ecology-North America. Congrats Collin!

Every two years, The Andrus Center for Public Policy, Public Lands Foundation, and National Association of Forest Service Retirees host the John Freemuth Student Congress. Maria Anastacio was one of about twenty students selected from across the country to convene and discuss issues related to fire management. They examined western fire management through field work and policy discussions, culminating in a student authored report presented to the Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland. The LEAF Lab is proud to have been represented through Maria's participation.

The LEAF Lab contributed to a study led by Kyle Rodman (Northern Arizona University) that was recently published in the Journal of Ecology. The study brought together data from 16 different projects to examine forest dynamics after bark beetle outbreaks. We found that  recent bark beetle outbreaks in the Southern Rockies have reduced tree size and altered species composition. While eventual recovery of the pre-outbreak forest structure is likely in most places, changes in species composition may persist for decades. See a pre-print of the full article here.

Congratulations to Ashlyn Sneed for being awarded the Wayne Harrison Scholarship from the Association for Fire Ecology (AFE) for her research proposal entitled "An investigation of subalpine forest dynamics before and after short interval fire in Routt National Forest, Colorado". Ashlyn will receive $2,500 to support her research. Reviewers commented that Ashlyn's proposal was well-written and focused on important topics in fire ecology. Congrats to Ashlyn! 

Congratulations to Catherine Lechnar for reaching candidacy toward her MS degree! Catherine's thesis research, entitled "Determining optimal combinations of herbicide application and prescribed fire for biological invasion control in Attwater’s prairie chicken habitat", will aim to identify the best combinations of herbicide application and burning for coastal prairie management in the face of invasive plants and insects. Her committee (Dr. Gill, Dr. Grisham, and Dr. Cox of TTU as well as Dr. Robert Puckett of Texas A&M University's Department of Entomology) unanimously agreed to accept her proposal without any further major revisions. Congrats to Catherine!

Congratulations to LEAF graduate students George Gyan and Catherine Lechnar, who have each received a Fire Congress Scholarship from the Association for Fire Ecology (AFE). These scholarships will cover expenses so that George and Catherine can participate in the Ninth Annual International Fire Ecology and Management Congress held next month. At the congress, George and Catherine will have opportunities to present their research, listen to presentations from the world's leading fire ecology researchers, network, and engage in all aspects of the congress, which is themed around Life with Fire: Prescriptions for Resilience. 

Three recent manuscripts led by LEAF Lab researchers have been accepted for publication in upcoming issues of scholarly journals, including BioScience, Ecosphere, and Land. One, led by Tali Hamilton, presents her thesis research on invasive grass/fire cycles in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The other two are review articles co-led by Dr. Gill, including a review of how fire regime change influences patterns of propagule dispersal in North American forests, and an outline of six important questions for invasion ecology that can be addressed in part through the use of NEON data. Watch our publications page for preprints a they come available.

On June 22, Tara Durboraw successfully defended her thesis, "THE STRUCTURAL IMPACTS OF WILDFIRE AND DEFOLIATION ON MEXICAN SPOTTED OWL (STRIX OCCIDENTALIS LUCIDA) NESTING HABITAT". Congratulations! Tara's thesis research has given important insights into how forest conditions that are relevant to this threatened spotted owl change over time after insect outbreaks and wildfires of varying severity (stay tuned for news of forthcoming publications). Best wishes to Tara as she graduates from TTU and continues to do important ecological research through a PhD at UC-Denver!

LEAF Lab MS Candidate Tara Durboraw has received a Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF) from the National Science Foundation for her proposed dissertation research entitled, "Impacts of disturbance-produced openings on natural establishment of whitebark pine." These prestigious fellowships fully support each PhD student recipient for three years, and out of thousands of applicants each year, only a slim margin of are awarded the fellowship. Tara is one of only four TTU students who received the fellowship this year. Tara will study whitebark pine establishment in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Colorado-Denver.

Today, Tali Hamilton successfully defended her thesis and will soon be graduating and moving on from the LEAF Lab. Congrats to Tali! Her thesis, "The effects of grass invasion and fire severity on Acacia koa regeneration", examines the influence of wildfire severity and grass introductions on the post-fire regeneration of a native Hawaiian tree. Well wishes to Tali as she wraps up her time with Texas Tech and moves on to the next stage with the Jefferson Land Trust in Port Townsend, WA.

LEAF Lab MS Candidate Tara Durboraw placed second in Texas Tech's 20th Annual Grad Student Poster Competition for her poster "Are Mexican Spotted Owls Bugging Out?". Grad Students across all all disciplines competed in the event, which was held completely online virtual this year. Download Tara's poster on her spatial analysis of Mexican Spotted Owl response to Janet's Looper outbreak here.

Our recent study that was published in Ecology was featured in a news story with Wyoming Public Radio. Dr. Gill was interviewed about how fire regime change is influencing seed dispersal, and what the implications of the study's findings are for future forest dynamics. A brief written story summarizing the interview can be found at Wyoming Public Media online.

A new study from the LEAF Lab and collaborators at the University of Wisconsin has been accepted for publication in Ecology. The article describes how more fire activity in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is not only causing more frequent mortality of trees by fire, but also affecting the fundamental process of seed dispersal to re-colonize burned areas. The full text will be made available soon.

Dr. Gill and other faculty of the Natural Resources Management and Agricultural Education and Communications departments of Texas Tech have been awarded a grant from the US Department of Agriculture for a program to help promote diversity and inclusion through experiential learning in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR). Participants in the Bridge Adventure program will conduct mentored field research, volunteer on service learning trips, and engage in outdoor adventures as they partner with students and faculty of CASNR. Stay tuned for more details!

A new study from the LEAF Lab has been published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire. The article describes how the relationship between tree regeneration and ground cover depends on different combinations of recent disturbances-- in this case, wildfires, insect outbreaks, and windstorms. The full text can be found here.

LEAF Lab team member Steven Iida was recently named Mr. CASNR by the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR). Steven earned the title through a competition involving western wear, an interview, and performing a talent. Congratulations to Steven!

Congratulations to both Tara and Tali for receiving Travel, Research and Educational Experience (TREE) grants from the Joint Fire Science Program to attend the Association for Fire Ecology Meeting in Tucson next month. See their presentation abstracts and the full conference program here.

Watch for Dr Gill in the latest episode of NOVA on PBS, Inside the Megafire. Although the on-camera interview with Dr Gill was not included in the final cut of the episode, it does feature a lot of fascinating science from many leading fire ecologists from around the country. Catch the full episode here.

The LEAF Lab welcomes its first two graduate students to Texas Tech, beginning Fall 2019! Tara Durboraw (BS Wildlife Ecology and Management, Auburn University '19) and Tali Hamilton (BS Environmental Sciences, University of Washington '17) will each be entering the Wildlife, Aquatic, and Wildlands Science and Management MS program at TTU. Tali is interested in grass-fire cycles and restoration efforts in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Tara is interested to explore interactions between grazing and prescribed burning on rangelands in New Mexico and Texas. Welcome!

Dr. Gill has been selected as a finalist for the J Warren Nystrom Award for his paper "Disturbance interactions modulate how litter and herbaceous cover influence conifer regeneration after fire". He and five other finalist will present their papers in April at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Washington, DC. The Nystrom Award is given annually to the author of an outstanding paper based on a dissertation in Geography within the last three years.

The Landscape Ecology and Fire Research Lab is coming to Texas Tech University in Fall 2019. Dr. Gill has taken a position as a Fire Ecologist in the Department of Natural Resources Management. Support for graduate students with interests in fire ecology is available- please see the Prospective Students page for more details.

The Nov 2018 issue of Discover Magazine highlighted some of Dr. Gill's research on lodgepole pine seed dispersal after short-interval wildfires in Greater Yellowstone. The article explains how the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE)  is well adapted to infrequent, large wildfires that have occurred throughout the historical past, like the fires that burned through Yellowstone National Park in 1988. Dr. Gill's study is one of many that the article discusses to explain how scientists expect more frequent fire in the GYE to change fundamental ecosystem processes and forest regeneration. Read the full article here.