Aspen as a fuel break
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It is well known that aspen functions as a fuel break in wildland fire situations, but it is difficult to find quantitative guidelines for managing aspen with fuel risk reduction as an objective. Former graduate student Kristin Nesbit led a project to survey fire and forest managers about their observations of fire in aspen and published a literature review about aspen-fire relationships. She also collected fuel loading and fuel moisture data across gradients of aspen-conifer dominance and stages of stand development to further our understanding of the factors leading to flammability of aspen. We are also working on spatial analysis of fire severity across a range of aspen forests.