Assessing the Effectiveness of Green Landscape Buffers to Reduce Fire Severity and Limit Fire Spread in California: Case Study of Golf Courses
Communities looking to improve fire protection may consider incorporating landscape features that ‘buffer’ the effects of a fire between developed and undeveloped lands. While landscapes such as golf courses, vineyards, or agriculture are already being considered part of this buffer zone, few empiri...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-03-01
|
| Series: | Fire |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/5/2/44 |
| _version_ | 1797434736310747136 |
|---|---|
| author | Claudia Herbert Van Butsic |
| author_facet | Claudia Herbert Van Butsic |
| author_sort | Claudia Herbert |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Communities looking to improve fire protection may consider incorporating landscape features that ‘buffer’ the effects of a fire between developed and undeveloped lands. While landscapes such as golf courses, vineyards, or agriculture are already being considered part of this buffer zone, few empirical studies demonstrate causally how well these different landscape features operate as a fire buffer. This research selects golf courses as an example of a possible buffer landscape and proposes methods to test if this buffer alters fire severity and limits fire spread. Using propensity score matching and multiple linear regression, we demonstrate golf courses that burned in California between 1986 and 2020 had a predicted 49% reduction in fire severity relative to otherwise similar vegetated land. This reduction in fire severity is regionally dependent, with the effect of golf course buffering landscapes most pronounced in the North Bay region. For limiting fire spread, golf courses function similarly to hardscaped land uses such as airports, suggesting that irrigation and vegetation management can be effective in creating desired buffering qualities. These methods suggest that artificially created irrigated green zones act as effective buffers, providing de facto fuel breaks around communities, and can be reproduced for other potential buffering landscape features. This study does not advocate for the use of any specific anthropogenic landscape feature, but rather highlights that community-based fire hazard reduction goals could be attained through considering landscape features beyond fuel reduction manipulations. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:38:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ddd965f425ba45b69fc59fc63201f8b0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-6255 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:38:08Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fire |
| spelling | doaj.art-ddd965f425ba45b69fc59fc63201f8b02023-12-01T20:52:31ZengMDPI AGFire2571-62552022-03-01524410.3390/fire5020044Assessing the Effectiveness of Green Landscape Buffers to Reduce Fire Severity and Limit Fire Spread in California: Case Study of Golf CoursesClaudia Herbert0Van Butsic1Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USADepartment of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USACommunities looking to improve fire protection may consider incorporating landscape features that ‘buffer’ the effects of a fire between developed and undeveloped lands. While landscapes such as golf courses, vineyards, or agriculture are already being considered part of this buffer zone, few empirical studies demonstrate causally how well these different landscape features operate as a fire buffer. This research selects golf courses as an example of a possible buffer landscape and proposes methods to test if this buffer alters fire severity and limits fire spread. Using propensity score matching and multiple linear regression, we demonstrate golf courses that burned in California between 1986 and 2020 had a predicted 49% reduction in fire severity relative to otherwise similar vegetated land. This reduction in fire severity is regionally dependent, with the effect of golf course buffering landscapes most pronounced in the North Bay region. For limiting fire spread, golf courses function similarly to hardscaped land uses such as airports, suggesting that irrigation and vegetation management can be effective in creating desired buffering qualities. These methods suggest that artificially created irrigated green zones act as effective buffers, providing de facto fuel breaks around communities, and can be reproduced for other potential buffering landscape features. This study does not advocate for the use of any specific anthropogenic landscape feature, but rather highlights that community-based fire hazard reduction goals could be attained through considering landscape features beyond fuel reduction manipulations.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/5/2/44WUIvegetation firepropensity score matchingfire severitylandscape ecology |
| spellingShingle | Claudia Herbert Van Butsic Assessing the Effectiveness of Green Landscape Buffers to Reduce Fire Severity and Limit Fire Spread in California: Case Study of Golf Courses Fire WUI vegetation fire propensity score matching fire severity landscape ecology |
| title | Assessing the Effectiveness of Green Landscape Buffers to Reduce Fire Severity and Limit Fire Spread in California: Case Study of Golf Courses |
| title_full | Assessing the Effectiveness of Green Landscape Buffers to Reduce Fire Severity and Limit Fire Spread in California: Case Study of Golf Courses |
| title_fullStr | Assessing the Effectiveness of Green Landscape Buffers to Reduce Fire Severity and Limit Fire Spread in California: Case Study of Golf Courses |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the Effectiveness of Green Landscape Buffers to Reduce Fire Severity and Limit Fire Spread in California: Case Study of Golf Courses |
| title_short | Assessing the Effectiveness of Green Landscape Buffers to Reduce Fire Severity and Limit Fire Spread in California: Case Study of Golf Courses |
| title_sort | assessing the effectiveness of green landscape buffers to reduce fire severity and limit fire spread in california case study of golf courses |
| topic | WUI vegetation fire propensity score matching fire severity landscape ecology |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/5/2/44 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT claudiaherbert assessingtheeffectivenessofgreenlandscapebufferstoreducefireseverityandlimitfirespreadincaliforniacasestudyofgolfcourses AT vanbutsic assessingtheeffectivenessofgreenlandscapebufferstoreducefireseverityandlimitfirespreadincaliforniacasestudyofgolfcourses |