Fire Effects Information
System: An Aid for Fire Use in
the Southwest
1William C. Fischer and Nancy E. McMurray
2The Fire Effects Information Sys-tem (FEIS) was developed by the Intermountain Research Station in cooperation with the University of Montana. This system is a computer-ized information storage and re-trieval system that was developed to be an authoritative, easy to access source for information about the ef-fect of fire on individual plant and animal species and on the plant com-munities in which these species re-side.
The expected effect of fire on plant communities is a major consideration affecting decisions to use fire to ac-complish a variety of wildland vege-tation management objectives. To obtain a specific desired result from a fire treatment, the fire prescription must be based on the best available information and experience regard-ing the response of target plant spe-cies to fire and how this response varies according to such factors as fire severity, season, phenological state, successional status, site charac-teristics, and other biological and en-vironmental considerations. Many managers perceive a lack of such fire effects information as a barrier to the
1 Poster paper presented at the
confer-ence, Effects of Are in Management of Southwestern Natural Resources (Tucson. Al, November 14-17, 1988).
2William C. Ascher is a Research Forester,
Intermountain Research Station, Forest Serv-ice, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ogden
UT. stationed at Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory, P.O. Box 8089, Missoula, MT: and Nancy E. McMurray is an Ecologist, Systems for Environmental Management, P.O. Box8868, Missoula, MT.
effective use of prescribed fire for vegetation management (Kickert et al. 1976, Kilgore and Curtis 1987, Noste and Brown 1981, Taylor et al. 1975). However, a substantial body of information exists about fire ef-fects generally and plant response to fire in particular, especially for the species of primary management con-cern. The problem, largely one of the accessibility of such information, has two facets: (1) there is no single "best" route to the available informa-tion, and (2) the information is gener-ally unorganized and uninterpreted for the purpose of aiding fire man-agement decisions. The Fire Effects Information System is a unique solu-tion to this problem.
What It Is and What It Is Not The Fire Effects Information Sys-tem is a computerized knowledge management system that stores and retrieves state-of-the-knowledge, English-language texual information organized in an encyclopedic fash-ion. It is unlike most information sys-tems available to natural resource managers. It is not a computerized bibliography although a computer-ized bibliography is an important appendage to the system. It is not a numerical data base although the system does accommodate numerical -data. And the information provided
by the system is ready to use; it does not have to be decoded.
For those abreast of computer sci-ence trends, FEIS is an
object-ori-ented, frame-based, knowledge-based system implemented in the LISP programming language. FEIS was developed using concepts, meth-ods, and techniques from the rapidly expanding field of artificial intelli-gence (AI), but it is not an expert sys-tem. (For details on the design and structure of FEIS and development of its software, see Fischer and Wright 1987).
The Fire Effects Information Sys-tem consists of three components: the knowledge base, the query program, and the builder program. The knowl-edge base contains the fire effects and related information that is avail-able to users of the system. The query program allows access to the knowledge base but does not allow any changes. It is designed for people who are unskilled in computer use. The builder program is used by those who are adding to or editing the knowledge base. The user of the builder program is expected to be familiar with the structure of the knowledge base and is expected to be skilled in computer use. Because it is the object of the system, the knowedge base is described in more detail below.
The Knowledge Bose The FEIS knowledge base is de-signed to accept information in three major categories: plant species, eco-systems, and wildlife species. The ecosystem category includes three levels of classification: an ecosystem This file was created by scanning the printed publication.
Errors identified by the software have been corrected; however, some errors may remain.
level, a cover type level, and a habi-tat type or plant community level. For each category and level, the knowledge base contains state-of-knowledge textual information for various predetermined topics for several subject matter areas. Topics by subject matter area for each of the three categories of information are listed in table 1. The knowledge base will accept information only for the predetermined topics listed in table
1. Addition of other topics is rela-tively simple for someone who is fa-miliar with the structure of the sys-tem and capable of programming in the LISP language. A topic title will not appear on the screen of the user's computer terminal until an entry for that topic exists in the knowledge base. Fischer (1987) and Fischer and Wright (1987) provide examples of FEIS output essentially as it would be displayed on the screen of a user's computer terminal.
Knowledge Base Development The information contained in the FEIS knowledge base is the product of a rigorous process that includes (1) making a thorough bibliographic search to identify literature related to the topics listed in table 1, (2) obtain-ing hard copy of all such literature, (3) reading the literature, evaluating its reliability, and summarizing use-ful information, (4) resolving con-flicts, if possible, between contradic-tory information, (5) synthesizing fire effects information, and (6) entering the information into the knowledge base. The fire research team respon-sible for knowledge base develop-ment consists of professional biolo-gists trained in the areas of botany, wildlife biology, range science, and forestry. On the average, it takes about 10 days for a team member to complete an initial species or ecosys-tem writeup and enter it into the knowledge base. Following the entry, the information for a given species or ecosystem is reproduced on paper
and sent for technical review to sci-entists, staff specialists, and manag-ers who have expert knowledge of the species or ecosystem. The infor-mation in the knowledge base is re-vised, as necessary, to reflect this technical review. Information in the knowledge base is periodically re-vised to incorporate knowledge from more current literature.
Content of the Knowledge Base As of January 1, 1989, information for 176 plant species (25 trees, 70 shrubs, 64 grasses, and 17 forbs), 13 wildlife species, and 1 ecosystem (in-cluding 8 cover types) was contained in the FEIS knowledge base (see ap-pendix A). The distribution of spe-cies according to their occurrence in Forest-Range Environmental Study ecosystems (Garrison et al. 1977) is presented as appendix B. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Department of the Interior (USDI) have been the primary sponsors for the development of a prototype knowledge base. A majority of the species included in the present knowledge base are, consequently, those common to the semi-arid West-ern rangelands managed by the BLM and the ponderosa pine forests and plains grasslands of Wind Cave Na-tional Park, South Dakota. The NPS designated Wind Cave National Park as a prototype park for knowledge base development. Currently, the BLM is sponsoring knowledge base additions of species that occur in the chaparral-mountain shrub, desert shrub, pinyon-juniper, and sagebrush ecosystems. The NPS is currently sponsoring the addition of species that occur in Yellowstone National Park.
Current Access to The System FEIS was developed on a Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) VAX
750 computer at the University of Montana and is now on a Data Gen-eral (DG) MV 4000 computer at the Intermountain Fire Sciences Labora-tory in Missoula, MT.3 The system also resides on a BLM DG MV10000 computer at the Boise Interagency Fire Center, Boise, ID. BLM person-nel access the system using IBM-compatible personal computer (PC),
a 1200 baud phone modem, and
ter-minal emulation/ communications software that can emulate a DG 400 terminal. Forest Service personnel, at sites where TELNET is installed, have been allowed DG access to the system at the Fire Sciences Labora-tory via the deflected drawer proc-ess. Additionally, the system has been delivered to the NPS Branch of Fire Management at Boise for instal-lation on its DEC VAX 750.
The BLM and NPS systems con-tain only the knowledge base and query components. The builder pro-gram resides only at the Fire Sciences Laboratory and is presently re-stricted to use by fire research per-sonnel involved in knowledge base development. A personal computer (PC) version of the FEIS query pro-gram and knowledge base is avail-able at Wind Cave National Park for operational evaluation. A PC builder program is not yet available.
Planning for a widely available operational implementation of the Fire Effects Information System is under way. Feasible alternatives have been identified for considera-tion by potential sponsors. Initial ac-tion is aimed toward some form of interagency implementation that would allow access by all potentially interested users. Widespread, multi-agency operational implementation of FEIS is probably at least 2 years in the future.
3The use of trade and company names
is for the benefit of the reader: such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval of any service or product by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the exclusion of others that may be suitable.
Relevance of FE IS to The Southwest
Most Southwestern ecosystems are represented by the plant species presently contained in the FEIS knowledge base (see appendix B). Perhaps as many as 70 percent of the species contained in the knowledge base occur in these Southwestern ecosystems. In addition, many of the species scheduled for inclusion in the knowledge base during 1989 occur in the desert shrub, chaparral-mountain shrub, pinyon.;.juniper, and South-western shrubsteppe ecosystems of this area. Consequently, FEIS is a po-tential resource for Southwestern fire managers and resource specialists involved in planning fire use and evaluating wildfire effects. While BLM personnel have ready access to FEIS, provided they have there-quired computer hardware and soft-ware, other USDI agencies may be able to arrange similiar access. Forest Service access is presently limited but could be improved by temporary installation of FEIS on Regional DG systems.
Literature Cited
Fischer, William C. 1987. The fire ef-fects information system. In: Pro-ceedings of the Symposium on Wildland Fire 2000, 1987 April27-30; South Lake Tahoe, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-101. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agricul-ture, Forest Service, Pacific North-west Forest and Range Experiment Station: 128-135.
Fischer, William C.; Wright, Alden H. 1987. FIRESYS: Using artificial intelligence techniques to build a fire effects information system. The Compiler 5(5): 28-35. Garrison, George A.; Bjugstad,
Ardell
J.;
Duncan, Don A.; Lewis, Mont E.; Smith, Dixie R. 1977. Vegetation and environmental fea-tures of forest and range ecosys-tems. Agric. Handbk. No. 475.Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 68 p.
Kickert, R.N.; Taylor, A. R.; Firmage, D. H.; Behan, M. J. 1976. Fire ecol-ogy research needs identified by research scientists and land man-agers. In: Proceedings, Tall Tim-bers Fire Ecology Conference Number 14; 1974 October 8-10; Missoula, MT. Tallahassee, FL: Tall Timbers Research Station and The Intermountain Fire Research Council: 61-91.
Kilgore, Bruce M.; Curtis, .George A. 1987. Guide to understory burning in ponderosa pine-larch-fir forests in the Intermountain West. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-233. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Re-search Station. 39 p.
Noste, Nonan F.; Brown, James K. , 1981. Current practices of
pre-scribed burning in the West. In: Proceedings, 1981 JohnS. Wright Forestry Conference, Weed Con-trol in Forest Management; 1981 February 3-5; West Lafayette, IN. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue Uni-versity, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources: 156-169. Taylor, A. R.; Kickert, R.N.; Firmage,
D. H.; Behan, M. J. 1975. Fire ecol-ogy questions survey. Gen. Tech. Rep. INT -18. Ogden, UT: U.S. De-partment of Agriculture, Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station. 122 p.
Appendix A: Species and cover types contained in FEIS knowledge base (Jan. 1, 1989)
Tree Species
Acer negundo, boxelder Celtis occidentalis, hackberry Cercocarpus ledifolius, curlleaf
moun-tain-mahogany
Cercocarpus montanus, true mountain-mahogany
Cowania mexicana ssp stansburiana, Stansbury cliffrose
Fraxinus pennsylvanica, green ash Juniperus occidentalis, western juniper Juniperus osteosperma, Utah juniper Juniperus scopulorum, Rocky
Moun-tain juniper
Pinus albicaulis, whitebark pine Pinus aristata, Rocky Mountain
bris-tlecone pine
Pinus balfouriana, foxtail pine Pinus edulis, pinyon
Pinus flexilis, limber pine
Pinus longaeva, Great Basin bristle-cone pine
Pinus monophylla, singleleaf pinyon Pinus ponderosa var scopulorum, Inte-rior or Black Hills ponderosa pine Populus tremuloides, aspen
Prunus americana, American plum Prunus pensylvanica, pin cherry Prunus virginiana, chokecherry Quercus gambellii, Gambel oak Quercus macrocarpa, bur oak Quercus turbinella, turbinella oak Rhus glabra, smooth sumac Shrub Species
Ambrosia (Franseria) deltoidea, triangle bursage
Ambrosia (Franseria) dumosa, white bursage
Amelanchier alnifolia, Saskatoon serv-iceberry
Amelanchier utahensis, Utah service-berry
Amorpha canescens, lead plant Arctostaphylos pungens, pointleaf
(Mexican) manzanita
Artemisia abrotanum, oldman worm-wood
Artemisia arbuscula ssp arbuscula, gray low sagebrush
Artemisia arbuscula ssp thermopola, hotsprings sagebrush
Artemisia argillosa, coaltown sage-brush
Artemisia bigelovii, Bigelow sagebrush Artemisia cana ssp viscidula, mountain
silver sagebrush
Artemisia cana ssp bolanderi, Bolander silver sagebrush
Artemisia cana ssp cana, plains silver sagebrush
Artemisia filifolia, sandsage or sand sagebrush
Artemisia frigida, fringed sagebrush Artemisia longiloba, early or alkali
sagebrush
Artemisia nova, black sagebrush Artemisia papposa, fuzzy sagebrush Artemisia pedatifida, birdfoot
sage-brush
Artemisia pygmaea, pygmy sagebrush Artemisia rigida, stiff or scabland
sagebrush
Artemisia spinescens, budsage or bud sagebrush
Artemisia tridentata ssp tridentata, ba-sin big sagebrush
Artemisia tridentata ssp vaseyana, mountain big sagebrush
Artemisia tridentata ssp wyomingensis, Wyoming big sagebrush
Artemisia tripartita ssp rupicola, Wyo-ming threetip sagebrush
Artemisia tripartita ssp tripartita, tall threetip sagebrush
Atriplex canescens, four-wing saltbrush
A triplex confertifolia, shadscale A triplex gardneri, saltsage Ceratoides lanata, winterfat
Chrysothamnus nauseosus, grey rab-bitbrush
Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus, green rabbitbrush
Coleogyne ramosissima, blackbrush Ephedra nevadensis, Nevada ephedra Ephedra viridis, green ephedra Fallagia paradoxa, Apache plume Flourensia cernua, tarbush
Grayia brandegei, spineless hopsage Grayia spinosa, spiny hopsage Gutierrezia sarothrae, broom
snakeweed
Holidiscus discolor, oceanspray Holidiscus dumosus, bush oceanspray Larrea tridentata, creosotebush Leplodactylon pingens, prickly phlox Opuntia polyacantha, plains prickly
pear
Potentilla fruticosa, shrubby cinquefoil Prunus andersoni, desert peach Purshia glandulosa, desert bitterbrush Purshia tridentata, antelope
bitter-brush
Rhus aromatica, fragrant sumac Rhus trilobata, skunkbrush sumac
Ribes americanum, American black currant
Ribes aureum, golden currant Ribes cereum, wax currant Ribes lacustre, swamp currant
Ribes montigenum, gooseberry currant Ribes odoratum, buffalo currant Ribes setosum, bristley currant Ribes velutinum, desert gooseberry Sarcobatus baileyi, Bailey greasewood Sarcobatus vermiculatus, black
grease-wood
Symphoricarpos longiflorus, Longfel-low snowberry
Symphoricarpos oreophilus, mountain snow berry
Tetradymia canescens, spineless horse-brush
Tetradymia glabrata, littleleaf horse-brush
Tetradymia nuttallii, Nuttall horse-brush
Tetradymia spinosa, spiny horsebrush
To~icodendron rydbergii, poison ivy
Graminoid Species
Agropyron cristatum (A. pectiniforme), fairway wheatgrass
Agropyron desertorum, standard wheatgrass
Andropogon barbinodis, cane bluestem Andropogon gerardii, big bluestem Andropogon halli, sand bluestem Aristida purpurea (A. longiseta),
three-awn grass
Bouteloua curtipendula, sideoats grama
Bouteloua eriopoda, black grama Bouteloua gracilis, blue grama Bouteloua hirsuta, hairy grama Bromus carinatus, California brome Bromus inermis, smooth brome Bromus japonicus, Japanese brome Bromus marginatus, mountain brome Bromus mollis, soft chess
Bromus rubens, red brome Bromus tectorum, cheatgrass or
downybrome
- Buchloe dactyloides, buffalograss
Calomovilfa longifolia, prairie sand-reed
Carex heliophila, sun sedge
Danthonia intermedia, timberoatgrass
Danthonia spicata, poverty oatgrass Danthonia unispicata, onespike
oatgrass
Elymus canadensis, Canada wildrye Elymus elymoides, (Sitanion hystrix),
bottlebrush squirreltail
Elymus glaucus, (E. virescens), blue wild rye
Elymus lanceolatus, (Agropyron dasys-tachyum, A. elmeri, A. riparium), thickspike wheatgrass
Festuca idahoensis, Idaho fescue Festuca scabrella, rough fescue Festuca thurberi, Thurber fescue Hilaria belangeri, curly mesquite Hilaria jamesii, galleta
Hilaria mutica, tobosa Hilaria rigida, big galleta
Koeleria cristata, prairie junegrass Leucopoa kingii, spike fescue
Leymus (Elymus) ambiguus, Colorado wild rye
Leymus (Elymus) cinereus, basin wild rye
Leymus (Elymus) salinus, Salina wild rye
Muhlenbergia cuspidata, plains muhly, Stonyhills muhly
Muhlenbergia racemosa, green muhly Muhlenbergia richardsonis, mat muhly Oryzopsis hymenoides, Indian
ricegrass
Pascopyrum (Agropyron) smithii, west-ern wheatgrass
Poa arida, plains bluegrass Poa cusickii, Cusick bluegrass Poa fendleriana, mutton bluegrass Poa secunda, (P. ampla, P. canbyi, P.
juncifolia, P. nevadensis, P. sandber-gii), Sandberg bluegrass
Psathyrostachys juncea (Elymus junceus), Russian wild rye
Pseudoroegneria spicata (Agropyron spi-catum, A. inerme), bluebunch wheatgrass
Schizachyrium (Andropogon) scoparius, little bluestem
Sporobolus airoides, alkali sacaton Sporobolus asper, tall dropseed Sporobolus cryptandrus, sand
drop seed
Sporobolus flexuosus, mesa drop seed Stipa columbiana, Columbia
needle-grass
Stipa lettermanii, Letterman needle-grass
Stipa thurberiana, Thurber needle-grass
Stipa viridula, green needlegrass Taeniatherum caput-medusae,
medu-sahead
Vulpia (Festuca) microstachys, small fescue
Vulpia myuros (Festuca megalura), fox-tail fescue
Vulpia (Festuca) octoflora, six-weeks fescue
Forb Species
Achillea millefolium, common yarrow Artemisia camprestris, sagewort
wormwood, western sagebrush Artemisia dracunculus, tarragon Artemisia ludoviciania, Louisiana
sage-wort
Balsamorhiza hookeri, hairy balsam-root
Balsamorhiza sagitata, arrow leaf bal-samroot
Centaurea diffusa, tumble knapweed Centaurea maculosa, spotted
knapweed
Centaurea solstitialis, yellow starthistle
Descurainia pinnata, tansymustard Descurainia sophia, flixweed
tan-syrnustard
Potentilla glandulosa, sticky cinquefoil Potentilla hippiana, horse cinquefoil Potentilla newberryi, Newberry
cinquefoil
Ranunculus glaberrimus, sagebrush buttercup
Sisymbrium altissimum, tumble mus-tard
Sisymbrium linifolium, flaxleaf plains mustard
Cover Types
Artemisia arbuscula ssp arbuscula C. T., low sagebrush cover type
Artemisia arbuscula ssp thermopola C.T., hotsprings sagebrush cover type
Artemisia cana ssp bolanderi C.T., Bo-lander silver sagebrush cover type
Artemisia cana ssp cana C.T., plains silver sagebrush cover type Artemisia cana ssp viscidula C.T.,
mountain silver sagebrush cover type
Artemisia filifolia C.T., sand sage-brush cover type
Artemisia frigida C.T., fringed sage-brush cover type
Artemisia nova C.T., black sagebrush cover type
Wildlife Species Amphibians
8c
ReptilesAmbystoma macrodactylum ssp krausei, northern long-toed salamander Crotalus viridis, western rattlesnake Sceloporus graciosus, sagebrush lizard Scophiopus intermontanus, Great
Ba-sin spadefoot toad
Birds
Aquila chrysaetos, golden eagle Athene cunicularia, burrowing owl Buteo regalis, ferruginous hawk Centrocercus urophasianus, sage
grouse
Falco mexicanus, praire falcon
Mammals
Antilocapra americana, pronghorn an-telope
Lepus californicus, black-tailed jack rabbit
Perognathus parous, Great Basin pocket mouse
Spermophilus townsendii, Townsend's ground squirrel
Appendix B:
Number of plant species by ecosystem represented in FE IS knowledge base
Ecosystem Trees Shrubs Graminoids Forbs Total Forest & Woodland Ecosystems
White-red-jack pine 1 1 Spruce-fir 1 1 Longleaf-slash pine Loblolly-shortleaf pine Oak-pine 2 Oak-hickory 7 Oak-gum-cypress 3 Elm-ash-cottonwood 8 Maple-beech-birch 4 Aspen-birch 5 Douglas-fir 11 Ponderosa pine 21 Western white pine
Fir-spruce 11 Hemlock-Sitka spruce Larch Lodgepole pine 7 Redwood Western hardwoods Shrubland Ecosystems Sagebrush Desert shrub 5 17 7 9 17 2 21 43 3 18 4 2 7 1 6 56 44 14 25 1 2 30 50 25 3 3 52 30 2 4 8 11 7 1 1 13 6 2 2 0 0 2 30 3 52 11 7 70 125 3 61 4 2 18 1 15 138 87
Appendix B. (continued)
Ecosystem Trees Shrubs Graminoids Forbs Total
Shinnery
