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Fire Effects Information
System: An Aid for Fire Use in
the Southwest 1
William C. Fischer and Nancy E. McMurray2
The Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) was developed by the
Intermountain Research Station in
cooperation with the University of
Montana. This system is a computerized information storage and retrieval system that was developed to
be an authoritative, easy to access
source for information about the effect of fire on individual plant and
animal species and on the plant communities in which these species reside.
The expected effect of fire on plant
communities is a major consideration
affecting decisions to use fire to accomplish a variety of wildland vegetation 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 regarding the response of target plant species to fire and how this response
varies according to such factors as
fire severity, season, phenological
state, successional status, site characteristics, and other biological and environmental considerations. Many
managers perceive a lack of such fire
effects information as a barrier to the
1
Poster paper presented at the conference, Effects of Are in Management of
Southwestern Natural Resources (Tucson.
Al, November 14-17, 1988).
2
William C. Ascher is a Research Forester,
Intermountain Research Station, Forest Service, 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 effects generally and plant response to
fire in particular, especially for the
species of primary management concern. The problem, largely one of the
accessibility of such information, has
two facets: (1) there is no single
"best" route to the available information, and (2) the information is generally unorganized and uninterpreted
for the purpose of aiding fire management decisions. The Fire Effects
Information System is a unique solution to this problem.
What It Is and What It Is Not
The Fire Effects Information System is a computerized knowledge
management system that stores and
retrieves state-of-the-knowledge,
English-language texual information
organized in an encyclopedic fashion. It is unlike most information systems available to natural resource
managers. It is not a computerized
bibliography although a computerized 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 science trends, FEIS is an object-ori210
ented, frame-based, knowledgebased system implemented in the
LISP programming language. FEIS
was developed using concepts, methods, and techniques from the rapidly
expanding field of artificial intelligence (AI), but it is not an expert system. (For details on the design and
structure of FEIS and development of
its software, see Fischer and Wright
1987).
The Fire Effects Information System consists of three components: the
knowledge base, the query program,
and the builder program. The knowledge base contains the fire effects
and related information that is available 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 designed to accept information in three
major categories: plant species, ecosystems, and wildlife species. The
ecosystem category includes three
levels of classification: an ecosystem
level, a cover type level, and a habitat type or plant community level.
For each category and level, the
knowledge base contains state-ofknowledge 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 relatively simple for someone who is familiar with the structure of the system 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) obtaining hard copy of all such literature,
(3) reading the literature, evaluating
its reliability, and summarizing useful information, (4) resolving conflicts, if possible, between contradictory information, (5) synthesizing fire
effects information, and (6) entering
the information into the knowledge
base. The fire research team responsible for knowledge base development consists of professional biologists 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 ecosystem 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 scientists, staff specialists, and managers who have expert knowledge of
the species or ecosystem. The information in the knowledge base is revised, as necessary, to reflect this
technical review. Information in the
knowledge base is periodically revised 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 (including 8 cover types) was contained
in the FEIS knowledge base (see appendix A). The distribution of species 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 Western rangelands managed by the BLM
and the ponderosa pine forests and
plains grasslands of Wind Cave National 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
211
750 computer at the University of
Montana and is now on a Data General (DG) MV 4000 computer at the
Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, MT. 3 The system
also resides on a BLM DG MV10000
computer at the Boise Interagency
Fire Center, Boise, ID. BLM personnel access the system using IBMcompatible personal computer (PC),
a 1200 baud phone modem, and terminal 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 Laboratory via the deflected drawer process. Additionally, the system has
been delivered to the NPS Branch of
Fire Management at Boise for installation on its DEC VAX 750.
The BLM and NPS systems contain only the knowledge base and
query components. The builder program resides only at the Fire Sciences
Laboratory and is presently restricted to use by fire research personnel involved in knowledge base
development. A personal computer
(PC) version of the FEIS query program and knowledge base is available 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 consideration by potential sponsors. Initial action is aimed toward some form of
interagency implementation that
would allow access by all potentially
interested users. Widespread, multiagency operational implementation
of FEIS is probably at least 2 years in
the future.
3 The 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.
212
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 Southwestern shrubsteppe ecosystems of
this area. Consequently, FEIS is a potential 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 therequired computer hardware and software, 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 effects information system. In: Proceedings of the Symposium on
Wildland Fire 2000, 1987 April2730; South Lake Tahoe, CA. Gen.
Tech. Rep. PSW-101. Berkeley,
CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest 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 features of forest and range ecosystems. 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 ecology research needs identified by
research scientists and land managers. In: Proceedings, Tall Timbers 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 Research Station. 39 p.
Noste, Nonan F.; Brown, James K.
, 1981. Current practices of prescribed burning in the West. In:
Proceedings, 1981 JohnS. Wright
Forestry Conference, Weed Control in Forest Management; 1981
February 3-5; West Lafayette, IN.
West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University, Department of Forestry
and Natural Resources: 156-169.
Taylor, A. R.; Kickert, R.N.; Firmage,
D. H.; Behan, M. J. 1975. Fire ecology questions survey. Gen. Tech.
Rep. INT-18. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department 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 mountain-mahogany
Cercocarpus montanus, true mountainmahogany
213
Cowania mexicana ssp stansburiana,
Stansbury cliffrose
Fraxinus pennsylvanica, green ash
Juniperus occidentalis, western juniper
Juniperus osteosperma, Utah juniper
Juniperus scopulorum, Rocky Mountain juniper
Pinus albicaulis, whitebark pine
Pinus aristata, Rocky Mountain bristlecone pine
Pinus balfouriana, foxtail pine
Pinus edulis, pinyon
Pinus flexilis, limber pine
Pinus longaeva, Great Basin bristlecone pine
Pinus monophylla, singleleaf pinyon
Pinus ponderosa var scopulorum, Interior 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 serviceberry
Amelanchier utahensis, Utah serviceberry
Amorpha canescens, lead plant
Arctostaphylos pungens, pointleaf
(Mexican) manzanita
Artemisia abrotanum, oldman wormwood
Artemisia arbuscula ssp arbuscula, gray
low sagebrush
Artemisia arbuscula ssp thermopola,
hotsprings sagebrush
Artemisia argillosa, coaltown sagebrush
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 sagebrush
Artemisia pygmaea, pygmy sagebrush
Artemisia rigida, stiff or scabland
sagebrush
Artemisia spinescens, budsage or bud
sagebrush
Artemisia tridentata ssp tridentata, basin big sagebrush
Artemisia tridentata ssp vaseyana,
mountain big sagebrush
Artemisia tridentata ssp wyomingensis,
Wyoming big sagebrush
Artemisia tripartita ssp rupicola, Wyoming 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 rabbitbrush
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 bitterbrush
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 greasewood
Symphoricarpos longiflorus, Longfellow snowberry
Symphoricarpos oreophilus, mountain
snowberry
Tetradymia canescens, spineless horsebrush
Tetradymia glabrata, littleleaf horsebrush
Tetradymia nuttallii, Nuttall horsebrush
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), threeawn 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 sandreed
Carex heliophila, sun sedge
Danthonia intermedia, timberoatgrass
214
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 dasystachyum, 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, western wheatgrass
Poa arida, plains bluegrass
Poa cusickii, Cusick bluegrass
Poa fendleriana, mutton bluegrass
Poa secunda, (P. ampla, P. canbyi, P.
juncifolia, P. nevadensis, P. sandbergii), Sandberg bluegrass
Psathyrostachys juncea (Elymus
junceus), Russian wild rye
Pseudoroegneria spicata (Agropyron spicatum, 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 needlegrass
Stipa comata, needle-and-thread grass
Stipa lettermanii, Letterman needlegrass
Stipa thurberiana, Thurber needlegrass
Stipa viridula, green needlegrass
Taeniatherum caput-medusae, medusahead
Vulpia (Festuca) microstachys, small
fescue
Vulpia myuros (Festuca megalura), foxtail fescue
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 sagebrush cover type
Artemisia frigida C.T., fringed sagebrush cover type
Artemisia nova C.T., black sagebrush
cover type
Birds
Aquila chrysaetos, golden eagle
Athene cunicularia, burrowing owl
Buteo regalis, ferruginous hawk
Centrocercus urophasianus, sage
grouse
Falco mexicanus, praire falcon
Mammals
Vulpia (Festuca) octoflora, six-weeks
Antilocapra americana, pronghorn an-
fescue
Wildlife Species
telope
Lepus californicus, black-tailed jack
Forb Species
Amphibians 8c Reptiles
rabbit
Perognathus parous, Great Basin
Achillea millefolium, common yarrow
Artemisia camprestris, sagewort
wormwood, western sagebrush
Artemisia dracunculus, tarragon
Artemisia ludoviciania, Louisiana sagewort
Ambystoma macrodactylum ssp krausei,
northern long-toed salamander
Crotalus viridis, western rattlesnake
Sceloporus graciosus, sagebrush lizard
Scophiopus intermontanus, Great Basin spadefoot toad
pocket mouse
Spermophilus townsendii, Townsend's
ground squirrel
Balsamorhiza hookeri, hairy balsamAppendix B:
root
Balsamorhiza sagitata, arrowleaf balsamroot
Centaurea diffusa, tumble knapweed
Centaurea maculosa, spotted
Number of plant species by ecosystem represented in FE IS knowledge base
Ecosystem
Trees
Shrubs Graminoids
Forbs
Total
knapweed
Centaurea solstitialis, yellow
starthistle
Descurainia pinnata, tansymustard
Descurainia sophia, flixweed tansyrnustard
Potentilla glandulosa, sticky cinquefoil
Potentilla hippiana, horse cinquefoil
Potentilla newberryi, Newberry
cinquefoil
Ranunculus glaberrimus, sagebrush
buttercup
Sisymbrium altissimum, tumble mustard
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., Bolander silver sagebrush cover type
Forest & Woodland Ecosystems
White-red-jack pine
Spruce-fir
Longleaf-slash pine
Loblolly-shortleaf pine
Oak-pine
Oak-hickory
Oak-gum-cypress
Elm-ash-cottonwood
Maple-beech-birch
Aspen-birch
Douglas-fir
Ponderosa pine
Western white pine
Fir-spruce
Hemlock-Sitka spruce
Larch
Lodgepole pine
Redwood
Western hardwoods
9
14
17
2
25
1
2
30
50
11
25
7
3
1
3
1
2
2
0
0
2
30
3
52
11
7
70
125
3
61
4
2
18
1
15
52
30
13
6
138
87
1
1
1
1
2
7
3
8
4
5
11
21
5
21
43
3
18
4
2
7
1
6
17
7
56
44
11
7
2
4
8
Shrubland Ecosystems
Sagebrush
Desert shrub
215
Appendix B. (continued)
Ecosystem
Shinnery
Texas savanna
Southwestern shrubsteppe
Chaparral-mountain shrub
Pinyon-juniper
Trees
Shrubs Graminoids Forbs
Total
15
16
2
1
3
38
50
8
46
49
1
5
10
10
37
45
10
12
8
5
27
45
28
26
3
1
9
4
5
102
0
93
53
71
3
1
1
6
6
3
16
2
7
4
8
12
104
125
Grassland Ecosystems
Mountain grasslands
Mountain meadows
Plains grasslands
Prairie
Desert grasslands
Wet grasslands
Annual grasslands
13
35
Alpine Ecosystems
Alpine
216