Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Environmental Analysis

Reader 1

Veronica Padilla Vriesman

Reader 2

Wallace Meyer

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Rights Information

© 2025 Anna E Huff

Abstract

As climate change intensifies, higher summer aridity, droughts, lower spring snowpacks, and other compounding factors will likely contribute to increased forest fires in the western US and especially California’s Sierra Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is characterized by high habitat heterogeneity, with elevation the main factor in vegetational composition changes. Due to decades of US Forest Service fire suppression policy originally used as a tool of colonial oppression of Indigenous peoples, buildup of dead woody fuels over the decades provides excessive fuel when fires do start, contributing to faster-spreading, higher intensity fires. I ask 1) what is the relationship between habitat type in the Sierra Nevada and response to fire?, and 2) what is the relationship between the type of habitat and the amount of dead woody fuel build up on the Burger Sierra Bird and Wildlife Sanctuary property? Regarding 1), comparing statewide historical burn severity map from 2000-2024, I found out of the 6 ecological zones studied, the Upper Montane, Lower Montane and Foothill Shrubland/Woodland zones had the highest number of hectares burned across all severity levels. These ecosystems should be a priority for fire management efforts to minimize future stand-killing high severity fires. At the Burger Bird and Wildlife Sanctuary, I found that finer fuels are especially dominant in sage scrub, willow, and aspen habitats. Given the colonial roots of fire suppression and the urgent need for adequate fire management, future management plans for this property should prioritize Indigenous leadership, balancing fuel mitigation, ecological resilience, and cultural values.

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