Identifying valuable landscape and community features
Previously, we explored the detailed landscape assessment and segmentation data available to Vibrant Planet users, as well as wildfire hazard probability and intensity models powered by Pyrologix, a Vibrant Planet company. In order to build a plan for landscape and community resilience or cross-boundary wildfire management, you will also need to identify and evaluate landscape features with societal value. We call all features with societal value, Strategic Areas, Resources, and Assets, or SARAs.
What defines a SARA?
All SARAs must be mappable, have the ability to be affected by wildfire, and have societal value. For instance, transmission and distribution lines have societal value by providing power to communities, they can be mapped on the landscape, and they can be affected by wildfire.
The platform includes a set of SARAs that have been identified west-wide using publicly available datasets. You have the opportunity to customize SARAs by altering existing SARAs with locally available data, or by adding new SARAs that have value on their specific landscape.
Example of all SARAs mapped together
Organization into categories
Vibrant Planet organizes all SARAs into categories. These categories include: Assets, Safety, Recreation, Ecological Commodities, Biodiversity, Wildlands Health, Water, and Science & Culture. By categorizing each SARA into categories, Vibrant Planet allows users to emphasize specific management objectives as they develop scenarios using Land Tender. For instance, if you’re developing a community protection plan, you may decide to emphasize assets and safety as your primary goals. Vibrant Planet will prioritize treatments, based on your emphasis, that provides the greatest benefit to the SARAs in those categories.
Response Functions
In addition to being mapped, each SARA is evaluated for how it responds to disturbances (wildfire) and treatment (management), we refer to this as a response function. A SARA can be impacted positively or negatively by different intensities of wildfire and by different treatment options. Disturbance and treatment response functions for each SARA are determined using peer-reviewed literature and best management practices.
For example, let’s look at Aspen groves, which have evolved as a crucial habitat type within a fire-adapted ecosystem. Aspen will respond positively to low intensity fire, but respond negatively to high intensity fire. Additionally, different types of treatment to reduce the hazard of wildfire to an Aspen stand could also have negative or positive effects. Mechanically thinning an aspen stand can result in both a reduction of wildfire hazard and encourage regrowth and resprouting – a positive effect. High intensity grazing in an Aspen stand, by comparison, may reduce the overall wildfire hazard but can negatively impact the Aspen stand by impeding growth.
Science Corner: Is the SARA discrete or an assemblage?
Discrete
If classified as discrete, the SARA is an isolated unit. Other isolated individuals of the SARA are spatially interspersed and therefore are identified as separate SARAs. (ex: individual tree, nest, structure)
Assemblage
If classified as assemblage, the SARA is made up of a collection of directly connected features. The SARA does not need to have a large footprint to be considered an assemblage (ex: stand of trees, Community Fire Transmission Zone).
With a better understanding of the landscape and societal values included in Vibrant Planet, next we’ll explore how the platform groups this information into areas that can be more deeply analyzed.