144th Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society

August 17 - 21, 2014

The effect of fire on ecological and geomorphic processes is a critical issue in the management of forested lands. Land management at riverscape scales stretches across watershed divides to include ecologically meaningful boundaries such as watersheds, and human-imposed management frameworks such as land ownership. However, considerable uncertainty surrounds our ability to optimize management of forests and fire to enhance and re-establish ecological function in aquatic systems. Native aquatic species are adapted to regionally dominant disturbance processes that often include fire. For example, salmonids have adapted to the habitat diversity associated with natural disturbance through phenotypic plasticity, as is evident in their diverse life histories. Disturbances, including fire, deliver habitat-forming materials to stream channels through debris flows. Fire also opens the forest canopy providing opportunities for regeneration that creates a matrix of complex vegetation communities at landscape scales. A century of management focused on fire suppression has changed the frequency, intensity, and extent of wildfires. By changing the disturbance processes that fostered habitat complexity at riverscape scales, land managers have changed in-stream habitat. Fire management has important short - and long -term implications for landscape structure and in-stream habitat conditions. Inclusion of aquatic issues such as habitat quality, stream network connectivity, and population resilience of aquatic species in fire management plans offers managers the opportunity to broaden fire suppression goals and activities. There is much to learn about the specific effects of fire on in-stream conditions and the resultant effects on species population persistence. This symposium focuses on fire effects in aquatic ecosystems. Presentations will center on the effects of fire on four topical areas: 1) nutrient cycling, environmental conditions, and foodweb processes 2) macroinvertebrate and amphibian diversity and abundance 3) fish population dynamics 4) fire management alternatives that have the potential to enhance aquatic habitat.