Below is a selection of the most notable and current publications by Safford Lab staff. For a complete list of publications by each member, please see their individual CVs on the People page.
2026
Domènech, R., Naimeh, A.M., Putz, T., Grupenhoff, A., Schlueter,M., Boynton,R., Williams,J., Sapsis,D., Restaino,J., Tase,N., Becky L. Estes, B., Safford, H. California Prescribed Fire Monitoring Program: dataset 2019-2024. Sci Data 13, 225 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-06509-0
Ashley R. Grupenhoff, Tessa Putz, John Williams, Becky Estes, Rut Domènech, Joe Restaino, Hugh D. Safford, Short-term effects of single-entry prescribed fire in California’s yellow-pine and mixed conifer forests, Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 613,
2026, 123771, ISSN 0378-1127, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2026.123771
Safford,H.; Stewart, JAE. (2026) Deforestation and reforestation in a world hotspot of fire-driven forest loss: trends in California conifer forests 1991–2023. Front. For. Glob. Change 9:1764379. https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2026.1764379
Safford,H.; Miller, C.; Perrot,D.; Gilbert,S.; Hoecker,T.; Koontz,M.; Kornhauser,K.; Thompson,M.; Shannon,J.; Rutenbeck,N.; Scott,J.; Conway,S.; Duffy,K. A collaborative, cloud-based decision support system for structured wildfire risk mitigation planning, Ecological Modelling, Volume 514, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2025.111464
Safford,H.; Saberi,S. Fuel treatment effects on fire severity during the Caldor Fire (2021), Lake Tahoe, California, USA, Forest Ecology and Management, Volume 603, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2025.123424
2025
Domènech,R.; Castellnou,M.; Resco de Dios,V.; Sapsis,D.; Restaino,J.; Safford, H. The hidden variable: Impacts of human decision-making on prescribed fire outcomes, Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 395, 2025, 127866, ISSN 0301-4797, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.127866
Safford, H. New elevations records for Jeffrey Pine (Pinus Jeffrey A.Murray Bis & al.). Madroño 2025, 72 https://doi.org/10.3120/0024-9637-72.1.a7
Weeks, J.; Nagelson, B.; Bisbing, S.; Safford, H. Burn to Save, or Save to Burn? Management May Be Key to Conservation of an Iconic Old-Growth Stand in California, USA. Fire 2025, 8, 70. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire8020070
2024
Williams J.N.; Quinn-Davidson L.; Safford H.D.; Grupenhoff A.; Middleton B.R.; Restaino J.; Smith E.; Adlam C.; Rivera-Huerta H. (2024) Overcoming obstacles to prescribed fire in the North American Mediterranean climate zone. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2687
Harrison S.; Franklin J.; Hernandez R.R.; Ikegami M.; Safford H.D.; Thorne J.H. (2024) Climate change and California’s terrestrial biodiversity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2310074121
Kobziar L.N.; Hiers J.K.; Belcher C.M.; Bond W.J.; Enquist C.A.; Loudermilk E.L.; Miesel J.R.; O’Brien J.J.; Pausas J.G.; Hood S.; Keane R.; Morgan P.; Pingree M.R.A.; Riley K.; Safford H.; Seijo F.; Varner J.M.; Wall T.; Watts A.C. (2024) Principles of fire ecology. Fire Ecology https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-024-00272-0
Dobrowski S.Z.; Aghai M.M.; Chichilnisky du Lac A.; Downer R.; Fargione J.; Haase D.L.; Hoecker T.; Kildisheva O.A.; Murdoch A.; Newman S.; North M.; Saksa P.; Sjoholm M.; Baribault T.; Buonanduci M.S.; Chambers M.E.; Gonzales-Kramer L.; Harvey B.J.; Hurteau M.D.; Loevner J.; Safford H.D.; Sloan J. (2024) ‘Mind the Gap’—reforestation needs vs. reforestation capacity in the western United States. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2024.1402124
Maezumi S.Y.; Fletcher M.-S.; Safford H.; Roberts P. (2024) Fighting with fire: Historical ecology and community-based approaches to fire management, stewardship, and ecosystem resilience. One Earth https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2024.05.016
2023
Davis K.T.; Robles M.D.; Kemp K.B.; Higuera P.E.; Chapman T.; Metlen K.L.; Peeler J.L.; Rodman K.C.; Woolley T.; Addington R.N.; Buma B.J.; Cansler C.A.; Case M.J.; Collins B.M.; Coop J.D.; Dobrowski S.Z.; Gill N.S.; Haffey C.; Harris L.B.; Harvey B.J.; Haugo R.D.; Hurteau M.D.; Kulakowski D.; Littlefield C.E.; McCauley L.A.; Povak N.; Shive K.L.; Smith E.; Stevens J.T.; Stevens-Rumann C.S.; Taylor A.H.; Tepley A.J.; Young D.J.N.; Andrus R.A.; Battaglia M.A.; Berkey J.K.; Busby S.U.; Carlson A.R.; Chambers M.E.; Dodson E.K.; Donato D.C.; Downing W.M.; Fornwalt P.J.; Halofsky J.S.; Hoffman A.; Holz A.; Iniguez J.M.; Krawchuk M.A.; Kreider M.R.; Larson A.J.; Meigs G.W.; Roccaforte J.P.; Rother M.T.; Safford H.; Schaedel M.; Sibold J.S.; Singleton M.P.; Turner M.G.; Urza A.K.; Clark-Wolf K.D.; Yocom L.; Fontaine J.B.; Campbell J.L. (2023) Reduced fire severity offers near-term buffer to climate-driven declines in conifer resilience across the western United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2208120120
Williams J.N.; Safford H.D.; Enstice N.; Steel Z.L.; Paulson A.K. (2023) High-severity burned area and proportion exceed historic conditions in Sierra Nevada, California, and adjacent ranges. Ecosphere https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4397
MacDonald G.; Wall T.; Enquist C.A.F.; LeRoy S.R.; Bradford J.B.; Breshears D.D.; Brown T.; Cayan D.; Dong C.; Falk D.A.; Fleishman E.; Gershunov A.; Hunter M.; Loehman R.A.; van Mantgem P.J.; Middleton B.R.; Safford H.D.; Schwartz M.W.; Trouet V. (2023) Drivers of California's changing wildfires: a state-of-the-knowledge synthesis. International Journal of Wildland Fire https://doi.org/10.1071/WF22155
2022
Safford H.D.; Paulson A.K.; Steel Z.L.; Young D.J.N.; Wayman R.B. (2022) The 2020 California fire season: A year like no other, a return to the past or a harbinger of the future?. Global Ecology and Biogeography https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13498
Guiterman C.H.; Gregg R.M.; Marshall L.A.E.; Beckmann J.J.; van Mantgem P.J.; Falk D.A.; Keeley J.E.; Caprio A.C.; Coop J.D.; Fornwalt P.J.; Haffey C.; Hagmann R.K.; Jackson S.T.; Lynch A.M.; Margolis E.Q.; Marks C.; Meyer M.D.; Safford H.; Syphard A.D.; Taylor A.; Wilcox C.; Carril D.; Enquist C.A.F.; Huffman D.; Iniguez J.; Molinari N.A.; Restaino C.; Stevens J.T. (2022) Vegetation type conversion in the US Southwest: frontline observations and management responses. Fire Ecology https://doi.org/10.1186/s42408-022-00131-w
Steel Z.L.; Fogg A.M.; Burnett R.; Roberts L.J.; Safford H.D. (2022) When bigger isn’t better—Implications of large high-severity wildfire patches for avian diversity and community composition. Diversity and Distributions https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.13281
2021
Hagmann R.K.; Hessburg P.F.; Prichard S.J.; Povak N.A.; Brown P.M.; Fulé P.Z.; Keane R.E.; Knapp E.E.; Lydersen J.M.; Metlen K.L.; Reilly M.J.; Sánchez Meador A.J.; Stephens S.L.; Stevens J.T.; Taylor A.H.; Yocom L.L.; Battaglia M.A.; Churchill D.J.; Daniels L.D.; Falk D.A.; Henson P.; Johnston J.D.; Krawchuk M.A.; Levine C.R.; Meigs G.W.; Merschel A.G.; North M.P.; Safford H.D.; Swetnam T.W.; Waltz A.E.M. (2021) Evidence for widespread changes in the structure, composition, and fire regimes of western North American forests. Ecological Applications https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2431
Prichard S.J.; Hessburg P.F.; Hagmann R.K.; Povak N.A.; Dobrowski S.Z.; Hurteau M.D.; Kane V.R.; Keane R.E.; Kobziar L.N.; Kolden C.A.; North M.; Parks S.A.; Safford H.D.; Stevens J.T.; Yocom L.L.; Churchill D.J.; Gray R.W.; Huffman D.W.; Lake F.K.; Khatri-Chhetri P. (2021) Adapting western North American forests to climate change and wildfires: 10 common questions. Ecological Applications https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2433
Stewart J.A.E.; van Mantgem P.J.; Young D.J.N.; Shive K.L.; Preisler H.K.; Das A.J.; Stephenson N.L.; Keeley J.E.; Safford H.D.; Wright M.C.; Welch K.R.; Thorne J.H. (2021) Effects of postfire climate and seed availability on postfire conifer regeneration. Ecological Applications https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2280
Wayman R.B.; Safford H.D. (2021) Recent bark beetle outbreaks influence wildfire severity in mixed-conifer forests of the Sierra Nevada, California, USA. Ecological Applications https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2287
Brodie E.G.; Miller J.E.D.; Safford H.D. (2021) Productivity modifies the effects of fire severity on understory diversity. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3514