This study addressed the role of fuel breaks in the invasion of alien plant species into wildland areas. We investigated fuel breaks on lands managed by federal, state, and local jurisdictions throughout California. Our study had three objectives: (1) To inventory the floristic composition of fuel breaks within diverse fuel types, including shrublands, woodlands and coniferous forests, and to relate patterns of alien plant distribution to fuel break parameters, including construction and maintenance methods, fire history, and land use; (2) To intensively sample belt transects perpendicular from fuel breaks into surrounding vegetation to determine the extent to which fuel breaks may act as source populations for the invasion of wildland areas; and (3) To provide resource managers with information that will allow them to plan fuel manipulations to minimize the negative impacts of nonnative invasive plants on natural landscapes.
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