JFSP Project Information
You may search JFSP Project Information by the following: Project Number, Title, Principal Investigator, Cooperators or key words contained in a brief description of the project.
Demonstration Sites, Admin. Studies and Local Needs
Select a fiscal year for when the Announcement for Proposal was issued for the project:
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00-2-02: Fire Hazard Reduction in Chaparral Using Diverse Treatments |
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James Dawson |
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Chaparral is a fire-adapted vegetation type that is common at mid-elevations throughout the state of California. A very high fire hazard is associated with this vegetation type because of the nature of the chaparral foliage, low summer fuel moisture contents, and often steep terrain which chaparral occurs. Prescribed burning has been one the most commonly used techniques for the reduction of fuel loads in chaparral. However, complexities associated with prescribed burning of chaparral such as burning near housing developments, concerns over smoke production, and uncertainty about ecological impacts of burning in the winter and spring when soil moistures are high, have tempered use of this tool in recent years. Scientists’ efforts are targeted at comparing the efficacy of reducing the fuel levels using prescribed burning with mechanical (mastication and chipping) methods. The study will address the effects of season of treatment on (1) fire hazard reduction, (2) recovery of vegetation, (3) resurgence of fuels, and (4) costs of different treatments. Results of the study will be shared with fire managers and landowners through publications, short courses, and establishment of a demonstration area at the research site that will enable people to see first hand the impacts of these two methods. |
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00-2-04: Integrating Fuel and Forest management: Developing Prescriptions for the Central Hardwoods Region |
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Edward Loewenstein |
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The oak dominated forests, woodlands, and savannas in the Ozarks of southern Missouri have evolved under the influence of fire for thousands of years. Fire exclusion and timber harvesting in the last 50-100 years have led to increased fuel loads and changes in vegetation structure. While many federal, state, and non-governmental organizations are using prescribed fire as a tool to restore Missouri Ozark forests, little information is available on fuel loads, fuel reduction, and fire behavior on these sites. Researchers plan to quantify fuel loading, fire behavior, and cost effectiveness of four fuel reduction treatments (prescribed fire with overstory thinning, prescribed fire alone, thinning alone, and a no burn no harvest control). Three, 60-acre blocks of the study area will be developed into demonstration areas where managers and other interested parties will be able to see and evaluate the relative effects of these treatments. |
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00-2-05: Kings River and Lake Tahoe Basin Demonstration Sites for Fuel Treatments |
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Carolyn Hunsaker |
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Two sites - one a ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forest in the southern Sierra Nevada and one a mixed conifer forest in the Lake Tahoe Basin - will be set aside to serve as demonstration areas allowing for ready comparisons of the effects of prescribed fire and thinning with untreated (control) plots. These sites will be available for public viewing for a minimum of 15 years and will include signs and other interpretive material describing the management actions taking place. At the same time, researchers will use these sites to monitor changes in wildlife abundance and productivity, snags, stream flow and chemistry, nutrient cycling, soil properties, and vegetation before and after fuel treatments. |
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00-2-06: Conversion of Upland Loblolly Pine-Hardwood Stands to Longleaf Pine: Does it Influence Fuel Load, Restore Native Forest Cover, and Reduce Fire Danger |
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James Haywood |
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Without fire, wildland fuels accumulate quickly in the Southeast United States and understory vegetation soon shifts from a grass-dominated fine fuel cover to a woody plant cover of highly flammable shrubs. Recent efforts to restore native longleaf pine trees on sites now covered with loblolly pine and hardwood species have been problematic because it is difficult to get rid of the midlevel shrubs that change fire intensity and behavior and out-compete longleaf pine seedlings. Research is aimed at evaluating how different combinations of mechanical and controlled burning treatments effect the development of forest fuels and vegetative composition in sites being restored to longleaf pine. The study will continue over a period of 15 years and study sites will serve as demonstration areas for different fuel treatment options. |
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00-2-13: A Comparison of Silvicultural Practices for Controlling Mountain Laurel in the Mixed-Oak Forests of Pennsylvania |
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Patrick Brose |
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Fire suppression in mixed-oak forests of the Appalachian Mountains has allowed the shrub species, mountain laurel, to expand and create dense thickets that have the potential to burn intensely and by doing so change the species composition of stands. Foresters are unsure on what approach to take to economically control shrub growth while promoting oak regeneration and the growth of a variety of herbaceous species. Scientists plan to establish demonstration areas in two places in Pennsylvania that will showcase seven different treatment/treatment combinations for addressing the mountain laurel problem. The effects of these treatments on forest floor and shrub vegetation will be monitored for at least 7 years. |
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00-2-15: A Demonstration Area on Ecosystem Response to Watershed-Scale Burns in Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands |
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Jeanne Chambers |
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Historically, much of the big sagebrush steppe in the Intermountain region was composed of open stands of shrubs with long-lived perennial grasses and forbs dominating the spaces between shrubs. Since the 1870s, pinyon and juniper woodlands have been encroaching on the sagebrush communities due to a number of human actions. More recently these areas have been invaded by exotic annual grasses. Together these vegetation changes have led to increases in fire frequency and severity in this region putting human life and property at risk. The reintroduction of fire is considered necessary for restoration of native ecosystems and reduction of hazardous fuels. Researchers will establish a demonstration area on national forests in central Nevada to study the costs and ecological impacts of implementing large scale prescribed burns in areas where pinyon and juniper populations are increasing in native Great Basin ecosystems. |
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00-2-19: Stand and fuel treatments for restoring old-growth ponderosa pine forests in the Interior West (Boise Basin Experimental Forest) |
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Russell Graham |
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The forests of the interior West have changed significantly over the past 100 years due in large part to timber harvesting and fire exclusion. The large, mature, ponderosa pine trees that have social as well as ecological and economic value are decreasing in number while dense stands of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir are increasing. Researchers are looking into the effects of various mechanical and fire treatments for reducing fuel hazards created by these dense understory stands while restoring and maintaining old growth ponderosa pine. The study is being conducted on the Boise Basin Experimental Forest, established in southern Idaho in 1933 for the purpose of conducting research on interior ponderosa pine forests. |
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00-2-20: Treatments that enhance the decomposition of forest fuels for use in partially harvested stands in the moist forests of the Northern Rocky Mountains (Priest River Experimental Forest) |
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Russell Graham |
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The moist forests in the Northern Rocky Mountains present a challenge for land managers desiring to reduce fuel levels using prescribed burning or mechanical treatments. This is a function of the low fire tolerance of many of the tree species, the presence of endangered species in these forests, and the complex mosaic of wildland urban interface in which these forests occur. Researchers are looking for alternatives to prescribed fire, piling and burning, and chipping as methods to reduce high fuel loads in the urban interface while maintaining forest values. The Priest River Experimental Forest, established in 1911 in Northern Idaho, is the site where a variety of mechanical treatments are being applied to moist forests to collect information on the ecological, social, and economic feasibility of these treatments and demonstrate innovative methods for managing forest fuels. |
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00-2-23: Managing fuels and forest structure in the Southern Boreal forest on Minnesota’s national forests |
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Marty Christensen |
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Minnesota’s northwoods are in a state of ecological, silvicultural, and social transition, and there are many competing views on what the forest should be. Maintenance of a healthy, diverse forest and clean lakes is critical to the regions economy. In the past, disturbance, including fire, wind, insects, snow, and ice interacted to create pre-settlement forests. Today human activities play a much larger role in the character of the forest. Researchers are developing and applying stand level fuel treatments for managing fuels in a way that maintains or restores critical structural, functional, and compositional features of fire dependent ecosystems in Minnesota. Information gained in this effort will help managers in selecting fuel treatment alternatives that meet forest structure objectives and forest health goals. |
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00-2-25: Demonstration plots for comparing fuel complexes and profile development in untreated stands versus stands treated for the management of spruce beetle outbreaks |
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Elizabeth Hebertson |
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Spruce beetle activity has increased dramatically on the National Forests in the Intermountain Region and resulted in considerable spruce mortality. To reduce the susceptibility of these stands to beetle attack, management treatments need to be applied to reduce forest density. However, these treatments could result in the production of large quantities of down and dead woody fuels and even greater fire hazards than that caused by the beetles. Researchers plan to establish permanent demonstration plots in Utah to compare responses of spruce-fir stands that have undergone density management treatments with those left untreated. Results of this study will be used to make appraisals and develop and implement fuel modification strategies including prescribed burning and mechanical treatments. |
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00-2-27: Maintaining longleaf pine woodlands: is mechanical shearing a surrogate for prescribed burning |
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Jeff Glitzenstein |
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Resource managers in the Francis Marion National Forest (FMNF), near Charleston, SC, have been struggling for the past decade with the twin problems of urban/suburban development moving toward the forest and an overabundance of heavy fuels generated by Hurricane Hugo in 1989. The FMNF has recently begun to use mechanical techniques to reduce heavy fuels and plans to follow these treatments with prescribed burns. However a number of questions remain related to the efficacy of these treatments in achieving management goals. Researchers are conducting an experiment in the longleaf pine woodlands of the Francis Marion National Forest to compare the effects of shearing, burning, and shearing plus burning on plant community changes and fire behavior. Results will help managers in efforts to maintain and restore fire dependent habitats in the southeastern U.S. and elsewhere. |
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00-2-29: Fire Application to Saltcedar Dominated Riparian Areas |
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Brent Racher |
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Saltcedar, an exotic shrub that has invaded riparian areas throughout the western United States, often develops into dense thickets that displace native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Although eradication of saltcedar is often desirable it is neither likely nor feasible. Prescribed fire has been used in riparian areas to manage saltcedar by reducing canopy cover and fuel accumulations, but little information is available on the response of the riparian ecosystem to fire. Scientists’ efforts are directed at developing prescriptions for applying fire to reduce hazardous fuels in saltcedar dominated riparian areas, and evaluate ecosystem response to burning and reburning at different periods throughout the year. Results of this work will provide landowners and managers with prescribed burning management options that will best meet their needs. |
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00-2-30: Fire hazard reduction in Ponderosa Pine plantations |
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John Swanson |
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Pine plantation establishment is common throughout the nation as the most effective means of reforestation after fire or harvest. For example, plantations cover nearly 400,000 acres in 9 National Forests in central California. High intensity wildfires are also common throughout California. Protecting the investment in the ponderosa and other pine plantations from destruction by fire adds to the complexities of forest resource management in this region. Mechanical and hand thinning, cut-to-length harvesting, and prescribed fire may all be necessary to reduce hazardous fuel levels in these plantations but the effects of these various fuel treatments are not fully understood. Researchers will examine the efficacy of mechanical and hand methods with and without prescribed burning in reducing fire hazard severity in plantations in the Stanislaus National Forest in central California. Once experimental plots are established they will become a demonstration site for treatment effects. |
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00-2-31: Restoring mixed conifer ecosystems to pre-fire suppression era conditions in Crater Lake National Park |
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Jim Agee |
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In 1976, after about 80 years of aggressive fire suppression, a prescribed fire program was initiated in Crater Lake National Park to create conditions favoring retention of large ponderosa pine. Unexpected mortality of these large trees occurred during the ten-year program of prescribed fires leading to discontinuation of the burning program in 1987. However, the need to manage understory fuel buildups in ponderosa pine stands remained. Researchers are examining the effects of conducting prescribed fires in the spring (when there are high fuel moistures) on forest floor characteristics, tree survival, mortality and establishment in mixed conifer forests in Crater Lake National Park. This work will provide park managers with new guidance on when to burn and the potential consequences of implementing different treatment alternatives. |
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00-2-32: Control of Invasive Annual Grasses in the Mojave Desert |
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Matt Brooks |
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The native vegetation in the Mojave Desert of southwestern North America is relatively fireproof due to the mostly bare interspaces that occur between the shrubs, bunchgrasses, cacti and trees that grow there. Historically, these spaces have acted as a network of small firebreaks that hinder the spread of fire. However, the increasing dominance of invasive annual grasses since the 1970s has created an almost continuous and highly flammable fuel bed that is changing the face of the Mojave Desert. Use of fire and herbicides during the spring to control the invasive annual grasses has been used with mixed success. Researchers will establish a demonstration site where the effects of these two methods in reducing fine fuels and the dominance of invasive annual grasses will be measured. Results of this effort will help managers determine the feasibility and cost effectiveness of controlling fine fuels and invasive annual grasses in the Mojave Desert. |
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00-2-33: The Lick Creek Demonstration – Forest Renewal Through Partial Harvest and Fire |
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Ben Zamora |
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Silvicultural and harvesting practices used in Washington’s Umatilla National Forest in the 1960s and 1970s have led to current conditions where stands are overstocked with small diameter, shade-tolerant tree species (grand fir and Douglas fir) that are competing with the more desirable ponderosa pine and western larch. Understory vegetation that is important for elk and other wildlife species is being suppressed and surface and ladder fuels have accumulated to the point of creating a severe wildfire hazard. Current plans call for partial harvesting in combination with prescribed fire to achieve a more desirable stand structure and composition. Scientists are developing a visual demonstration of the use of selective, partial harvest combined with prescribed fire to renew forest health and reduce fire hazard. The demonstration area will provide the opportunity for the public, professionals and students to observe first hand how treatments affect the ecological relationships among species. |
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00-2-34: Fuels treatment demonstration sites in the Boreal Forests of Interior Alaska |
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Robert Ott |
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Changes in settlement patterns and policies in Alaska that began in the 1970s have led to population increases in or adjacent to forested areas and have intensified the wildland urban interface (WUI) fire problem. Today about 80% of the Alaska population lives in communities potentially at risk from wildland fire. As the frequency and cost of fires in the WUI increase, the need for fuel reduction techniques to create defensible space increases. Scientists are developing a fuels treatment demonstration site in the boreal forests of interior Alaska to compare the effectiveness, environmental effects, and cost of four different shaded fuelbreak treatments in high density white spruce stands located on flood plains. The demonstration sites will be available to officials, resource management professionals and interested publics for a minimum of seven years. |
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00-2-35: Evaluation of three alternative fuel management treatments for eastern white pine |
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James Cook |
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The white pine type occupies about 500,000 acres in the Great Lakes Region and is considered fire dependent. Fire needs to be re-introduced into the ecosystem but since the forest type has received little study, information to guide fire prescriptions is lacking. Researchers will compare effects of three fuel treatment prescriptions (a standard mechanical treatment plus herbicide, a backing fire treatment, and a strip-head fire treatment) in the eastern white pine type on Menominee Tribal land in northern Wisconsin. Findings from this study and demonstration areas associated with the study will assist land managers in achieving management objectives through the use of fire and other fuel treatments. |
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