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:
|
04-2-1-06: Fire in the Southern Appalachians: Fuels, Stand Structure and Oaks |
|
|
David Loftis |
Other Cooperators: |
|
This proposal addresses these knowledge gaps through studies that examine the effects of frequent and infrequent prescribed fire on stand structure, response of seedlings, recruitment, and residual trees, and fuels. We initiated a small study with limited university and Forest Service funding starting in 1995, and more recently initiated a more comprehensive study with JFSP funding. As part of the technology transfer component of our JFSP-funded project we held meetings with managers and researchers in which managers articulated the need for quantification of fuels and bole damage. As a result we incorporated measurements of fuels, bole damage, and health class of crowns into our study design prior to implementation of burning in 2003. |
|
|
04-2-1-14: Effects of disturbance history, landscape pattern, and weather on wildfire severity in southwestern Oregon: Implications for management of a fire-prone landscape |
|
|
Thomas Spies |
Other Cooperators: |
|
The project has three major objectives: 1) Determine how fire severity in stands is influenced by history of management actions and wildfire; 2) Evaluate the relative contribution of vegetation structure, topography, landscape pattern, and weather to variation in the fire severity and 3) Characterize the spatial pattern and spatial correlation of vegetation changes resulting from the fire. We will conduct an analysis of fire severity using pre- and post-fire aerial photography, a managed stand data base, stand exams, FIA plots and other GIS layers. Fire severity will be measured in terms of damage to tree cover. We will use an existing vegetation change analysis conducted with TM imagery to characterize general spatial patterns of fire severity. Logistic regression and spatial statistics will be used to test hypotheses about the relative importance of different factors in explaining the variation in fire severity. |
|
|
04-2-1-17: Effects of Fuel Reduction Treatments on Rocky Mountain Elk |
|
|
John Kie |
Other Cooperators: |
|
Many western forests are characterized by overstocked stands, high fuel loads, and a high percentage of mortality from insect outbreaks. Recently passed federal legislation such as the Healthy Forests Initiative will allow land managers to intensively reduce fuel loadings on hundreds of thousands of acres. Little is known, however, about such treatments on many species of wildlife. One such species is Rocky Mountain elk, populations of which occur throughout most of the intermountain west, and provide an important recreational resource to both consumptive and non-consumptive users. We propose to examine how elk respond to a fuel reduction program consisting of mechanical treatments and prescribed fire. |
|
|
04-2-1-27: Multi-Jurisdictional Application of Forest ERA Landscape Decision Support Tools in North-Central New Mexico |
|
|
Thomas Sisk |
Other Cooperators: |
|
The agencies involved in forest and fire planning in north-central New Mexico have formed a collaborative to develop landscape-scale data and to conduct a multi-jurisdictional scientific analysis of wildfire risks and treatment alternatives and priorities. This project will provide a common scientific foundation for working together to strategically plan, prioritize and collaborate on fuels reduction and restoration treatments. This application of ForestERA will address the specific objectives and information needs of the project partners and sponsors, develop locally specific data, synthesize the data using innovative spatial analytical techniques, and provide a diversity of planning tools in a “seamless” manner that is powerful, yet transparent, flexible, and reasonably user-friendly. The scientific toolbox that is developed will be linked to a planning process that empowers the local managers to use the science in a helpful and responsible manner. |
|
|
04-2-1-33: Epidemic Southern Pine Beetle Attacks: A Problem of Fuel-Loading or an Opportunity for Management |
|
|
Thomas Waldrop |
|
|
The Piedmont Region of South Carolina has experienced one of the heaviest attacks of southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis) in history over the past 3 years. Separate managers with both commercial objectives and restoration objectives have requested information on how prescribed burning or mechanical treatments can be used to reduce the heavy fuels resulting from these attacks, without neglecting their primary management objectives. Prescribed burning is of concern because intensities are expected to be high and fires may damage soils, neighboring trees, or target vegetation. Methods of predicting fire behavior and fuel consumption are unavailable. Mechanical treatments will reduce fuels but are expensive and may not control vegetation that would out-compete planted pines, oak sprouts, or other target vegetation. This project will use beetle-killed areas on a commercial forest, a national forest, and a national military park as treatment areas to compare winter burning, summer burning, and mechanical fuel reduction. Response variables will include vegetation inside and outside of beetle-killed areas, soil fertility and structure, fire behavior, and fuel reduction. Resulting analyses will provide local managers a better understanding of the tradeoffs between prescribed fire and mechanical fuel reduction in areas with unusually heavy fuel loads. |
|
|
04-2-1-35: Effects of 40 years of prescribed fire on pine regeneration and productivity |
|
|
Carl Trettin |
Other Cooperators: |
|
The central question of this study is derived from a pilot study that showed that the long burning history has adversely affected site productivity. Why does the regenerated stand show an effect from the legacy of fire treatments when there was no apparent soil damage from the fires? That result suggests that (1) fire affects studies in mature stands is not representative of long-term responses, and (2) that regeneration may be more sensitive to changes in soil chemical and physical properties. This proposal supports a detailed assessment of the vegetation, productivity and soil biogeochemistry in an attempt to address these critically important questions, and it provides the benchmark for continuing the fire treatments, now that the stand is of sufficient stature. The findings from this work may have significant repercussions with respect to interpreting short-term fire effects studies, and cause us to rethink our approaches for measuring and monitoring site responses. |
|
|
04-2-1-49: Litter and Duff Bulk Densities in the Southern United States |
|
|
Roger Ottmar |
Other Cooperators: |
|
The organic layer (litter and duff) in forest, shrub, and grasslands can represent the bulk of the fuels consumed during wildland fires in southern ecosystems; it is imperative that organic layer depth measurements can be converted to mass as managers often measure the depth of the litter and organic duff layers. In order to convert depth measurements to mass, a bulk density is required for each layer. Also, the DMM600 Duff Moisture Meter developed through collaboration between Campbell Scientific, Inc. and the USDA, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station and Missoula Technology and Development Center measures volumetric moisture of forest floor materials. These volumetric moisture contents can be converted to gravimetric moisture content if duff bulk density values are known. Some field research has been conducted to quantify organic layer bulk densities in the southeastern part of the United States, although it has generally been limited to less productive sand pine and sand hill sites at Eglin Air Force Base. The objective of this research proposal is to quantify bulk density for litter and duff layers in 6) forest, shrub, and grassland fuelbed types. The data will be compiled and analyzed to provide bulk density values for use in specific vegetation types. |
|
|
04-2-1-52: Productivity and Habitat Use of Spotted Owls in relation to fire severity in southwestern Oregon: Can prescribed burns be used to reduce fire hazards in spotted owl habitat |
|
|
Robert Anthony |
Other Cooperators: |
|
There is little information available on the effects of prescribed fire on the nesting, foraging and roosting requirements of spotted owls.This proposal will gather post-wildfire occupancy and reproductive success data at known spotted owl territories where pre-fire data exists at three study areas in southwestern Oregon. We will radio-tag a sample of spotted owls at one study area where an earlier radio telemetry study was conducted and compare pre to post-fire habitat utilization. We will use statistical analyses to relate spotted owl occupancy, reproductive success, nesting, roosting, and foraging relative to the pattern and severity of wildfire. We will use data from wildfire affected landscapes to develop guidelines that will assist land managers in planning and implementing prescribed fire in spotted owl territories in southwestern Oregon. |
|
|
04-2-1-71: Quality Assurance of Weather Data and the Probability of Favorable Weather for Prescribed Fire in Alaska |
|
|
Narasimhan Larkin |
Other Cooperators: |
|
At the request of the Alaska Wildland Fire Coordinating Group (AWFCG), as and the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry Northern Region, we will correct data availability and quality assurance problems surrounding the Alaskan Remote Automated Weather Station (RAWS) and other weather station data, as well as the lack of prescribed fire and forecast tools associated with the lack of quality assured weather station data. The sum total of this work will not only directly benefit Alaska, but will also provide a suite of tools that can be distributed to provide benefits in other locations. |
|
|
04-2-1-75: A Landscape Level Approach to Fuels Management Through Ecological Restoration: Developing a Knowledge Base for Application to Historic Oak-Pine Savanna |
|
|
Bart Johnson |
Other Cooperators:: |
|
We propose to develop an analytical framework and directly applicable data for the ecological restoration of historical oak-pine savanna communities at both site-specific and landscape scales to reduce fuel loading and wildfire risk at the wildland-urban interface in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. A reduction in fire frequency, along with other factors, has resulted in the conversion of many oak-pine savanna communities to conifer forests with high fuel loadings and increased probability of catastrophic fires. This approach maximizes societal benefits from management actions by simultaneously protecting communities and natural resources from catastrophic fire while restoring key native ecosystems that have been identified as conservation priorities. Project objectives include (a) analysis of oak-pine distribution, health, and threats to persistence in relation to soils, site physiography, fuel loading, and vegetation using multivariate statistical techniques in the southern Willamette Valley, (2) analysis of the spatio-temporal patterns of succession from oak-pine savanna to Douglas-fir forest in relation to edaphic and site physiographic features, (3) evaluation of the potential for combining oak-pine savanna restoration with fuels reduction management, and (4) development of recommendations for the joint process of restoration and fuels management across a range of key historical and contemporary oak-pine community types. |
|
|
04-2-1-77: Using Cattle as Fuel Reduction Agents in Annual and Perennial Grass Stands in Northern Nevada |
|
|
Christopher Call |
Other Cooperators: |
|
There is a need for low-cost methods to reduce the fuel loading/fire spread in these cheatgrass-dominated and crested wheatgrass-dominated areas. The purpose of this project is to work with local ranchers and land managers in the BLM Winnemucca District to determine the effectiveness of using cattle as fuel reduction agents. Specific objectives are to: 1) evaluate intensive cattle grazing as a method for reducing the fire hazard of cheatgrass and crested wheatgrass stands; 2) evaluate intensive cattle grazing as a method for reducing the seed bank of cheatgrass; 3) determine the cost effectiveness of cattle grazing as a fuel reduction treatment; and 4) disseminate experimental results and management implications to land managers and other interested individuals. |
|
|
04-2-1-80: Development and demonstration of smoke plume, fire emissions, and pre- and post-prescribed fire fuel models on North Carolina Coastal Plain forest ecosystems |
|
|
Robert Mickler |
Other Cooperators: |
|
The proposed research will provide fire management tools to land managers that integrate fuel loading, fire emissions, and smoke plume measurements and modeling. The objectives are to (1) Inventory, map, and model live and down woody debris/fuels biomass utilizing USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis P2 and P3 field plot protocols, develop fuel loading formulas for fire behavior models in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and the Air Force Dare County Bombing Range in the North Carolina Coastal Plain, and incorporate data from Coastal Plain forest types into the fuel characteristic classification (FCC) system and the FARSITE fire behavior model; (2) Validate the USDA Forest Service PB-Coastal Plain smoke model, the BlueSky smoke prediction system, and the BlueSky Rapid Access Information System (BlueSkyRAINS) for the near-coastal land-water interface, including differences in vegetative land use; (3) Characterize photochemically active and radiatively important trace gases as well as PM emissions from prescribed burns in Coastal Plain forest types and histosol soils, and (4) Deliver personal computer and web-based decision support tools for estimating inputs of live biomass and down woody debris/fuels into a fire behavior model, real-time smoke plume models, and an emissions model for prescribed burns for use by federal and state land managers in North Carolina specifically, and other users throughout the Coastal Plain of the southeastern US. |
|
|
04-2-1-84: Translating SPLATs from a theoretical to a real world landscape: The implications of fuel management strategies for Sagehen Creek Basin, Tahoe National Forest |
|
|
John Battles |
Other Cooperators: |
|
The primary goal of the proposed administrative study is: To evaluate the effectiveness of strategically placed area treatments (SPLAT) in reducing fire hazard at Sagehen Creek Basin. Our approach is first to build a field-parameterized version of the fire behavior model, FARSITE, and simulate alternative fuel management designs. The performances of these designs would be evaluated in terms of slowing fire spread and reducing fire intensity. The data needed to develop the map layers for FARSITE would be obtained from a network of geo-referenced field plots where we would measure the fire-relevant attributes of the vegetation and the surface fuels. Since these attributes are not only heterogeneous but also resistant to measurement via remote sensing, we will explore innovative, efficient field methods for assessing fuel loads. We will capitalize on the long-term monitoring record at Sagehen to quantify the recent trends in forest change and use the results to inform fuel management strategies. Our hope is that the specific lessons learned during this intensive study of one landscape will help guide planning for other management units in the Tahoe National Forest and other forest in the Sierra Nevada. The presence of Sagehen Creek Field Station provides vital infrastructure support to extend these results to both professional managers and the interested public. |
|
|
04-2-1-85: Does season of burn and burn interval affect soil productivity and processes in a ponderosa pine ecosystem |
|
|
Darlene Zabowski |
Other Cooperators: |
|
Prescribed burning is currently in use in many forests to restore fuel loads to historic levels and return forests to pre-fire suppression burn intervals. A study is currently underway in the southern Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon that is examining the effects of season of burn and fire return interval on forest growth, insect and disease mortality, understory vegetation and fuel consumption. This project has 5 treatments: spring burning at 5-year interval, spring burning at 15-year interval, fall burning at 5-year interval, fall burning at 15-year interval, and a no-burn control. To date, 2 of the 5-year burns have occurred (with the most recent burn in 2002), and 1 has been implemented 6 years ago in the 15-year burn interval plots for both spring and fall burning. No examination of prescribed burning effects on soils has been done at this site, yet prescribed burning may have substantial effects on soil properties. The forests of this semi-arid region could experience changes in both soil water availability and nutrient availability, which could affect forest health. We propose to examine season of burn and burn interval effects on soil moisture, soil temperature, and nutrient availability and compare these with growth, insect and disease mortality, and understory vegetation. |
|
|
04-2-1-86: Measurement of mercury mobilization and accumulation in fish in response to prescribed fire in a boreal forest ecosystem |
|
|
Randall Kolka |
Other Cooperators: |
|
Mercury (Hg) has been identified as one of today's most important environmental contaminants. Mercury contamination in fish is well known in the Great Lake States as well as in the northeast U.S, Canada, and northern Europe, even in remote wilderness areas. Although we are beginning to understand the Hg cycle in forested systems and the important Hg species that lead to bioaccumulation in the food chain, little is known of how wildland or prescribed fire affects Hg cycling processes and thus there is a significant data gap in land management decisions regarding use of prescribed fires in fuels management and in response to wildfires. In this study we will address that data gap by assessing Hg cycling processes in both pre- and post-burned watersheds in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area located in the Superior National Forest in northeast Minnesota. The prescribed burning program on the Superior National Forest was developed in response to a major blowdown event that occurred in 1999. The study area provides a rare opportunity to study fire/ecosystem Hg interactions in a wilderness that is dominated by lakes and wetlands. We will select undeveloped lakes in both burned (5 treatment lakes) and unburned (5 control lakes) watersheds and measure total-Hg, methyl-Hg (bioaccumulative form of Hg) and other important ions in precipitation, throughfall, soil, lake water and in 1+ year fish (perch) both pre-burn and post-burn, to assess sources of Hg and determine if changes in sources alters the concentration of Hg in fish. Our hypothesis is that prescribed fire will have a significant effect on Hg cycling within a watershed. In the short term (months to years) increased mobilization and transportation in burned watersheds may result in an increase in fish Hg concentrations. The research proposed here fits well with priorities listed in task statement #1 regarding studies to address locally important data gaps associated with planning and implementation of fuels treatment and post-fire implications. The results of this study will be critically important as federal agencies, especially the USDA Forest Service, ramp up efforts to control fuel loads across the nation. If prescribed fire enhances the watershed transport and bioaccumulation of Hg in fish, other fuel reduction techniques and/or post-fire management should be considered, especially in sensitive regions such as the boreal region where high levels of Hg in fish is already a concern. |
|
|
04-2-1-89: Effects of Prescribed Burning, Mechanical, and Chemical Treatments to Curtail Rhododendron Dominance and Reduce Urban Interface Fuel Loads |
|
|
Shep Zedaker |
Other Cooperators: |
|
After more than a century of fire exclusion in the Appalachian Mountains, the distribution of rhododendron and its dominance of forest understories have increased. Rhododendron's expansion has been enhanced by shifts to partial cutting as clearcutting is reduced on both public and private land. Rhododendron is also a favored landscape plant for people living in the urban interface because it is green year-round and has beautiful flowers. This administrative study is aimed at determining the cost and effectiveness of prescribed fire, mechanical cutting, herbicides, and combinations of these treatments on rhododendron fuel reduction. |
|
|
04-2-1-94: Effects of Fire Severity and Distance from Unburned Edge on Mammalian Community Post-fire Recovery |
|
|
Jay Diffendorfer |
Other Cooperators: |
|
This study will rely on a substantial pre-fire database and original field studies to document patterns of reestablishment by mammal species and communities following the October-November, 2003, wildfires in San Diego County. These processes will be examined as functions of pre-fire fuel status, burn severity, and distance from fire perimeter in order to inform future fuel management decisions in this hotspot of biological diversity and fire-prone habitats. With extensive collaboration between federal agencies (USFS, USGS, BLM, Military) and University and NGO scientists, we will build on an extensive pre-fire database of mammal species distributions that has been collated for the San Diego County Mammal Atlas project. Using standard field sampling methods (live-trapping, Anabat recorders, track transects) we will resample mammal communities in burned and unburned plots where we have existing pre-burn mammal data on federal and nonfederal lands. We will also sample in areas of varying burn severity, different habitat types, and at varying distances inside the burn perimeter, to ascertain how pre-fire fuel conditions (e.g., as a result of previous fires or fuel treatments) and distance from unburned refugia affect patterns of reestablishment for various mammalian taxa. This information can help guide decisions on the size, location, and intensity of prescribed fires in various habitats so as to avoid conflicts with wildlife management goals in this biodiversity hotspot. |
|
|
04-2-1-95: The influences of post-fire salvage logging on wildlife populations |
|
|
John Cissel |
Other Cooperators: |
|
Large fires in recent years have increased interest in post-fire salvage logging to recoup some of the economic benefits from the forest. However, despite considerable concern and interest, there is relatively little empirical work evaluating the ecological effects of post-fire logging. We propose to evaluate the influences of two intensities of post-fire salvage on populations of small mammals, bats, and birds. Our work will be among the first to use a replicated manipulative experimental design to evaluate wildlife response to post-fire salvage logging. |
|
|
04-2-1-96: Refinement and Development of Fire Management Decision Support Models Through Field Assessment of Relationships Between Stand Characteristics, Fire Behavior and Burn Severity |
|
|
Ann Camp |
Other Cooperators: |
|
The first objective of this research is to develop a flammability curve model for black spruce boreal forest types using currently available datasets of seral stage stand characteristics and appropriate fuel attributes followed by testing this curve with data collected from wildfire and prescribed fire events. This process will serve land management agencies well in creating long-term natural resource management plans that balance ecological and social needs by providing a faster, reliable method of defining fuel hazards at a landscape scale. The second objective of this research is to assess two black spruce fuel type fuel model inputs for decision support models widely used in Alaska through direct field measurements of fire behavior. This objective will add an additional degree of confidence to the application of these models and any discrepancies between actual fire behavior and model predictions will be used to recommend specific changes to improve the model’s application in the Alaskan black spruce boreal forest type. Data obtained from fire events are unique and will have broader potential applications for improving a host of forest simulation models used for boreal forests. This project will realize significant cost savings by merging data collection efforts with Roger Ottmar’s current JFSP project (AFP 2003-2 Task #1). Products will be distributed through web page dissemination, published materials and workshops with Alaska fire and land managers. |
|
|
04-2-1-97: The effect of spring prescribed fires on nitrogen dynamics within riparian and stream ecosystems |
|
|
Kathleen Kavanagh |
Other Cooperators: |
|
This replicated study will investigate causal mechanisms that regulate nitrogen (N) dynamics between intermittent headwater streams, riparian vegetation and soil following a spring prescribed burn by (a) measuring the magnitude and origin of soil N and C pools in burned and unburned watersheds, (b) determine gross N mineralization and nitrification rates in burned and unburned water sheds, (c) measuring plant biomass and N concentration in trees, shrubs and herbs pre and post-fire and on burned and unburned watersheds and calculating a N retention index (ratio of biomass loss : N loss) for different plant groups, (d) tracking source and fate of N within the stream biotic communities and (e) monitoring N output downstream in burned and unburned watersheds. We theorize that N retention rates in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are very high in these N-limited systems thus minimizing net ecosystem N loss due to fire. Existing grant funds have been used to collect pre-burn data in 2002-2003 and will be used to collect limited post-burn data in six headwater watersheds on the Emmett District of the Boise National Forest. |
|
|
04-2-1-106: Understanding the influence of local and landscape conditions on the occurrence and abundance of Black-backed Woodpeckers in burned forest patches |
|
|
Richard Hutto |
Other Cooperators: |
|
Wildfire is the predominant disturbance agent in the Northern Rockies. The nearly annual occurrence of wildfire at some point in a larger landscape has served as the environmental backdrop against which our native wildlife species have evolved. A number of native species have, in fact, become dependent on wildfires or wildfire-created habitats and are nearly restricted in their distribution to such conditions. The suppression of wildfires during the past 70 years may have placed many of these fire-dependent species at risk. Excessive fire suppression in the past has also let to the occurrence of more severe fires than would have occurred historically, necessitating fuels reduction treatments to prevent unnaturally sever fires in the future, restore site productivity on heavily burned areas, and protect residual live trees within the burned area perimeter. These activities must be accomplished in the face of meeting the needs of fire-dependent species as well. |
|
|
04-2-1-110: Learning from the past: retrospective analyses of fire behavior in Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks |
|
|
Carol Miller |
Other Cooperators: |
|
Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks have identified a critical need to be able to understand and track the consequences of their fire suppression decisions. To address this local research need, we will use retrospective fire behavior modeling and risk-benefit assessments for suppressed lightning ignitions that have occurred since 1991 in the two Parks. For the first time, the Parks will be able to quantify the consequences of their suppression decisions. We will determine where lightning ignitions would have spread had they not been suppressed and we will assess the effects that would have resulted from these fires. The proposed project combines fire behavior modeling technology with the information contained in the Parks’ fire records and the local experience of the current fire management staff to better understand and quantify the consequences of suppression decisions. Results from our analyses will be compiled and presented in a GIS data library that will allow easy reference for managers during the fire season when making the decision whether or not to suppress, when preparing Stage III Wildland Fire Implementation Plan (WFIP) analyses, and when developing appropriate management response on suppression incidents. Furthermore, the project will develop methodology and step-by-step procedures for conducting these retrospective analyses so that Park fire management staff can update and add to this information resource annually. The information and understanding generated by this research will improve the prioritization and planning of fuels management activities by supplementing the Fire Return Interval Departure analysis that is routinely done by both Parks. The results of our analyses will allow park managers to frame future decisions and cost-benefit analyses in the context of past experiences, to track the cumulative effects of suppression, and to communicate tradeoffs to the public and other governmental entities. As all land managers need to understand and track the consequences of their fire management decisions, the methods we develop will have broad national applicability and will provide a template for conducting similar analyses. |
|
|
04-2-1-112: Effectiveness of litter removal in preventing mortality of yellow barked ponderosa pine in northern Arizona |
|
|
James Fowler |
Other Cooperators: |
|
We propose to measure the effectiveness of removing deep litter/duff in preventing yellow barked ponderosa pine mortality due to prescribed fire. Our study will utilize six sites on three National Forests where deep litter/duff has accumulated around the lower tree bole due to decades of fire suppression. Our experiment is designed to separate the mortality effects of litter/duff removal from the mortality effects of prescribed fire. |
|
|
04-2-1-114: Integrating Social Values in Vegetation Models via GIS: the missing link for the Bitterroot National Forest |
|
|
Alan Watson |
Other Cooperators: |
|
We propose an eighteen month research and application project to improve methods for presentation of fuzzy data (social values) in GIS format. Such methods are needed to further increase effectiveness of integration of human values into planning fire and fuels treatments. Information on social effects of alternatives is necessary for NEPA documentation, and while there are several possible techniques to accomplish this objective, none that are GIS-based have been tested sufficiently or peer-reviewed, nor are any theoretically based. Proposed research will be conducted in and for the Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project (BEMRP), a partnership of federal land managers, researchers and the public. BEMRP’s current priority is on-site hazardous fuels treatments for a landscape-scale green fuel reduction/restoration program. |
|
|
04-2-1-115: Historic fire regimes of the Willamette Valley, Oregon: Providing a long-term, regional context for fire and fuels management |
|
|
Cathy Whitlock |
Other Cooperators: |
|
The proposed project will develop a transect of 2000-yr-long fire records based on lake- and wetland-sediment records in the Willamette Valley on BLM, state and private land, where dendrochronological records do not exist. Knowledge of historical and current fires regimes will provide information on the range of stand composition, structure, general fuel characterisitics and landscape pattern, required to implement National Fire Plan goals and objectives. Changes in fire regimes through time help us assess hazardous fuels, forest health, and sustainability issues; prioritize projects; and determine appropriate types and timing of treatments for restoration and hazardous fuels reduction. Our first objective is to reconstruct regional variation in historical fire regimes based on sediment and tree-ring data collected from the eastern foothills of the Coast Range, the Willamette Valley, and the foothills of the western Cascade Range for the last 2000 years in an effort to understand the synergistic effects of land-use and climate change. Our second objective is to reconstruct historical vegetation changes, including major shifts in plant community composition and structure arising from changes in climate and fire regimes. Our third objective is to communicate our findings to land managers and researchers through oral presentations, written reports and peer-reviewed publications. |
|
|
04-2-1-116: Influence of prescribed and wildfire on forest structure and fire severity |
|
|
Theresa Jain |
Other Cooperators: |
|
The overarching goal of this study is to provide information on the three local data gaps discussed above. The specific objectives of this study by which the goals will be met are 1) To examine the relationship between forest structure and fire severity distributions created by prescribed fires (implemented 1998 through 2003) versus relationship between forest structure and fire severity created by wildfires (2003) that burned through and around prescribed fires through a retrospective study (local data gap 1); 2) To evaluate the influence of time since a prescribed fire was implemented and its effectiveness in altering wildfire behavior and/or severity (local data gap 2), and 3) To use these results to design and test fire prescriptions (local data gap 3). The results from this study will supply information for fire and silvicultural prescriptions for use in the dry forests of the western United States. |
|
|
04-2-1-118: Effects of fuels treatments and wildfire on understory species and fuels in the ponderosa pine zone of the Colorado Front Range |
|
|
Paula Fornwalt |
Other Cooperators: |
|
We are proposing a holistic ecosystem evaluation of the changes in forest overstory and understory structure and fuel characteristics that result from restoration actions and wildfires. This objective stems directly from the rapid increase in fuel treatments and the need to know that these treatments will succeed and be ecologically and socially acceptable over time. This project has two specific objectives: 1) To assess the effects of restoration (mechanical thinning) and wildfire on understory species composition and surface fuels; 2) To evaluate the effects of restoration versus wildfire on forest overstory and understory structure, fuels, and long-term fire behavior characteristics. |
|
