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Project ID: 05-2-1-101

Year: 2005

Date Started: 05/11/2005

Date Completed: 05/29/2008

Title: Predicting Burn Severity in the Gila Wilderness, New Mexico: Meeting Local Need for Assessing the Potential Impact of Fire on Fish and Streams

Project Proposal Abstract: This research will investigate the broad-scale factors associated with burn severity in the Gila Wilderness, NM. This directly addresses JFSP Task 2-1 (AFP 2005-2) since this is an important local need identified by the Gila National Forest and the Nature Conservancy. Changes in vegetation structure and fuel loading have increased the risks associated with burning. A key question in fire science remains where and under what conditions fires are likely to burn severely. Concerns about the potential impacts of recent, large (49,000 ha) Wildland Fire Use fires in the Gila Wilderness on critical threatened and endangered Gila trout and Gila chub populations, which are now restricted to small, geographically isolated streams in the wilderness, have raised questions about the long-term future of one of the most active and long-term Wildland Fire Use programs in the US. Successful management of Wildland Fire Use programs while protecting critical resources in the Gila Wilderness and elsewhere requires a better understanding of the landscape and vegetation characteristics that are associated with burn severity. We propose two research tasks to address this question. Task 1- Using pre and post-fire high-resolution satellite imagery and ground measures of burn severity, we will address the following questions: 1) how do factors like pre-fire vegetation structure, landscape and topographic position influence the occurrence of high burn severity? 2) How well can comparison of pre and post-fire high-resolution images map burn severity, compared to dNBR and ground measures of severity? 3) how do post-fire effects such as vegetation damage and tree mortality vary with prior treatments? Task 2- Using Landsat satellite imagery, we will build an historical burn severity atlas with which we will assess relationships between landscape factors (slope, aspect, elevation, vegetation type, prior fire history) and burn severity. Previous funding from the Joint Fire Sciences Program (JFSP 01-1-1-06) has been used to acquire high-resolution (Quickbird) satellite imagery and collect field data. We request additional funding to purchase Landsat imagery, analyze burn severity data and produce risk assessment maps for the areas of the Gila NF encompassing fish populations and streams of concern. Carl Key and Nate Benson will use CBI burn severity data we collect in the field in their ongoing investigation into burn severity (JFSP 01-1-04-12) Field data will also be used by the Gila NF to develop Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC) layers for the Gila National Forest. This project is linked with three closely related JFSP projects.

Principal Investigator: Matthew G. Rollins

Agency/Organization: USGS-Geological Survey

Branch or Dept: Fire Science National Center

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	Zack A. Holden	University of Idaho	Department of Forest Resources
Co-Principal Investigator	Penny M. Morgan	University of Idaho	Department of Forest Resources
Federal Cooperator	Matthew G. Rollins	USGS-Geological Survey	Fire Science National Center

Project Locations

Consortium

Alaska

Appalachian

California

Great Basin

Great Plains

Lake States

Oak Woodlands

Northern Rockies

Northwest

Pacific

South

Southern Rockies

Southwest

Tallgrass

There are no project locations identified for this project.

Project Deliverables

Final Report ("Results presented in JFSP Final Reports may not have been peer-reviewed and should be interpreted as tentative until published in a peer-reviewed source.")

	ID	Type	Title
	7590	Refereed Publication	Twenty-Year (1984-2004) Severe Fire Occurrence Across Vegetation and Topographic Gradients in a Large Southwestern US Wilderness Area
	7591	Refereed Publication	Fire Season Precipitation Variability and Green-Up (1989-2005) Across a Vegetation Gradient in the Gila Wilderness, New Mexico, USA
	7587	Refereed Publication	Remote Sensing Techniques to Assess Active Fire Characteristics and Post-Fire Effects
	7586	Refereed Publication	Fire Season Precipitation Variability Influences Fire Extent and Severity in a Large Southwestern Wilderness Area, United States
	7588	Refereed Publication	Beyond Landsat: An Assessment of Four Satellite Sensors for Detecting Burn Severity in Ponderosa Pine Forests of the Gila Wilderness, NM, USA
	8875	NonRefereed Publication	Evaluating Risks and Opportunities for Gila Trout Management in the Gila National Forest
	7593	Ph.D. Dissertation	Twenty Year (1984-2004) Temporal and Spatial Burn Severity Patterns Inferred from Satellite Imagery in the Gila National Forest, New Mexico--Zachary Alan Holden

Supporting Documents

The following supporting documents are available for this project.

Brief

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