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Project ID: 01B-3-3-16

Year: 2002

Date Started: 05/16/2002

Date Completed: 03/22/2006

Title: Effects of Season and Interval of Prescribed Burns in a Ponderosa Pine Ecosystem

Project Proposal Abstract: Prescribed burning is currently being used as a restoration and management tool to reduce large fuel loads and restore ecosystem function in western interior forests. Yet, effects of seasonality and burn interval on stand structure and endemic flora remain poorly understood and are a local knowledge gap significant to fire management plan development and implementation. We propose to superimpose two burn intervals on an existing season of burn study and monitor first order fire effects, insect and disease caused tree mortality, effects on understory vegetation, and fuel consumption. The existing seasonality of prescribed burn study was established in ponderosa pine type in the south end of the Blue Mountains in southeastern Oregon. Three treatments (no burn, fall 1997 burn, and spring 1998 burn) were assigned randomly to three 30- 60 acre experimental units in each of six replicates (stands). The study was initially installed to determine the attraction of potential insect vectors of the fungus that causes black stain root disease and the subsequent incidence of that disease following prescribed burning, but now also examines response of other elements such as understory vegetation, soil nutrients, bark beetle caused tree mortality and an evaluation of first order fire effects. The experimental design, established burn units and range of factors already being monitored, provide a unique opportunity to also examine burn interval. We propose to bisect each experimental unit and randomly select one subunit of each pair to be burned 5 years following the initial burn while the second subunit would be used to test a longer interval of burn. The season of burn for each subunit would remain the same as in the established study. This would result in two additional treatments (burn fall 1997 and 2002, and burn spring 1998 and 2003) on each of the six replicates. Results from this study would provide managers knowledge to evaluate two of the most basic variables of wildland fuel management, season and interval of burn.

Principal Investigator: Walter G. Thies

Agency/Organization: Forest Service

Branch or Dept: PNW-Forestry Sciences Lab-Corvallis

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	Christine G. Niwa	Forest Service	PNW-Forestry Sciences Lab-Corvallis
Federal Cooperator	Becky K. Kerns	Forest Service	PNW-Forestry Sciences Lab-Corvallis
Manager/Coordinator	Mark Loewen	Forest Service	Malheur NF-Emigrant Creek Ranger District
Technical Contact	Robert E. Buckman	Forest Service	PSW-Pacific Southwest Research Station
Technical Contact	Nicholas L. Crookston	Forest Service	RMRS-Forestry Sciences Lab-Moscow
Technical Contact	Gene Mackey	Forest Service	Malheur NF-Emigrant Creek Ranger District
Technical Contact	Roger D. Ottmar	Forest Service	PNW-Seattle-Managing Natural Disturbances
Technical Contact	Elizabeth D. Reinhardt	Forest Service	RMRS-Fire Sciences Lab-Missoula
Technical Contact	Craig L. Schmitt	Forest Service	PNW-Forestry & Range Sciences Lab-LaGrande
Technical Contact	Russell H. Truman	Forest Service	Malheur NF-Emigrant Creek Ranger District

Project Locations

Consortium

Northern Rockies

Northwest

Northwest

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
	10287	Refereed Publication	Season and severity of prescribed burn in ponderosa pine forests: implications for underostry native and exotic plants
	6366	Refereed Publication	Prediction of Delayed Mortality of Fire-Damaged Ponderosa Pine Following Prescribed Fires in Eastern Oregon
	6364	Refereed Publication	Season of Prescribed Burn in Ponderosa Pine Forests in Eastern Oregon: Impact on Pine Mortality
	6365	Refereed Publication	Prescribed Fires are Not Created Equal: Fire Season and Severity Effects in Ponderosa Pine Forests of the Southern Blue Mountains
	8618	NonRefereed Publication	A Field Guide to Predict Delayed Mortality of Fire Damaged Pondeosa Pine: Application and Validation of the Malheur Model

Supporting Documents

There are no supporting documents available for this project.

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