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Project ID: 05-2-1-26

Year: 2005

Date Started: 06/13/2005

Date Completed: 08/17/2007

Title: Fire and Forest History at Mount Rushmore National Memorial: Application and Demonstration of Fire Science

Project Proposal Abstract: Mount Rushmore National Memorial's (MORU) massive sculpture of four of the United States' most respected presidents is a national treasure. The major natural resource visitors see when viewing the Memorial is ponderosa pine forest that likely has not burned for well over a century. Fuels and forest treatments are being explored to mitigate fire hazard and restore natural variability in forest structure and processes, but these will be highly visible and under more intense scrutiny than other areas around the West. This creates both a need for a strong scientific basis for restoration efforts as well as an opportunity to highlight the use of fire science in forest and fuels management in western forests. We propose: 1) to use tree-ring and other historical data (e.g., repeat photographs) to document the historical fire regime and forest structure at MORU and how these have varied through time; 2) to model likelihood of crown fire incidence and extent in historical and current forests to gauge changes in crown fire risk and effects of potential mitigation measures; and 3) to communicate results and implications of our findings to NPS personnel, managers of similar ponderosa pine forests in the Black Hills and elsewhere, and the public. Our objectives are: 1) to document and apply historical ranges of variability in fire and forest structure as a stronger scientific basis for natural resource management at MORU; and 2) to demonstrate how a historical perspective helps to both inform and defend management decisions to the public and managers of similar ecosystems through an interpretive display, an interactive CD, a web site, workshops with NPS and other managers, and peer-reviewed publications.

Principal Investigator: Cody Wienk

Agency/Organization: NPS-National Park Service

Branch or Dept: Wind Cave National Park

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	Peter M. Brown	Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research, Inc
Co-Principal Investigator	Amy J. Symstad	USGS-Geological Survey	NPWRC-Black Hills Field Station
Federal Cooperator	Gerard Baker	NPS-National Park Service	Mount Rushmore National Memorial

Project Locations

Consortium

Southern Rockies

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.")

There are no deliverables available for this project.

Supporting Documents

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