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Project ID: 12-1-04-5

Year: 2012

Date Started: 06/01/2012

Ending Date:  06/01/2015

Title: Linking Field-Based and Experimental Methods to Quantify, Predict, and Manage Fire Effects on Cultural Resources

Project Proposal Abstract: Uncharacteristically severe wildfires can threaten cultural resources through direct effects that are obvious and immediate, such as destruction of structures; or that may be harder to recognize, such as thermal alteration of surface materials. Indirect effects of wildfires, and most notably erosion, may also occur, resulting in the most dramatic events in the wholesale destruction or relocation of cultural resources. Fuel treatments have been shown to reduce fire severity, but effectiveness of risk mitigation operations is constrained by lack of information in three areas: 1) range of fire effects on cultural resources, 2) quantification of the magnitude and duration of heating that results in permanent damage, and 3) linkage between fire effects and operational fire models. We have designed a project to integrate cultural resources information into fire management decision processes. Our objectives are to provide guidelines for best management practices for cultural resources in fire-prone landscapes. We focus this project in the Jemez Mountain region of northern New Mexico, an ideal study area because of its high density of important sites and artifacts located within fire-prone forests. The Las Conchas Fire of 2011 highlighted the potential negative impacts of wildfire on archeology and active cultural sites, but also provides unique research opportunities to study a wide range of forest and fuel types; numerous types and configurations of cultural sites; and a range of burn severities. Our project is designed as a collaborative effort among fire scientists, forest ecologists, earth scientists, archaeologists, and fire managers and has three components: 1) laboratory experiments to replicate variable burn environments and the direct effects of fire exposure on three classes of archaeological materials (obsidian artifacts, ceramic artifacts, and architectural stone); 2) field-based examination of post-fire effects from the recent Las Conchas fire; and 3) knowledge synthesis and science delivery. Laboratory experiments will characterize damage from heating intensity and duration in a set of controlled experiments to be conducted at the large burn chamber and wind tunnel facilities at the USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station Fire Lab, Missoula, MT. Field data collection will characterize the range of environmental conditions in the study region, including topographic setting, vegetation type, fuel loading, fire severity class, and repeat burning. This will provide a broadly representative archaeological and environmental context to inform our laboratory experiments and analysis. In addition, field sampling will allow us to acquire and test artifacts across a known gradient of vegetation types and fire severity classes and to develop a post-fire erosion vulnerability model.The knowledge synthesis will complement the laboratory and field work at all stages of the project. We will convene an advisory team of cultural resource and fire managers to conduct needs assessment surveys to clarify information needs and knowledge gaps. The knowledge synthesis will build on existing materials, but will present an applied management perspective, and incorporate additional sources on cultural resources fire effects and fire management that currently reside in unpublished form in numerous archives within federal and state agencies. Other science delivery products include field-ready reference cards for identifying damages associated with varying fuel and fire situations and a Manager Workshop that will provide a venue for fire managers and archaeologists to interact, share information, and develop a common understanding of resource management methods and priorities.

Principal Investigator: Rachel A. Loehman

Agency/Organization: Forest Service

Branch or Dept: RMRS-Fire Sciences Lab-Missoula

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Budget Contact	Edith M. Cates	Forest Service	RMRS-Rocky Mountain Research Station
Co-Principal Investigator	Vincent Archer	Forest Service	Lewis & Clark National Forest
Co-Principal Investigator	Bret W. Butler	Forest Service	RMRS-Fire Sciences Lab-Missoula
Co-Principal Investigator	Jamie A. Civitello	Valles Caldera National Preserve-Interagency	Preserve Science & Research
Co-Principal Investigator	Jennifer B. Dyer	Forest Service	Santa Fe NF-Jemez Ranger Station
Co-Principal Investigator	Alexander M. Evans	Forest Guild
Co-Principal Investigator	Rory P. Gauthier	NPS-National Park Service	Bandelier National Monument
Co-Principal Investigator	James J. Reardon	Forest Service	RMRS-Fire Sciences Lab-Missoula
Co-Principal Investigator	Anastasia X. Steffen	Valles Caldera National Preserve-Interagency	Preserve Science & Research
Collaborator/Contributor	Ronald E. Loehman	University of New Mexico	Chemical & Nuclear Engineering
Collaborator/Contributor	Thomas W. Swetnam	University of Arizona-Tucson	Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research
Funding Cooperator	Bret W. Butler	Forest Service	RMRS-Fire Sciences Lab-Missoula
Grants and Agreements Contact	Cindy D. Gordon	Forest Service	RMRS-Rocky Mountain Research Station
Lead Reviewer	William T. Sommers	George Mason University	College of Science

Project Locations

Consortium

Southwest

Level	State	Agency	Unit
STATE	MT	LOCAL	Local government lands
STATE	NM	MULTIPLE

Project Deliverables

There is no final report available for this project.
There are no deliverables available for this project.

Supporting Documents

There are no supporting documents available for this project.

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