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Project ID: 09-1-01-7

Year: 2009

Date Started: 10/01/2009

Ending Date:  09/30/2013

Title: Fuel Lifecycle and Long-Term Fire Behavior Responses to Fuel Treatment in Southeastern US Pine

Project Proposal Abstract: We propose to examine the long term effectiveness and impacts of fuel treatment activities in Coastal Plain longleaf pine ecosystems. We have a unique opportunity to exploit a rich long term treatment and monitoring program that will allow us to overcome one of the major limitations in evaluating fuel treatments: lack of time. We will utilize this long term data from an existing long-term study to fundamentally connect vegetation patterns to fuels, fuels to fire, and fire to fire effects. The Nature Conservancy from 1994-1999 led a large-scale, long-term study at Eglin Air Force Base to compare the effectiveness of midstory reduction treatments, including herbicide, growing season fire, and mechanical clearing, on restoration of longleaf pine forests. Plot level information still exist for all experimental sites, which have been burned as part of the prescribed fire program at Eglin AFB since the study concluded. We specifically propose to 1) evaluate the long-term (15 y) effectiveness of midstory reduction techniques (fire, herbicide, mechanical) on midstory reinvasion in longleaf pine ecosystems, 2) relate fire behavior to midstory mortality using in situ fire behavior measurements in longleaf pine sandhills, 3) document the long-term differences in fire behavior within these treatments as a measure of long-term effectiveness. This proposal represents an opportunity to add value and extract new information from long term monitoring data on fuels treatments in longleaf pine ecosystems. The results of this study will allow the tuning of restoration procedures to maximize effectiveness of initial treatments and their longevity. In addition, we will be able to quantify the effects of treatments on fire behavior with an unprecedented level of detail. These measurements will be useful not only for evaluating long term treatment effectiveness, but will be provide a critical link among fuels treatments, fire behavior and desired fire effects in the southeast.

Principal Investigator: Joseph J. O’Brien

Agency/Organization: Forest Service

Branch or Dept: SRS-Ctr for Forest Disturbance Science

Other Project Collaborators

Type	Name	Agency/Organization	Branch or Dept
Co-Principal Investigator	Bret W. Butler	Forest Service	RMRS-Fire Sciences Lab-Missoula
Federal Cooperator	Joseph J. O’Brien	Forest Service	SRS-Ctr for Forest Disturbance Science
Federal Fiscal Representative	Shelly M. Gates	Forest Service	SRS-Southern Research Station

Project Locations

Consortium

South

Level	State	Agency	Unit
STATE	FL	FED	Other Federal Lands

Project Deliverables

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

Supporting Documents

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