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09-1-01-7
2009
10/01/2009
09/30/2013
Fuel Lifecycle and Long-Term Fire Behavior Responses to Fuel Treatment in Southeastern US Pine
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.
Joseph J. O’Brien
Forest Service
SRS-Ctr for Forest Disturbance Science

Other Project Collaborators

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

Project Locations

Fire Science Exchange Network

South

Level

State

Agency

Unit

STATE

FL

FED

Other Federal Lands

Final Report

Project Deliverables

Title
 
Wildland Fire Science in the 21st Cent.: Using AdvancedTech. to Understand Fire Behavior and EffectsView
Bringing the heat back into fire ecology: new tech. for capturing fire behaviorView
Fire Research at CFDS.View
The standardized fuel bed: a tool for capturing var. in fire weather among exp. low intensity firesView
RxCADRE: Fine scale fire behavior.View
Fuel Life Cycle and Long Term Fire Behavior Responses to Fuel Treatment in SE US Pine EcosystemsView

Supporting Documents