Interagency Monitoring Program and Monitoring Fuels Treatments

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Interagency Monitoring Program and Monitoring
Fuels Treatments Large Fires in Alaska

• RX-510 Unit III E
• Jennifer Allen
• Fire Ecologist, NPS Alaska Region

RX-510 Feb. 2007
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Lesson Objectives

• Identify benefits of developing an interagency
  monitoring program.
• Describe how monitoring can be used to validate
  or modify treatment prescriptions.
• Describe techniques for monitoring large wildland
  fires.

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Alaska Fires
gt51 million acres in last 50 yrs
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Black Spruce Picea mariana
Deciduous - Spruce
White Spruce Picea glauca
Tussock-Shrub Tundra
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Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System
(CFFDRS)
FFMC
DC
DMC
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Alaska Fire Management

• Organized fire suppression began in 1939
• By 1959 smoke jumpers established and suppression
  activities increased.
• 1980s logistics and practicality of fire
  suppression across the state

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Alaska Interagency Wildland Fire Management Plan
- 1998

• Goalaccomplish land-use objectives in the most
  cost-effective manner.
• Designated fire suppression responsibilities
• Defines fire management options
  statewide (FMUs)

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Fire Suppression Agencies
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AK Fire Management Options
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Fire management activities

• Suppression gt fire detection, preparedness, IMT
• Wildland fire use - 60 of the state is in
  limited suppression. Point source protection
  cabin and allotment protection.
• Hazardous fuels management (mechanical thinning,
  fuel breaks, sheer blading)
• Prescribed fire (FWS, State, BLM, Military Areas,
  USFS)

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Fire Issues in AK

• Increased wildland urban interface
• Climate change
• Increased fire activity adjacent to human
  development
• Understanding of fire effects increased fire
  activity

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Fire Issues in AK

• Increased wildland urban interface
• Climate change
• Increased fire activity adjacent to human
  development
• Understanding of fire effects increased fire
  activity

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II. Interagency fire monitoring

• Objective Identify benefits of developing an
  interagency fire monitoring strategy
• Goals of the IA monitoring in Alaska
• Could this be applied elsewhere

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Why an interagency monitoring plan?

• Large scale ecological process not well
  documented
• General lack of staffing among agencies, sharing
  of data
• Applicable across broader spatial scales
• Cost savings

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How it was accomplished

• Interagency Fire Effects Task Group under AWFCG
  1998
• Idea of interagency monitoring discussed
• Open meetings 2-3 times per year
• Follow-up e-mails, surveys, small group meetings

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Goals of the IA Monitoring

• Provide a simple monitoring design to meet common
  needs and Alaska fuel types
• Encourage interagency collaboration, to increase
  sample size
• Provide protocols that could be implemented in a
  rapid response or could be expanded to meet
  additional needs

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Protocol Development

• Tiered approach three monitoring intensities
• Developed objectives and variables to monitor
• Assessed applicability of both FEAT and FireMon
  databases
• Reviewed, revised, field tested, final review

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FETG Plot Design
30-m

• VEGETATION COVER - Point intercept 30-m transect
  
• TREE Densities Measurements
• DEPTH to PERMAFROST
• BURN SEVERITY 10 Points, CBI
• DUFF LITTER DEPTH
• DOWN WOODY FUEL LOADING
• SHRUB DENSITY 1-m x 30-m belt

0-m
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Other FETG Work
Duff moisture and fire danger indices
Assessing remote sensed burn severity -dNBR
Collaborating with Fire Research
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FIREHouse
The Northwest and Alaska Fire Research
Clearinghouse
www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/firehouse
Online, searchable access to

• Project and tool descriptions, contact
  information, metadata
• Online publications
• AK Fire and Fuels Research ArcIMS
• AK Fire Effects Reference Database

Funded by JFSP 2005

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Lessons Learned

• Improved sharing of information
• Small work force
• Pitfalls of using an off-the-shelf protocol
• Simplicity of methods flexible design

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III. Adaptive Management Denali hazard fuels
project

• Objective
• Describe how monitoring can be used to validate
  or modify treatment prescriptions.

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Park Headquarters 1940 and 2003
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Denali hazard fuels project

• Create defensible space for infrastructure
• Lessen the wildland fire hazards to this area
• Reflect the Period of Historic Significance

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Developed objectives and monitoring design

• Met with the park FMO and fuels specialist
• Identified objectives
• Determine if prescription parameters were met
• Reduce crown fire potential
• Concerns of grass increase and duff moisture
  drying
• Determined efficient means of measuring
  objectives.

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Plot Data
2003 pre-treatment

• Tree density and measurements
• Species cover
• Fuels loading
• Permafrost

27 plots measured in 2003 pre-treatment 2005
post-treatment
2005 post-treatment
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Stand Model of Denali Front Country Zone 3 Open
White Spruce Pre-Treatment
Trees per acre 750 Height to live crown 2 ft
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Stand Model of Denali Front Country Zone 3 Open
White Spruce Post-Treatment
Trees per acre 250 Height to live crown 7 ft
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Results

• Prescription implementation Tree densities
  ladder fuel heights
• Fire behavior assessment 
• Understory changes

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Tree Density
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Fire Behavior Assessment
3 Crown Base Height Data Pre Treatment vs.
Post Treatment

• Passive crown fire
• Crown rate of spread 4.8 ch/hr
• Rate of spread 2.3 ch/hr or 2.5 ft/minute
• Flame length 1.8 ft

• No crown fire initiation
• Crown rate of spread 0 ch/hr
• Rate of spread 4.7 ch/hr or 5.2 ft/minute
• Flame length 2.3 ft

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Fire Behavior graph
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Grass in the understory
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Yukon-Charley - Hazard fuels treatments
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Adaptive Management Communications

• SVS used in presentations to alleviate concerns
  that the area was going to be clear cut.
• Posters and short interpretive paper written.
• Presented results to FMOs and
  Fuels Specialists

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Adaptive Management Evaluation
Presented data to FMOs and discussed results

• Tree Density Less thinning - crown fire
  behavior was still reduced. Changes in RX less
  thinning.
• Ladder fuel heights re-measure, if needed limb
  more
• Grass FMOs decided to reduce deciduous tree
  removal in future thinning projects

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IV. Monitoring large fires in AK

• Lesson Objective
• Describe three techniques and purposes for
  monitoring large wildland fires.

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590,000 acres burned 1950-2005
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Fire in Denali

• 590,000 acres burned 1950-2005
• Average acres per year 10,477 acres
• 4 fires/year on average
• Average fire size 3,024 acres

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Multi-scale Approach

• Landsat 7 imagery
• dNBR burn severity
• Videography
• 43 Ground plots
• 5 and 15 yr post fire

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Modeling vegetation changes
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Ground Plot Results
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Dominant Post-Fire Vegetation
17 of the plots
26 of the plots
17 of the plots
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Compare lt5 yr and gt15 yr post fire vegetation and
moose browse
3 years post fire
15 years post fire
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Objective Determine moose browse availability
and utilization in early seral post-fire
vegetation
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Moose Browse
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Shortened fire return interval
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Frequent burn effects
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Information gained from monitoring Wildland Fires

• Landscape patterns - severity by vegetation types
• Fire succession ? fuel types
• Wildlife habitat impacts
• Impacts of increased fire return intervals

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Parting thoughts

• Base your treatments on good ecological knowledge
• Developing objectives
• Make your objectives meaningful
• Work together
• Monitoring should address the objectives!
• Make your data useful, get the information out
  Are we doing the right prescription?

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Alaska Fires
Thank you, questions?
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A2 Hadley (Most Area Burned) Single Replicate
2050
2000
1950
black spruce
white spruce
deciduous
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Climate and Fire Regimes
gt300 yrs
100 yrs
200 yrs
Fire Return Intervals
Figure from Hu et. al. 2006 (Mitigation and
Adaptation Strategies for Global Change 11
829846)