Prescribed Fire Monitoring

Prescribed Fire Monitoring

Measurement and monitoring of fire effects in the Ashland watershed is a collaborative effort led by researchers with The Nature Conservancy in Southern Oregon. Selected locations are evaluated shortly after prescribed burning for summaries of the overall fire effects. A prescribed fire monitoring guide (PDF) is used for tracking the fire effects accomplishments during and after a prescribed underburn. Every prescribed fire has a burn plan with collected data on forest treatments and historical data.

A fire effect monitor (FEMO) collects data as the prescribed fire is conducted and shortly after burn operations are completed. The FEMO tracks fire weather, fuel moisture, smoke, and fire behavior as context for understanding fire effects relative to the prescription ranges in the burn plan. Fire effects researchers collect data for analysis of resource objectives accomplished by reviewing how the prescribed fire:

• Restored forest stand conditions
• Enhanced wildlife habitat
• Reduced hazardous fuels and promoted the values at risk (municipal watershed, property, and safeguard of human life)
• Retained the late-successional forest structure and biological diversity

Prescribed Fire Objectives Measured

• Reduce litter and light surface fuels (1 to 100-hr) by 30-80%
• Retain more than 30% of shrubs and understory trees (less than 5 inches in diameter at breast height, or DBH)
• Limit mortality of intermediate trees (5 to 12 inches DBH) to less than 40%
• Retain more than 90% dominant/codominant trees (greater than 12 inches DBH)
• Retain more than 97% of conifers greater than 30 inches DBH and hardwoods greater than 20 inches DBH
• Retain approximately 90% of large down logs or snags (greater than 20 inches in diameter)
• Minimize fire intensity in leave areas, with crown scorch of canopy trees less than 20%
• Retain an unburned strip of duff 25 to 50 feet wide and coarse woody material within 50 feet of perennial streams.
• Retain overall effective ground cover for the unit based on soil erosion hazard class:
  • Moderate (less than 35% gradient): greater than 60% in year 1, greater than 70% in year 2
  • Severe or higher (more than 35% gradient):  greater than 70% in year 1, greater than 85% in year 2