duncan lutes systems for environmental management bob keane – usfs – research ecologist, p.i....
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Duncan LutesSystems for Environmental Management
Bob Keane – USFS – Research Ecologist, P.I.Carl Key – USGS – Geographer
John Caratti – SEM – Systems EcologistNathan Benson – NPS – Fire Ecologist
Steve Sutherland – USFS - Research EcologistLarry Gangi – SEM – Programmer
Courtney Couch – USFS - Illustrator
Why Monitor?
Required by Federal Law
Reservation Policy
We need to know:
Who initiated the treatments…
What treatments were applied…
Why those treatments were used…
Where the treatments were applied…
When the treatments were applied…
Need to review treatment effectiveness to be certain that goals and objectives have been achieved and, if not, critically review treatments to identify mistakes. (adaptive management)
What is FIREMON?
In brief, it is a fire effects monitoring package that includes the following components:
1) Integrated sampling strategy.
2) Sampling procedures.
3) Microsoft Access database.
4) Data analysis and report writing tools.
FIREMON Components1) Integrated Sampling Strategy
What sampling approach to use:1) Relevé 2) Statistical
Uses project goals and objectives,and resources to assist indetermining:
What sampling intensity should beused for each method:
1) Detailed2) Moderate3) Simple
What sampling methods to use:1) Surface Fuels2) Trees 3) Vegetation4) Fire severity
FIREMON ComponentsIntegrated Sampling Strategy
FIREMON Components 2) Sampling methods
Plot Description
• Registration and project codes• Biophysical settings• Cover estimates
TreeShrubHerbaceousCompositeFine and coarse woody debris
• Photo fields…
FIREMON ComponentsSampling methods
Fuel Load
Surface fuel biomass via:• Brown’s planar intercept for fine and coarse woody debris• Profile for estimating duff/litter depth and the proportion of litter• Live and dead herb and shrub cover, and height
FIREMON ComponentsSampling methods
Tree Data
• Live and Dead • Overstory • Understory• Regeneration
• Species, status, DBH, height, percent live crown, crown position,age, scorch height, char height…
FIREMON ComponentsSampling methods
Species Composition
Ocular estimate of vegetationcover on 0.1 acre macroplot,by species and layer
FIREMON ComponentsSampling methods
Cover and Frequency
Quadrat based estimation of cover and rooted frequency by species. Primarily used for grasses, forbsand small shrubs.
FIREMON ComponentsSampling methods
Density
Counts of entities within belttransects or quadrats.
FIREMON ComponentsSampling methods
Point Cover
Point based estimates of lowvegetation or ground cover, primarily less than 4 feet tall.
FIREMON ComponentsSampling methods
Line Intercept
Cover estimates of, generally, taller vegetation.
FIREMON ComponentsSampling methods
Rare Species
Individual plant survey and mapping.
FIREMON ComponentsSampling methods
Composite Burn Index
Burn severity determined by subjectiverating of ecological components in three strata: substrate, understory, overstory. Used for post-fire sampling.
FIREMON ComponentsAnalysis method
Normalized Burn Ratio
Landsat TM based assessment ofburn severity. Uses differences inreflectance between before and after images of fire. CBI methods are used to calibrate imagery. Landscape scale, 30-meter resolution.
Moose Fire, MT - 2001
Whitefish Lake North Fork,Flathead
Werner Peak Fire
North
FIREMON Components
Fire Behavior
General information related to burn conditions, such as fuel moistures, RH, temp, wind speed, plume behavior…
Metadata
Table to store anything else - project description, goals and objectives, sampling modifications…
FIREMON ComponentsData Storage
FIREMON databaseFIREMON database
• Plot Description• Tree Data• Fuel Load• Species Composition• Point Cover• Density• Cover/Frequency• Line Intercept• Composite Burn Index• Fire Behavior• Metadata
FIREMON Components3) Database
• Designed to look like field datasheets.
• Fields have drop-down lists.
• FIREMON database is being used for the LANDFIRE project.
FIREMON Components4) Analysis Tools
• Ability to write reports and analyze field data.
• Uses sampling event to track changes over time.
• Group/summarize plots as desired.
Analysis Tools program includes exportable graphs and reports at the plot level or by user defined strata.
Dunnett’s multiple comparison procedure to identify significant differences in attribute means over time.
Output of FVS-FFE ready tree and fuels files.
FIREMON Analysis Tools
FVS-FFE files
www.firelab.org/firemonand
frames.nbii.gov