the effect of large fire on aspen recruitment
DESCRIPTION
The Effect of Large Fire on Aspen Recruitment.TRANSCRIPT
The Effect of Large Fire on Aspen Recruitment
Trent WildeUtah State University Extension
2014 Utah Section Society for Range ManagementFall Meeting
November 6, 2014Logan, Utah
Monroe Mountain Working Group
Operating Hypothesis:
“Large disturbances in seral aspen, repeated over multiple years, can overwhelm herbivory and allow stems to successfully recruit”
• How large is large enough?
Oldroyd Fire
• Monroe Mountain in South Central Utah• Burned in the summer of 2000• 1329 GIS Acres• Clone extinction
Aspen are Important
Oldroyd Fire AreaMonroe MountainPre-Fire mid 1990’s
Aspen are Important
Oldroyd Fire AreaMonroe Mountain
2011
1996 Pole Creek Fire
Pole Creek Fire
• Burned in the summer of 1996• South Central Utah• 20 miles west of Oldroyd Fire• 7113 GIS Acres
Methodology
• Working at the landscape scale• Documenting on the “patch” or “stand”
level• Correlates with work from Rocky Mountain
Research Station and Colorado Forest Restoration Institute.
• http://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr310.html
GPS Aspen Patches
Aspen are ImportantLegend
NonAspenConiferVegetationPreFire1993
NotBurned
AspenRecruitment
NoAspenRecruitment
Aspen are ImportantLegend
NonAspenConiferVegetationPreFire1993
NotBurned
AspenRecruitment
NoAspenRecruitment
NonAspenConiferVegetationPreFire1993
• Pre-Fire vegetation types other than aspen and conifer as identified through aerial photos from 1993 (black and white)
• Total acreage = 2,708 acres
Aspen are ImportantLegend
NonAspenConiferVegetationPreFire1993
NotBurned
AspenRecruitment
NoAspenRecruitment
Definitions:
NotBurned
• Areas within USFS 1996 Pole Creek Fire Boundary which were not burned during fire as identified through aerial photos post-fire
• Total acreage = 1,354 acres
Aspen are ImportantLegend
NonAspenConiferVegetationPreFire1993
NotBurned
AspenRecruitment
NoAspenRecruitment
Definitions:
AspenRecruitment
• Stands of recruited aspen identified on the ground and plotted using handheld GPS (Trimble GeoXT 6000 with Floodlight tech.)
• Total acreage = 2,164 acres
Aspen are ImportantLegend
NonAspenConiferVegetationPreFire1993
NotBurned
AspenRecruitment
NoAspenRecruitment
Definitions:
NoAspenRecruitment
• Areas identified as aspen or conifer pre-fire, but where there is no aspen recruitment in 2013
• Total acreage = 887 acres
Aspen are ImportantLegend
NonAspenConiferVegetationPreFire1993
NotBurned
AspenRecruitment
NoAspenRecruitment
NoAspenRecruitment 887AspenRecruitment 2,164Potential Recruitment 3,051 acres
Aspen Recruitment 2,164 = 0.709 or 71%Potential Recruitment 3,051 Recruitment
Aspen are Important
Aspen are Important
Aspen are Important
Aspen are Important
Conclusions
1996 Pole Creek Fire (7113 GIS acres)
• 71% of potential aspen recruitment acres have aspen recruitment in 2013
• A significant correlation between fire size and percentage of aspen recruitment
Discussion…
Discussion…
Discussion…
Discussion…
Discussion…