Pacific Southwest

Title: A comparison of visual and quantitative changes from rotational prescribed burning in old-growth stands of southwestern Ponderosa pine

Author: Haase, S. M.; Sackett, S. S.

Date: 2008

Source: In: Narog, Marcia G., tech. coord. 2008. Proceedings of the 2002 Fire Conference: Managing fire and fuels in the remaining wildlands and open spaces of the Southwestern United States. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-189. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. p. 65-72

Station ID: GTR-PSW-189

Description: Two long-term prescribed fire studies were established near Flagstaff, Arizona in 1976 and 1977. One of the sites, Chimney Spring, is located on a basalt soil type and had not received any natural fires for the previous 100 years. The other site, called Limestone Flats, located on a sedimentary soil type, has a similar fire-free period but received a sanitation cut to remove the dead overstory in the early 1960s. The study was designed to test 1-, 2-, 4-, 6-, 8-, and 10-yr burning rotations in southwestern old growth ponderosa pine stands. The primary objective was to determine if a particular burning rotation would reduce and maintain the natural accumulation of fuels and reduce the stand density to a condition that would withstand a wildfire under average worst conditions. Permanent photo points were initiated at the time each study area was established, and they have been retaken periodically. Visual changes in stand structure correspond to the reduction in number of stems but don’t reflect the continuation or increase in basal area per acre. The photos also show the initial reduction in large woody fuels followed by their incremental return.

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Citation

Haase, S. M.; Sackett, S. S.  2008.  A comparison of visual and quantitative changes from rotational prescribed burning in old-growth stands of southwestern Ponderosa pine.   In: Narog, Marcia G., tech. coord. 2008. Proceedings of the 2002 Fire Conference: Managing fire and fuels in the remaining wildlands and open spaces of the Southwestern United States. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-189. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. p. 65-72.