Development of Vegetation and Surface Fuels Following Fire Hazard Reduction Treatment

Forests

Lindsay A. Chiono²  Kevin L. O’Hara²  Michael J. De Lasaux³  Glenn A. Nader¹ 

[1] University of California Cooperative Extension, 142-A Garden Highway, Yuba City, CA 95991, USA;Department of Environmental Science, University of California, Berkeley, Policy, and Management, 130 Mulford Hall #3114, Berkeley, CA 94720-3114, USA;University of California Cooperative Extension, 208 Fairground Road, Quincy, CA 95971, USA;

关键词: eastside pine;    fire hazard;    fuel break;    fuel treatment longevity;    Jeffrey pine;    mixed conifer;    prescribed fire;    Sierra Nevada;    thinning;   

DOI  :  10.3390/f3030700

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In dry western Unites States forests where past resource management has altered the ecological role of fire and stand characteristics alike, mechanical thinning and prescribed burning are commonly applied in wildfire hazard abatement. The reduced surface fuel loads and stand structures resulting from fuels modifications are temporary, yet few studies have assessed the lifespan of treatment effects. We sampled forest fuels and vegetation following fuels reduction in a chronosequence of time since treatment in the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade regions of California. Treatments altered overstory characteristics including stand density, basal area, and species composition. These effects were still present on the oldest treatment sites (8–15 years post-treatment). Other stand characteristics, particularly timelag fuel loads, seedling density, and shrub cover, exhibited substantial variability, and differences between treatment age classes and between treatment and control groups were not statistically significant.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.