FRCC Fire Regime Condition Class www.frcc.gov

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FRCC Fire Regime Condition Class
(www.frcc.gov)
National Program to (1) standardize
methodology for Condition Class
determination (2) develop models of historic
reference conditions for vegetation and
disturbance regimes, and to allow
characterization of departure from natural
conditions
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Why FRCC?

• We have to!
• HFRA mandates use of FRCC in prioritizing and
  reporting results of vegetation treatment
• Federal policy and law we must
  cooperate/collaborate with other agencies, States
  and private entities
• Standardization
• Different agencies and different units within
  agencies are currently assessing FRCC in
  different ways
• Common denominator we must assess CC across
  jurisdictions
• Fire-adapted ecosystems
• Modeling and mapping FRCC provides important
  information for ecological restoration
• FIRESHED
• National focus on integrating fire behavior and
  fire restoration information in driving
  vegetation management and fire planning

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Condition Class
A categorical measure of departure Condition
Class I within natural or historical range of
variability (NRV or HRV) Condition Class II
moderate departure from HRV Condition Class III
extreme departure
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How do we determine Condition Class?
FRCC incorporates 3 variables. Historical
versus current 1. Vegetation seral stage
distribution across landscapes 2. Fire
frequency 3. Fire severity
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1. Fire frequency and severity
Fire Regime Groups (FRG)
Fire Regime Group V - Rare
Rare
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Fire Frequency (years)
Fire Regime Group III
Group IV
Infrequent
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Fire Regime Group I
Group II
Frequent
Low Mixed
Replacement
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Fire Severity - Upper Layer Replacement
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Fire frequency and severity

• Based on available data, assess departure from
  historic fire frequency. e.g. Site has historic
  FRI of 15 years. Current FRI is 50 years.
• 1 (15/50)100 70 departure

S. Mendocino NF
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Fire frequency and severity
2. Based on available data, assess departure
from historic fire severity (this is difficult to
assign a credible number to!) e.g. Site
historically experienced stand replacing
severities on about 15 of fire acreage.
Currently /- 60 of acreage is stand
replacing. 1 (15/60)100 75 departure
Current research should help us with this
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Fire frequency and severity

• Average frequency and severity departures to get
  a single value for fire regime departure
• (70 75)/2 72.5 departure

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Vegetation seral stage distribution

• Determined from maps of existing vegetation and
  PNV
• Crosswalk from R5 veg types to FRCC veg types
• e.g. FRCC type R1PIPO CALVEG types JP
  (Jeffrey pine), PP (Ponderosa) and EP (Eastside
  pine)
• 3. Crosswalk from R5 canopy closure and
  size-class to FRCC seral stages

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Definitions of Seral Stages (Vegetation-fuel
classes)
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UPPER SOUTH FORK SALMON RIVER
Mixed conifer
Chaparral
VEG MAP
Ponderosa pine
Red fir/White fir
Mixed evergreen
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Vegetation seral stage distribution
4. Determine historic reference conditions -
use literature, expert input, research results,
etc. to construct model of vegetation type states
and transitions between these states (State and
Transition model)
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Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool Model
Eastside Yellow pine (PIPO, PIJE)
Vegetation-fuel classes /- seral stages
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Default to D after 50 timesteps
Run the model for 500 yrs, 10 different times
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Historical reference conditions from VDDT models
Overall mean FRI 16 years
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Vegetation seral stage distribution
5. Assess departure from historic distribution of
seral stages 1 52 48 departure
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Condition Class determination
Condition Class I 0 33 departure Condition
Class II 34 66 departure Condition Class III
67 100 departure Pretreatment Condition
Class of site in question is determined by taking
largest of vegetation seral stage departure (48)
or fire regime departure ( 72.5)
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FRCC outputs go far beyond Condition Class
Ecologically, the real interest is in what
science tells us about the way landscapes looked
historically - Ecosystem restoration -
Continuous departure variables allow for finer
spatial resolution - Priorities for
treatments - Mapping Tool now allows for
spatial representation and analysis
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Example of Mapping Tool output
Butte Creek
DEPARTURE FROM VEG-FUEL CLASS REFERENCE CONDITIONS
BLUE /- 30 ORANGE /- 70 RED /- 90
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FRCC Mapping Tool

• Derives a suite of FRCC-related attributes from 3
  existing input layers 1 table
• FRCC/LANDFIRE veg types (BPSs) x-walked from
  existing veg map, PNV map, etc.
• Seral stages (vegetation-fuel classes)
  x-walked
• Landscape reporting units (e.g. HUCs)
• Table of veg types (BPSs) with seral stage
  reference conditions and appropriate landscape
  (HUC) size for running model

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FRCC Mapping Tool outputs

• 2. Outputs
• Veg fuel-class difference
• - quantitative measure of difference between
  existing veg-fuel class and reference
• - diff (existing - reference) 100
• (existing reference)
• e.g. Ref 30, Current 10
• (10-30)/40 -50 change
• - Info on locations of successional stages with
  greatest departure from reference, etc.
• - Metric for this measure is in development

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Veg-fuel class difference
Dk BLUE -70 Lt Blue -30 YELLOW 30
ORANGE 60 RED 90
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FRCC Mapping Tool outputs
B. Veg fuel-class relative amount -
classification of difference into categories C.
Stand-level condition class - from relative
amount get your current CC here
Relative amount
0
33
66
-33
-66
diff
Over- represented
Abundant
Similar
Trace
Under- represented
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Veg-fuel class relative amount
RED abundant ORANGE over-represented YELLOW
similar Lt GREEN under-represented Dk GREEN
trace
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Condition class (based only on veg-fuel classes!)
GREEN CC1 YELLOW CC2 RED CC3
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Landscape scale FRCC 25 YEARS OUT
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FRCC Local or Provincial determination?
Local - Process to determine pretreatment CC
takes 2 people 4 hours if they are well-trained,
if they know the landscape in question, and if
they have backgrounds in fire and vegetation
ecology - At GS-7, 8 hrs 144 (salary
only) - 114,000 acres treated in fy 2004.
Average treatment size? - _at_ 100 acre
project-size, ttl salary cost 164,160 - _at_ 50
acre, ttl salary cost 328,320 - High
probability of CC error with local teams 1.
Must be able to ID correct FRCC veg types and
assign correct landscape proportions to the
types 2. Must be able to ID correct seral
stages within veg types 3. Must be able to
assess current fire severity potential 4. Must
be able to navigate through current FRCC
determination process, which is cryptic at best
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Local or Provincial determination?
Provincial - Pretreatment CC determination
done and stewarded remotely by Province
Ecologist. Project staff simply pull the value
off of a map - Local staff uses provided
definitions of vegetation-fuel classes to assess
whether treatment has changed CC. - WFHF funds
already support Regional Ecology program no
extra funds necessary, aside from minimal
post-treatment assessment on the ground -
Scientific and technical needs of Regional FRCC
program are significant - we require a FT
veg/fire ecologist/modeler to develop new models
and modify current ones, to steward the FRCC
Mapping Tool and develop add-ons as needed, to
function as the FRCC member of FIRESHED, etc -
TNC will share 50 of the cost of this position
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Mapped reference conditions and departures -
ecological restoration - treatment priorities
FIRESHED assessment
Reporting
Condition Class
Vegetation structure departure
Fire regime departure - Fire frequency - Fire
severity
FRCC Mapping Tool
Historic reference conditions
Crosswalking - Existing veg and PNV types to
FRCC types
Source Hugh Safford 707-562-8934 hughsafford_at_fs.f
ed.us
Peer review
Model evaluation and refinement
PLANNING - Sensitivity analyses - Inclusion of
mgt actions
Mid Scale State and Transition modeling
Vegetation mapping - Existing veg - PNV
Broad Scale State and Transition
modeling Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool -
Definition of seral stages (states) -
Determination of transitions (disturbances,
e.g.) and transition probabilities
EUI - Planning - Watershed analysis
LANDFIRE - National FRCC mapping
Ecology roles in R5 FRCC/Fireshed Assessment,
etc. Red primary role Green secondary
role Black supporting role
Existing vegetation classification
Synthesis of existing knowledge - Research and
monitoring results - FRI, fire severity, veg
response
PNV classification
Statistical analysis
Statistical analysis
Understanding of natural history - successional
patterns, etc.
Sampling design
Plot data
Monitoring
Plot data
Sampling protocols
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Post-treatment CC determination
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