http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/fuelman

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http//www.fs.fed.us/fire/fuelman
Schmidt et al. 2000. GTR RMRS-87.
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Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC)

• Used by all 5 federal land management agencies
• Performance measure
• Strategic allocation of scarce resources
• Prioritize areas for fuels management
• Required under the Healthy Forest Restoration Act

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FRCC is an ecological departure index

• Reflects departure of current from natural
  (historical) vegetation disturbance regime
• Improving condition class (3 ? 2 ?1) associated
  with
• reducing hazardous fuels
• reducing large fire hazard
• improving habitat conditions
• improving watershed conditions
• improving forest/rangeland health
• more sustainable landscapes

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Fire Regime Condition Class
100
CC 3
66
CC 2
Departure () Fire Frequency-Severity
Fire Frequency (years)
33
CC 1
0
100
66
33
Departure () - Veg-Fuel Composition/Structure
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Determining FRCC

• Stratify a landscape by biophysical setting
• Potential natural vegetation group
• Determine reference conditions
• Fire frequency and severity (fire probabilities
  and severe)
• Relative abundance of vegetation-fuel classes
  (simulation model)
• Characterize current conditions
• Fire frequency and severity (fire probabilities
  and severe)
• Relative abundance of vegetation-fuel classes
• Calculate departure
• Online training (produced by University of Idaho
  FRAMES project, www.frames.gov and www.frcc.gov)
  and field training being provided by the
  Interagency FRCC Working Group made up of federal
  agencies and The Nature Conservancy

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FR Condition 30 FRCC 1
Result of 1990s timber harvest, thin, and
prescribed fire in CC2 (60) landscape
Ponderosa Pine Douglas-fir Fire Regime Group I
Frequent Surface and Mixed
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FR Condition 25FRCC 1
Result of wildland fire use in CC2 (60)
fire-excluded landscape
Ponderosa Pine Douglas-fir Fire Regime Group I
Frequent Surface and Mixed
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FR Condition 62FRCC 2
Result of Fire Exclusion 100 years
Ponderosa Pine Douglas-fir Fire Regime Group I
Frequent Surface and Mixed
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FR Condition 50 FRCC 2
Result of 50 years of fire exclusion late
1800s-1970s excessive grazing
Sagebrush-grass with tree encroachment Great
Basin fire regime group II Frequent
stand-replacing
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FR Condition 90FRCC 3
Result of 1960-1980 timber harvests
Ponderosa Pine Douglas-fir Fire Regime Group I
Frequent Surface and Mixed
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FR Condition 90 FRCC 3
Result of wildfire in drought year in CC2 (60)
fire-excluded landscape
Ponderosa Pine Douglas-fir Fire Regime Group I
Frequent Surface and Mixed
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Uncharacteristic Conditions

• fuel accumulation above natural
• excessive grazing
• invasive plants, insects, or disease
• unchar. insect disease epidemics
• unchar. fire effects
• soil hydrologic dysfunction

Restore uncharacteristic by emulating natural
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Why FRCC?

• Recent decades with large, severe wildfires with
  high costs of suppression and threats to people
  and property
• Policy changes in 1995
• GAO called for cohesive strategy in 1999
• Cohesive strategy and National Fire Plan in 2000
• Coarse-scale FRCC useful for strategic planning
  and prioritizing action and funding

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Coarse Scale Data Layers 2000Fire Regime
Condition Class
All Wildland Lower 48 - 1250 million acres 40
Forest 60 Rangeland FRG12 Frequent
60 FRG34 Infrequent 35 FRG5 Rare --
5 CC1 45 CC2 40 CC3 15
Fire Regime Condition Class 1 Fire Regime
Condition Class 2 Fire Regime Condition Class
3 Water Ag Non Vegetative Areas
Coarse-scale was designed for National strategic
assessment planning Should not be used for
local assessment planning
1 km (250 acre pixel) too coarse for local
useUnderestimated CC3 could be as high as 45
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FRCC Value for Integration
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Recent and ongoing FRCC approaches

• Coarse scale
• GTR RMRS-87, http//www.fs.fed.us/fire/fuelman
• Lower 48 states, expert opinion, 1km2
• Guidebook (http//www.frcc.gov)
• FRCC working group Interagency The Nature
  Conservancy
• Rapid assessment
• LANDFIRE (http//www.landfire.gov)
• Science review

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Strengths and limitations

• Landscape scale
• Ecological
• Simple
• Uncharacteristic vegetation, pattern fire
• Reference conditions
• Estimated through simulation based on experience
  and often very limited data
• Are they relevant? Restorable? Useful?

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Determining FRCC

• Stratify a landscape by biophysical setting
• Potential natural vegetation group
• Determine reference conditions
• Fire frequency and severity (fire probabilities
  and severe)
• Relative abundance of vegetation-fuel classes
  (simulation model)
• Characterize current conditions
• Fire frequency and severity (fire probabilities
  and severe)
• Relative abundance of vegetation-fuel classes
• Calculate departure
• Online training (produced by University of Idaho
  FRAMES project, www.frames.gov and www.frcc.gov)
  and field training being provided by the
  Interagency FRCC Working Group made up of federal
  agencies and The Nature Conservancy

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HRV varies with scale
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HRV is useful for...

• Evaluating and assessing change
• Establishing goals for ecological restoration
• Determining desired future conditions
• Setting priorities for action
• Understanding and illustrating change

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HRV is less useful when

• Focus is on an individual species
• Historical patterns and processes are socially
  unacceptable
• Risk and uncertainty are high
• Biophysical conditions have changed greatly

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Historical information has been used to guide
management

• Colorado River (Poff et al. 1997)
• Everglades (Harwell 1997)
• Forests in the Midwest (Mladenoff and Pastor
  1993), Southwest (Moore et al. 1999), and
  Northwest (Lesica 1996, Lertzman et al. 1997,
  Hessburg et al. 1999)
• National Forests in Idaho (USDA 2000b)
• Fire regime condition class system now required
  of five federal land mgt agencies in US
  (www.frcc.gov)