FFS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PIEDMONT

1
THE NATIONAL FIRE AND FIRE SURROGATE STUDY
ECOSYSTEM RESPONSES TO FUEL REDUCTION IN THE
SOUTHEASTERN PIEDMONT AND SOUTHERN
APPALACHIANS Ross J. Phillips and Thomas A.
Waldrop, U.S. Forest Service, Southern Research
Station, Clemson, SC.
Long Term Objectives
Plot Design
Introduction

• Treatment areas are a minimum of 14 ha (10-ha
  measurement area plus a buffer equal to one tree
  length)
• 40 grid points (50 x 50 m spacing)
• Ten 0.1-ha vegetation plots
• 40 fuel transects
• 20 Course woody debris transects
• 40 Sherman and Tomahawk traps
• 20 pitfall traps, 20 modified pitfall traps, 2
  drift fence pitfall arrays
• 3-4 bird census locations
• Other components sampled on 0.1 ha vegetation
  plots.
• Soil samples
• Root samples
• Insect trapping
• Fire behavior
• Costs and utilization economics

• Develop and validate models of ecosystem
  structure and function.
• Develop recommendations for ecosystem management
  in relevant forested areas.
• Identify and test a suite of response variables
  which are sensitive to fire and fire surrogate
  treatments and can be used for decision making
  for management.

Fire-adapted forest ecosystems are denser and
have accumulated excessive fuel loadings as a
result of fire exclusion, changes in land use
practices (grazing, farm abandonment, timber
harvests), and climate change. Forest health has
subsequently deteriorated in some ecosystems and
current forest conditions have reached dangerous
levels of potential severe wildfire occurrence.
Mechanical fuel treatments, silvicultural
thinnings, and prescribed fire have been
recognized as important practices in helping to
reduce the potential for wildfire. However, the
ecological consequences of these practices are
unknown. The National Fire and Fire Surrogate
(FFS) study, funded by the Joint Fire Sciences
Program, will examine the consequences and
tradeoffs of alternative fuel reduction
techniques involving fire and mechanical fire
surrogate treatments. This study is a national
collaborative effort between federal and state
agencies, universities, and private groups to
examine the effects of the FFS treatments on core
variables including vegetation, soils, wildlife,
fire behavior, entomology, pathology, and
economics.
Treatment area layout.
The ecological tradeoffs of various fuel
treatments are unknown.
Treatments are designed to reach a desired
future condition defined by ecosystem structure.
FFS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN PIEDMONT
Todays fire-adapted forest ecosystems are dense
and have heavy fuel loads.
Potential for severe wildfires has increased
through nearly 100 years of fire exclusion.
Location

• 7100 ha on the Clemson Experimental Forest in
  northwestern South Carolina.
• Forest in second- or third-growth timber.
• Dominant species loblolly (Pinus taeda) and
  shortleaf pine (P. echinata).
• Fire return interval 1-30 years.
• South Carolina suppresses 4500 wildfires each
  year.

Pitfall trap to monitor herpetofauna.
Root samples taken for analysis of pathogens.
THE NATIONAL STUDY
FFS IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS
Thirteen sites across the nation have been
selected for the FFS study. These sites are
located in ecosystems that historically sustained
frequent, low-intensity fires but have developed
excessive quantities of fuel over the years and
are now at risk for severe wildfires. Eight
sites occur in the western portion of the U.S.
while the remaining 5 are located in the east.
The status of 2 of the eastern sites, the
Southeastern Piedmont and the Southern
Appalachian Mountains, are addressed in this
presentation.
Fire exclusion, logging, and the loss of the
American chestnut (Castanea dentata) has resulted
in a proliferation of mountain laurel (Kalmia
latifolia) and rhododendron (Rhododendron
species) and an increase in wildfire risk in the
southern Appalachian mountains. As this area
becomes more developed, the protection of homes
and personal property from wildfire becomes
increasingly important.
Key Elements of Southeastern Piedmont Site

• Uses a RCBD with 4 treatments and 3 blocks.
• control, prescribed fire, thinning, and
  firethinning
• blocking by stand age.
• (A fifth treatment of herbicidethinning will be
  added 2001-2002)
• USFS Southern Research Station personnel are
  responsible for data management, site
  coordination, and measuring vegetation, fuels,
  and economics/utilization variables.
• Clemson University cooperators are studying small
  mammals, herpetofauna, birds, soils, insects, and
  pathogens.

Prescribed fire in southern Appalachian mountains.
Elements of Appalachian Site

• Site selection is currently in progress.
• Treatment area installation and pretreatment data
  collection will occur in 2001 and 2002.
• Treatment areas will be located on ridgetops and
  south-facing slopes dominated by oak/hickory
  and/or pines, where fire was once common.
• Will follow national protocols.
• Three replications of four standard treatments
  plus one additional treatment (herbicidemechanica
  l fuel reduction).

FFS study site locations.
The FFS study presents an experimental design
that provides a national network based on
specific core variables for multiple disciplines
allows each site to be independent for analyses
and modeling while at the same time remaining
compatible with the national network and permits
investigators to add to the core design, provided
they do not compromise its integrity.
Location of southeastern Piedmont study site.
Treatment Implementation

• Levels of thinning and prescribed burning are
  guided by a desired future condition defined as
  sufficiently heavy so that if a wildfire occurred
  on a day with weather conditions at the 80th
  percentile, 80 of the overstory trees would
  survive.
• Thinning currently underway
• Target basal area of 18 m2/ha
• Prescribed burning scheduled for March April
  2001
• For the Piedmont of South Carolina 80th
  percentile weather conditions would include a
  high temperature of 22o C, low relative humidity
  of 34, and peak 5-minute windspeed of 13 m/sec.
• Flame length 1-2 m.

Key Elements of Core Study Design
Summary

• Four fire and fire surrogate treatments
  replicated 3 times.
• Non-control treatments are guided by a desired
  future condition.
• Each treatment area consists of a 10-ha plot plus
  a buffer.
• A set of core response variables and measurement
  protocols, along with a consistent intra-plot
  sampling approach.

Across the U.S. forested ecosystems that have
historically sustained frequent, low-intensity
fires have changed dramatically as a result of
fire exclusion, changes in land use, and climate
changes. These forests are now denser and have
excessive loading of fuels, which has resulted in
deteriorating ecosystem health and an increase in
potential wildfire occurrence. There is general
agreement that fuels must be treated in these
ecosystems, but the ecological consequences of
various methods of fuel reduction are unknown.
The FFS study is a national program that will
examine the ecological and economical
consequences of prescribed fire and mechanical
fuel reduction treatments. Thirteen sites
located across the U.S. have been established to
measure specific response variables to study
ecosystem structure, vegetation, fuels, soils,
small mammals, herpetofauna, avifauna,
entomology, pathology, economics, and
utilization. Each site adheres to a core
experimental design, which allows analyses at the
local site level in addition to the national
level. One study site was established in the
southeastern Piedmont in 2000. Another site will
be established in the southern Appalachian
mountains in 2001.
Funded by the US Department of Interior, USDA
Forest Service Joint Fire Sciences Program
Heavy thinning to reduce vertical fuels.
High-intensity prescribed burn to kill understory
trees and shrubs.