Introduction to the Down Woody Materials Indicator

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Introduction to the Down Woody Materials Indicator
Lecture 1 of Training Series
Chris Woodall DWM Indicator Advisor April, 2003
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Outline

• What is DWM?
• Why Collect DWM?
• DWM and the National Inventory

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What are Down Woody Materials?
dead material within forests in various stages
of decay such as fallen trees, branches, and leaf
litter
The FIA program places numerous forest ecosystem
components into the DWM Indicator
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DWM Components
Coarse Woody
Fine Woody
Litter
Slash
Herb/Shrub
Duff
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What are Down Woody Materials?
Coarse Woody Debris Fine Woody Debris Duff Litter
Slash/Residue Piles Fuelbed
DWM
Shrubs Herbs
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Coarse and Fine Woody Debris
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Fuel Hour Classes
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Duff and Litter
dead plant material on forest floor surface
unrecognizable plant parts
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Slash Piles
CWD arranged into piles
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Shrubs and Herbs
Live and dead shrubs/herbs including grass,
herbaceous woody plants, and vines
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Fuelbed
Depth of the fuels complex, from forest floor
to the tallest fuel component
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Why Collect DWM Data?
Crown Condition
Soils
Ozone Injury
Down Woody Materials
Lichens
Vegetation Structure and Diversity
Tree Mortality
DWM is one of many Indicators of Forest Health
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Why Collect DWM Data?

• Wildlife ?
• Habitat Conservation
• Fuels ?
• National fire plan
• Carbon ?
• Global climate change

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Wildlife
Habitat
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Fire Science

• Estimates of fuel loadings across United States

Schmidt, Kirsten M. Menakis, James P. Hardy,
Colin C. Hann, Wendel J. Bunnell, David L.
2002. Development of coarse-scale spatial data
for wildland  fire and fuel management.  General
Technical Report RMRS-GTR-87.  Fort Collins,
CO  U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest
Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 41 p
CD. 
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Fire Science
ACWD BFWD CDuff DShrubs/Herbs
Map Based on Data Collected by You and Your Crews
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Carbon Estimation

• International Treaties and Criterion Indicators

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DWM and the National Inventory
Completes the estimation of forest ecosystem
components from living, to dead, to decomposed
Microplot Sapling
Sub-plot Tree
Sub-plot Standing Dead
DWM Down and Dead
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Down Woody Material Sample Plot
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Summary

• The DWM indicator estimates numerous ecosystem
  components
• Data Crucial to Fire, Carbon, and Wildlife
  Sciences
• Integral Part of National FIA Program, Completes
  Forest Ecosystem Life Cycles