|
 Many land management agencies are exploring a wide variety of fuel treatments to lower fire intensities and severities and to restore ecosystems to historical conditions.
One treatment that is currently gaining favor is fuel mastication, also referred to as grinding, mulching, or chipping. A variety of specially designed equipment is used to shred, flail, chip, or crush canopy fuel (seedling, sapling, and pole-sized trees) and surface fuel (fine and coarse woody material and shrubs) into smaller sizes that are deposited on the ground in a compact layer with a high bulk density. When burned, these fuelbeds are expected to support slowly spreading fires that are relatively easy to control. The first of four fully integrated phases is to describe masticated fuel characteristics by measuring fuelbed properties that are important to the prediction of fire behavior and effects. The second phase involves developing a fuel sampling protocol that can easily quantify fuel loadings for a variety of management purposes. Phase three will describe the behavior of fire burning in masticated fuelbeds. The final phase is to study the effects of both burned and unburned masticated fuelbeds on major ecosystem elements such as vegetation response, fuel consumption, soil heating, and nutrient cycling. Combined, the phases of this study will help to understand the effects of masticated fuel on various ecosystem processes and characteristics.
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Robert E. Keane, Deputy Program Manager for the Fire, Fuel, and Smoke (FFS) Science Program; Director of the Fire Modeling Institute; Research Ecologist
Staff working on project
Helen Y. Smith, Ecologist and Field Manager, FFS Science Program
Jim Reardon, Forester, FFS Science Program
Carlton S. White, Retired Associate Professor, Biology Department, University of New Mexico
 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of this study is to investigate the effects of masticating fuel on various ecosystem processes and characteristics.
The objectives are to:
- Describe masticated fuel characteristics that are important for predicting fire behavior and fire effects
- Develop a fuel sampling protocol that can easily quantify fuel loadings in masticated fuelbeds
- Describe the behavior of fire burning in masticated fuelbeds
- Evaluate effects of burned and burned masticated fuelbeds on elements such as vegetation response, fuel consumption, soil heating, and nutrient cycling
STUDY PLAN
Please refer to the study plan  for further information.
PROJECT STATUS
Sites have been established on the Libby Ranger District in MT, the Pagosa Springs Ranger District in CO, and at the Valles Caldera National Preserve in NM. At each site, pre-treatment plots have been established and the mechanical treatments have taken place. Post-mechanical sampling has occurred at each site and sampling for soil analysis has taken place at the New Mexico site.
FUNDING ORGANIZATIONS
Rocky Mountain Research Station
In-kind support provided by:
|
