Prescribed Fire,

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Prescribed Fire, Fuelbreaks, and Natural Fire
FM 324
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Fuelbreaks
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Fuelbreaks
NOT a firebreak A fuel-altered, usually Linear
zone
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Fuelbreak Not a Firebreak

• Firebreak cleared to mineral soil
• Long-term erosion hazards
• Not a sustainable solution

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Fuelbreaks

• Early ones Ponderosa Way
• Used a lot in chaparral
• Got a bad rep as economically inefficient
  (whether true or not)
• Reborn as Defensive Fuel Profile Zones, or
  DFPZs

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Forested fuelbreaks

• Reduction in surface fuels
• Lowered tree density
• Pruning of residuals
• Opened tree canopy
• Can be ugly
• Doesnt have to be

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Fuelbreak in Pine forest
Open overstory
Separation of ground from crown fuels
Green understory
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Maintenance Big Issue
Before
Year 2
Year 6
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Prescribed Fire
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Prescribed Fire

• The skillful application of fire under
  predetermined conditions of fuels, weather and
  topography to achieve management objectives

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Good and Poor Objectives
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Firing Techniques
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Firing Techniques
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Firing Techniques
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Firing Techniques
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Firing Techniques
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Firing Techniques
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Firing Techniques
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Firing Techniques
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Firing Techniques
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Firing Techniques
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Firing Techniques
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Firing Techniques
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Ignition Tools

• Drip torch
• Fusees
• Flamethrowers
• Helicopter (flying drip torch)
• Helicopter/Plane ping pong balls

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Prescribed Fire Plans

• Objectives
• Prescription Criteria (BEHAVE)
• Logistics - who, what, where, when
• The Burn spot forecast notify folks, test fire
• Monitoring

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Monitoring Essential
Adaptive Management
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Prescription Burning Examples

• A couple from conifer forests
• Mixed-conifer
• Westside dry Douglas-fir
• California chaparral

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Desired Effects

• Kill white fir on left
• Retain but prune ponderosa pine on right

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Structural Changes

• Understory is largely killed
• Overstory remains largely intact
• Progress towards firesafe conditions

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Westside Douglas-fir

• Stand thinned to favor Douglas-fir and select
  against western hemlock (less fire-tolerant)
• Underburn clears debris and leaves overstory fir
  intact

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Same Douglas-fir Stand

• Strip headfire
• Relatively benign flame lengths
• Burned in June

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Puget Prairie Restoration

• Objectives
• Reduce tree invasion (Douglas-fir)
• Control scotch broom over long run
• Need two fires closely spaced (3 years)

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Chaparral Burning

• 1940s-1960s
• Early burning for deer habitat
• 1960s
• Expand fuelbreaks (efficacy debated)
• 1970s
• Wilderness

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Dead Fuels Increase over Time
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Pre-fire Monitoring

• Foliar moisture
• One of major fuels carrying fire
• Local weather monitoring
• Spot forecasts from National Weather Service

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Foliar Moisture Stops Fire
East aspect Buckbrush
West aspect Chamise
Wildfire stops itself
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Fires Intense
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Herb-dominated
Sprouters And Nonsprouter Shrubs
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Burning for Deer
Burn upper 1/3 of slopes
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Fire Constraints

• Smoke
• Fires produce lots of PM10, PM2.5
• Smoke sensitive communities
• Fire Escapes
• Inexperienced personnel
• Narrow prescription windows

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Prescribed Fire Escapes
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Recent Big Escapes

• Cerro Grande (Los Alamos NM)- 2000
• 45000 acres
• 235 homes
• NPS prescribed fire at Bandolier Natl. Mon.
• Lowden Ranch Fire CA- 1999
• BLM prescribed fire for thistle control
• Burned mid-summer in dry year
• 2500 acres, 25 homes

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Natural Fire
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Late 1960s

• Let-burn (1968-1970)
• Prescribed natural fire (1970-1990s)
• Wildland Fire Used for Resource Benefit (WFURB)

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Natural Processes Important
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Programs stopped in 1988
Yellowstone
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Zoning Intended to Contain
WFURB here, too
Most liberal
Most conservative
No WFURB
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Early PNF Experience
Fires buffered Extent of Later fires
1981 fire stopped by 1974 and 1980 fires
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The 1988 Fire Season
Yellowstone
Great Salt Lake
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Yellowstone Fires

• An infertile, high-elevation plateau
• Old lodgepole pine forest dominated
• Similar event(s) in early 1700s

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Fires Progress over Summer
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Fires as Weather-Driven Events
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Social Impact
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Ecological Recovery Begins as Smoke Clears
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Herbaceous Stage
White Ash
Fireweed
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Lodgepole is Early Dominant
40 years
10 years
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Decision Process Now Conservative