FHTET Products - Spruce Beetle Risk Rating EM Addfiles

The Spruce Beetle Risk Rating Event Monitor Addfiles

What are they?

The Spruce Beetle Risk Rating EM Addfiles are two FVS keyword component files that calculate a stand's hazard rating based on a system developed by Schmid and Frye (1976). These addfiles do not perform any stand management activities; they only schedule FVS COMPUTE statements.

The system was designed for spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis Kirby) in Engelmann spruce-subalpine fir (Picea engelmannii Parry, and Abies lasiocarpa (Hooker) Nuttall) forest type in the Central Rocky Mountains. The EM addfiles provide a numerical "risk susceptibility score" that ranks the risk of stands to attack by the spruce beetle.

How do I download the Spruce Beetle Risk Rating EM Addfile?

Select the following links to download the FVS Spruce Beetle Risk Rating User's Guide or individual EM Addfiles. Select the Entire Package link to download the FVS Spruce Beetle Risk Rating Addfile and documentation package.

Downloading Individual Files:

Spruce Beetle EM Addfile for use with creek bottom stands (5 KB KCP)
Spruce Beetle EM Addfile for use with non-creek bottom stands (6.5 KB KCP)
Spruce Beetle EM Addfile User's Guide (303 KB PDF)

Downloading the Entire Package:

FVS Spruce Beetle Risk Rating Package (User's Guide/Spruce Beetle EM Addfiles)

The FVS Spruce Beetle Package link will download a self-extracting Zip file. You may download this .exe file anywhere on your computer.
Once downloaded, double-click the .exe file to begin the extraction process.
Although you may extract the files to anywhere on your computer, we recommend that you use the default extraction locations.
A number of files will be extracted into c:/fvs_emap. (If you do not have this directory, the extraction process will create it.) The files will include the Spruce Beetle EM Addfiles (SB_haz_ck_bottom.kcp/SB_haz_NON_ck_btm.kcp) and the accompanying User's Guide.

How the Event Monitor Addfile Determines Risk

This pair of Event Monitor addfiles ranks the risk of stands to attack by spruce beetles by considering four stand attributes (or risk factors):

physiographic location and/or site index (SI)
average DBH of Engelmann spruce greater than ten inches DBH
stand total basal area
proportion of spruce in the stand

Because physiographic location information is not available to the Event Monitor, the risk rating system has been written as two separate Event Monitor addfiles: one for use with creek bottom stands (SB_haz_ck_bottom.kcp), the other for use with non-creek bottom stands (SB_haz_NON_ck_btm.kcp). It remains up to the user to assign the appropriate Event Monitor addfile to each simulated stand, depending upon whether or not the stand is located in a well-drained creek bottom.

Stands are assigned risk values of 1, 2, or 3, for each of four risk factors listed above, depending upon the stand conditions for each of the risk factors. A final risk rating score is determined from the sum of the four risk factor values. The conditions defining each risk factor value are presented in table 1, below.

Spruce Beetle Risk Rating RISK FACTORS

table 1. Risk factors considered in the Spruce Beetle Risk Rating EM Addfile. A stand is assigned a risk factor value (column one) for each risk factor, depending upon the stand condition for each risk factor. The overall risk rating is the sum of the four risk factor values.
Risk Factor Value	Physiographiclocation / Site Index	QMD of spruce>10" DBH(inches)	Stand Basal Area	Proportion of stand that is spruce(%)
1	Spruce on well-drained sites in creek bottoms.	>16	>150	>65
2	Spruce on sites with a SI50 =52 (ft.).	12-16	100-150	50-65
3	Spruce on sites with a SI50 < 52 (ft.).	<12	<100	<50

Schmid and Frye (1976) group the final hazard rating numeric scores into five qualitative ratings: low, low-to-moderate, moderate, moderate-to-high, and high (table 2). The Event Monitor only reports the numerical rating. It remains up to the user to determine the qualitative rating.

table 2. Schmid and Frye's qualitative interpretation of the numerical risk rating scores.
If the total score is…	The qualitative risk rating is…
4-5	LOW
6	LOW-MODERATE
7-9	MODERATE
10	MODERATE-HIGH
11-12	HIGH
Details regarding the two Event Monitor addfiles—including discussion of site index related issues—can be found in the User's Guide included in the download package.

Event Monitor Output

Output from these Event Monitor addfiles will include the values of all variables used in calculating the hazard rating score(s) as well as the hazard rating scores themselves. Output is written to the standard FVS output table. Output may also be written to a ".cp2" file via the Compute2 post-processor available in Suppose. The .cp2 file subsequently may be loaded into a custom ArcView® project (FVS-EMAP) that can read-in data from a .cp2 file and join them to a shapefile, thereby producing a spatial presentation of the FVS/Event Monitor output variables.

References

Crookston, Nicholas L. 1990. User's guide to the Event Monitor: Part of Prognosis Model Version 6.

USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-275. Intermountain Res.Sta., Ogden, UT 29pp. [Electronic Version (modified Sept. 2001) available online:
http://www.fs.fed.us/fmsc/fvs/documents/gtrs_event_monitor.php

Schmid J.M., and R.H. Frye. 1976. Stand Ratings for spruce beetles. USDA Forest Service Res. Note RM-309. 4pp.

Contact

Eric Smith
Program Manager
Quantatative Analysis
Email: elsmith@fs.fed.us