RMRS Data Archive

Data Access

Title: Canopy fuel and tree biomass data from the Interior West

Author: Elizabeth Reinhardt, Joe Scott, Robert Keane, and Kathy Gray

Date: 2007

Abstract: This data set contains destructively sampled canopy fuel and tree biomass data from five study sites in the Interior West. We destructively measured canopy fuels in five conifer stands in conifer forest types important to land managers in the western USA, including ponderosa pine/Douglas fir in western Montana, lodgepole pine in central Montana, Douglas fir/lodgepole pine in Idaho, ponderosa pine in Arizona, and mixed conifer in the Sierra Nevadas in California. In each of these stands we established a 10 or 15 meter radius circular plot (depending on tree density), deliberately selecting plots in dense, crown-fire-prone areas, inventoried all trees within the plot including understory trees at least 0.3 meters (1 foot) tall, and then took apart the trees branch by branch to obtain biomass by size class and component (live or dead). For every branch, we measured green weight, length, and branch basal diameter. A subportion of the branches were destructively sorted by size class, so that biomass was weighed for foliage, and live and dead woody material 0-3 millimeters (mm), 3-6 (mm), 6-10 (mm), 10-25 (mm) and 25+ (mm) in diameter. A subportion of this material was oven dried to determine moisture content and correct the measurements to dry weight. These data were then used to develop regression equations to predict oven dry biomass by size class based on branch length and basal diameter. The equations were used to estimate biomass by size class for every branch in the stand. We chose dense stands that local land managers judged to be of high crown fire potential. A number of separate files are included, containing information on surface fuels, plot data, tree data and branch data.

Key Words: surface fuels, biomass, fuel load, Interior West, Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Pinus ponderosa, Pinus contorta, Abies concolor, Calocedrus decurrens, Abies lasiocarpa

Data Product:

• View metadata file (hypertext markup language, HTML)
• View file index which lists all files in this data product and a short description of their contents (hypertext markup language, HTML)
• Download data and documents (compressed format, ZIP) which includes metadata, data, and a file index summarizing all files in the data product

Citation of Data Product:

Reinhardt, Elizabeth; Scott Joe; Keane, Robert; Gray, Kathy. 2007. Canopy fuel and tree biomass data from the Interior West. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. doi:10.2737/RDS-2007-0001

USDA Forest Service - RMRS - Statistics Unit
Last Modified: Monday, 28 March 2011 at 17:43:52 EDT