Pacific Southwest Research Station

Developing FCCS fuelbeds for the Angora fire region

Principal Investigators:
Roger Ottmar, USDA Forest Service-Pacific Northwest Research Station
Hugh Safford, USDA Forest Service-Region 5, Pacific Southwest Region

Proposal [pdf]

Final Report [pdf]

Additional Resources:
Fuel Pathways Handbook [pdf]
Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) downloads
Download maps of Tahoe Basin fuelbeds

Please contact Dr. Roger Ottmar with questions regarding the report and additional resources.

Project Summary

The Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) was used to develop a set of past, current, and future fuelbeds for the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU). Through group consensus of LBTMU managers, six major fuelbed types were identified that occur in the basin including:

• Jeffrey pine-white fir
• red fir
• wet lodgepole pine
• whitebark pine-lodgepole
• mountain hemlock
• mixed-conifer

Fuelbed pathways were completed for each of the major fuelbed types and 88 fuelbeds were identified for development. Twenty additional fuelbeds were identified and developed to represent unique vegetation types that did not fall within the six fuelbed types. The fuelbeds were constructed using baseline fuelbeds provided within the FCCS and modified for local application using scientific and gray literature, photo series, plant association and forest community guides, and community descriptions.

A fuelbed pathway handbook was compiled that includes the six fuelbed types, pathway schematics, fuelbed names and descriptions, fire behavior estimates and general photographs assigned to the fuelbeds. Thirty-one of the major fuelbeds and 20 of the unique fuelbeds were crosswalked to vegetation attributes from the CALVEG data set and mapped for the LTBMU.