Pacific Southwest Research Station

Research Topics Water and Watersheds

Kings River Experimental Watersheds (KREW)

Fuel Loading

The condition of fuels in a forest stand can have significant effects on fire intensity and frequency, which in turn can have significant effects on plant and animal communities of the forest. Adequate characterization of the variability in fuel loads is necessary for pre- and post-treatment comparisons and for input to fire models. It may be possible to correlate certain observed effects in nutrient flow, stream biotic composition, or floral and faunal composition with differences in fuel loading. Characterizing the fuel loading can also contribute to conclusions about the effectiveness of prescribed fire versus mechanical thinning.

A thorough sampling of the fuels condition will be conducted at a subset of the established 150-meter grid points following Brown (1974). Sampling will occur once before treatments and at least once after treatments. Further details concerning sampling intensity and frequency have yet to be determined. For specifics concerning fire and fuel loading, see the KREW Study Plan (Hunsaker et al. 2004).

References

Brown, J.K. 1974. Handbook for Inventorying Downed Woody Material. USDA Forest Service GTR: INT-16, Ogden, UT.