Ag Data Commons
Browse

Forest structure, regeneration, and fuels in unburned, once-burned and twice-burned mixed-conifer forests of the Bob Marshall Wilderness

dataset
posted on 2024-09-13, 16:23 authored by Andrew J. Larson, R. Travis Belote, Colin T. Maher, Julia K. Berkey
Since the middle 1980s, managers have allowed many naturally ignited wildfires to burn with minimal interference in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Montana, USA. This contemporary active fire regime has produced a mosaic of recent burn histories comprising various combinations of fire frequency and fire severity, the effects of which are not confounded by past management (e.g., timber harvest) or suppression. Our study area was the valley floor and lower sidewalls of the main South Fork Flathead River valley and major tributaries between 1233 and 1740 meters above sea level. We used a stratified random sampling design to ensure adequate sampling of topographic and fire severity gradients, which we hypothesized would influence post-fire fuel loads, forest structure, and tree regeneration. Included in this publication are data from 224 plots distributed among long-unburned (n = 15), once-burned (n = 89), and twice-burned (n = 120) fire histories. Woody surface fuels were sampled using the planer intercept method; herbs, graminoids and shrubs were sampled using Keane’s photoload technique; and forest structure, composition, and canopy fuels were sampled with tree measurements in concentric, fixed-area plots. Field sampling occurred during the summers of 2015, 2016, and 2017. Plot-level data include treatment type (unburned, once-burned, twice-burned), year of fire(s), fire severity (dNBR), and date of sampling, plot locations (UTM), in addition to field-measured fuels and forest structure data.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparative effects of single and repeat wildfires occurring between 1985 and 2013 on surface fuels, canopy fuels, forest structure, and tree regeneration, asking if wildfires function as fuel reduction treatments. We also sought to determine if and under what conditions short-interval reburns cause transitions to a putative non-forest state.
The metadata for this package was published on 02/01/2019 (data were under embargo and available via authors). On 10/17/2022 this embargo was lifted and the data became available for download.

Funding

USDA-FS

History

Data contact name

Andrew Larson

Data contact email

fsrda@fs.fed.us

Publisher

Forest Service Research Data Archive

Use limitations

These data were collected using funding from the U.S. Government and can be used without additional permissions or fees. If you use these data in a publication, presentation, or other research product please use the following citation: Larson, Andrew J.; Belote, R. Travis; Maher, Colin T.; Berkey, Julia K. 2019. Forest structure, regeneration, and fuels in unburned, once-burned and twice-burned mixed-conifer forests of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2019-0004

Theme

  • Not specified

Geographic Coverage

{"type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [{"type": "Feature", "geometry": {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-113.40952, 47.72373], [-113.40952, 47.43952], [-113.16085, 47.43952], [-113.16085, 47.72373], [-113.40952, 47.72373]]]}, "properties": {}}]}

Geographic location - description

All data were collected within the South Fork Flathead River Valley of the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana. The bounding coordinates and elevations provided here represent the extent of our sam...

ISO Topic Category

  • environment
  • biota

National Agricultural Library Thesaurus terms

Forestry, Wildland Management

OMB Bureau Code

  • 005:96 - Forest Service

OMB Program Code

  • 005:059 - Management Activities

Pending citation

  • No

Public Access Level

  • Public

Identifier

RDS-2019-0004