Predicted Effects of Prescribed Burning and Timber Management on Forest Recovery and Sustainability at Fort Benning, Georgia PDF Download
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Author: C. T. Garten (JR.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
The objective of this work was to use a simple compartment model of soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics to predict forest recovery on degraded soils and forest sustainability, following recovery, under different regimes of prescribed fire and timber management. This report describes the model and a model-based analysis of the effect of prescribed burning and forest thinning or clearcutting on stand recovery and sustainability at Fort Benning, GA. I developed the model using Stella{reg_sign} Research Software (High Performance Systems, Inc., Hanover, NH) and parameterized the model using data from field studies at Fort Benning, literature sources, and parameter fitting. The model included (1) a tree biomass submodel that predicted aboveground and belowground tree biomass, (2) a litter production submodel that predicted the dynamics of herbaceous aboveground and belowground biomass, (3) a soil C and N submodel that predicted soil C and N stocks (to a 30 cm soil depth) and net soil N mineralization, and (4) an excess N submodel that calculated the difference between predicted plant N demands and soil N supplies. There was a modeled feedback from potential excess N (PEN) to tree growth such that forest growth was limited under conditions of N deficiency. Two experiments were performed for the model-based analysis. In the first experiment, forest recovery from barren soils was predicted for 100 years with or without prescribed burning and with or without timber management by thinning or clearcutting. In the second experiment, simulations began with 100 years of predicted forest growth in the absence of fire or harvesting, and sustainability was predicted for a further 100 years either with or without prescribed burning and with or without forest management. Four performance variables (aboveground tree biomass, soil C stocks, soil N stocks, and PEN) were used to evaluate the predicted effects of timber harvesting and prescribed burning on forest recovery and sustainability. Predictions of forest recovery and sustainability were directly affected by how prescribed fire affected PEN. Prescribed fire impacted soil N supplies by lowering predicted soil C and N stocks which reduced the soil N pool that contributed to the predicted annual flux of net soil N mineralization. On soils with inherently high N availability, increasing the fire frequency in combination with stand thinning or clearcutting had little effect on predictions of forest recovery and sustainability. However, experiments with the model indicated that combined effects of stand thinning (or clearcutting) and frequent prescribed burning could have adverse effects on forest recovery and sustainability when N availability was just at the point of limiting forest growth. Model predictions indicated that prescribed burning with a 3-year return interval would decrease soil C and N stocks but not adversely affect forest recovery from barren soils or sustainability following ecosystem recovery. On soils with inherently low N availability, prescribed burning with a 2-year return interval depressed predicted soil C and N stocks to the point where soil N deficiencies prevented forest recovery as well as forest sustainability following recovery.
Author: C. T. Garten (JR.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
The objective of this work was to use a simple compartment model of soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) dynamics to predict forest recovery on degraded soils and forest sustainability, following recovery, under different regimes of prescribed fire and timber management. This report describes the model and a model-based analysis of the effect of prescribed burning and forest thinning or clearcutting on stand recovery and sustainability at Fort Benning, GA. I developed the model using Stella{reg_sign} Research Software (High Performance Systems, Inc., Hanover, NH) and parameterized the model using data from field studies at Fort Benning, literature sources, and parameter fitting. The model included (1) a tree biomass submodel that predicted aboveground and belowground tree biomass, (2) a litter production submodel that predicted the dynamics of herbaceous aboveground and belowground biomass, (3) a soil C and N submodel that predicted soil C and N stocks (to a 30 cm soil depth) and net soil N mineralization, and (4) an excess N submodel that calculated the difference between predicted plant N demands and soil N supplies. There was a modeled feedback from potential excess N (PEN) to tree growth such that forest growth was limited under conditions of N deficiency. Two experiments were performed for the model-based analysis. In the first experiment, forest recovery from barren soils was predicted for 100 years with or without prescribed burning and with or without timber management by thinning or clearcutting. In the second experiment, simulations began with 100 years of predicted forest growth in the absence of fire or harvesting, and sustainability was predicted for a further 100 years either with or without prescribed burning and with or without forest management. Four performance variables (aboveground tree biomass, soil C stocks, soil N stocks, and PEN) were used to evaluate the predicted effects of timber harvesting and prescribed burning on forest recovery and sustainability. Predictions of forest recovery and sustainability were directly affected by how prescribed fire affected PEN. Prescribed fire impacted soil N supplies by lowering predicted soil C and N stocks which reduced the soil N pool that contributed to the predicted annual flux of net soil N mineralization. On soils with inherently high N availability, increasing the fire frequency in combination with stand thinning or clearcutting had little effect on predictions of forest recovery and sustainability. However, experiments with the model indicated that combined effects of stand thinning (or clearcutting) and frequent prescribed burning could have adverse effects on forest recovery and sustainability when N availability was just at the point of limiting forest growth. Model predictions indicated that prescribed burning with a 3-year return interval would decrease soil C and N stocks but not adversely affect forest recovery from barren soils or sustainability following ecosystem recovery. On soils with inherently low N availability, prescribed burning with a 2-year return interval depressed predicted soil C and N stocks to the point where soil N deficiencies prevented forest recovery as well as forest sustainability following recovery.
Author: Philip N. Omi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fire ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 28
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Book Description
Author: David A. Cleaves
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ecosystem management
Languages : en
Pages : 40
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Book Description
Author: Eric Knapp
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437926150
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 85
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Book Description
Historical and prescribed fire regimes for different regions in the continental U.S. were compared and literature on season of prescribed burning synthesized. In regions and vegetation types where considerable differences in fuel consumption exist among burning seasons, the effects of prescribed fire season appears to be driven more by fire-intensity differences among seasons than by phenology or growth stage of organisms at the time of fire. Where fuel consumption differs little among burning seasons, the effect of phenology or growth stage of organisms is often more apparent, because it is not overwhelmed by fire-intensity differences. Species in ecosystems that evolved with fire appear to be resilient to one or few out-of-season prescribed burns. Illus.
Author: A. E. Harvey
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Prescribed burning
Languages : en
Pages : 54
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Book Description
Reviews current knowledge of the effects of intensive wood utilization, prescribed burning, or a combination of both treatments, on the microbial ecology of forest soils. Identifies additional research that much be done to fill voids in knowledge.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Post-fire forest management
Languages : en
Pages : 60
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Book Description
This synthesis provides an ecological foundation for management of the diverse ecosystems and fire regimes of North America, based on scientific principles of fire interactions with vegetation, fuels, and biophysical processes. Although a large amount of scientific data on fire exists, most of those data have been collected at small spatial and temporal scales. Thus, it is challenging to develop consistent science-based plans for large spatial and temporal scales where most fire management and planning occur. Understanding the regional geographic context of fire regimes is critical for developing appropriate and sustainable management strategies and policy. The degree to which human intervention has modified fire frequency, intensity, and severity varies greatly among different ecosystems, and must be considered when planning to alter fuel loads or implement restorative treatments. Detailed discussion of six ecosystems--ponderosa pine forest (western North America), chaparral (California), boreal forest (Alaska and Canada), Great Basin sagebrush (intermountain West), pine and pine-hardwood forests (Southern Appalachian Mountains), and longleaf pine (Southeastern United States)--illustrates the complexity of fire regimes and that fire management requires a clear regional focus that recognizes where conflicts might exist between fire hazard reduction and resource needs. In some systems, such as ponderosa pine, treatments are usually compatible with both fuel reduction and resource needs, whereas in others, such as chaparral, the potential exists for conflicts that need to be closely evaluated. Managing fire regimes in a changing climate and social environment requires a strong scientific basis for developing fire management and policy. --
Author: David L. Peterson
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1437926665
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 60
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Book Description
Timber harvest following wildfire leads to different outcomes depending on the biophysical setting of the forest, pattern of burn severity, operational aspects of tree removal, and other activities. Postfire logging adds to these effects by removing standing dead trees (snags) and disturbing the soil. The influence of postfire logging depends on the intensity of the fire, intensity of the logging operation, and mgmt. activities such as fuel treatments. Removal of snags reduces long-term fuel loads but generally results in increased amounts of fine fuels for the first few years after logging. Cavity-nesting birds, small mammals, and amphibians may be affected by harvest of standing dead and live trees, with negative effects on most species. Illustrations.
Author: Stanley John Ursic
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fire ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 24
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Author: Linda Mahaffey Anderson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Prescribed burning
Languages : en
Pages : 6
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Book Description
Author: Sharon M. Hood
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781480173965
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 78
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Book Description
Historically, many forested ecosystems in the United States burned frequently, both from lightning ignited fires and from Native American burning. Frequent fire maintained low fuel loadings and shaped forests composed of tree species adapted to survive low-intensity frequent fire. In the early 1900s, the United States government initiated a program to suppress all fires, both natural and anthropogenic. Many unintended consequences have resulted from over a century of fire suppression, such as increased tree densities and fuel, increased stress on older trees from competition, and greater risk of bark beetle attacks. These consequences are especially apparent in forests that historically burned frequently and have thus missed many fire cycles. Maintaining old trees and perpetuating large-diameter trees is an increasing concern. Stands of old trees that were historically common across vast landscapes in the United States are now relatively rare on the landscape because of harvesting (Noss and others 1995). Though logging is no longer the principal threat to most old-growth forests, they now face other risks (Vosick and others 2007). Prescribed fire has become a major tool for restoring fire-dependent ecosystem health and sustainability throughout the United States and use will likely increase in the future. However, increased mortality of large-diameter and old trees following fire has been reported in many areas around the country, and there is increased concern about maintaining these on the landscape (Kolb and others 2007; Varner and others 2005). As early as 1960, Ferguson and others (1960) reported high longleaf pine mortality after a low-intensity prescribed burn consumed the majority of heavy duff accumulations around the base of the trees. Mortality of pre-settlement ponderosa pines in prescribed burn areas in Grand Canyon National Park was higher than in control plots (Kaufmann and Covington 2001). After beginning a forest restoration program that reintroduced fire by prescribed burning at Crater Lake National Park, excessive post-fire mortality of larger ponderosa pine was observed in the burn areas, and early season burns had an even higher mortality than late season burns (Swezy and Agee 1991). Both Swezy and Agee (1991) and McHugh and Kolb (2003) reported a U-shaped mortality distribution for ponderosa pine following wildfires, with smaller- and larger-diameter trees having higher mortality than mid-diameter trees. Forest managers around the country have expressed concerns about large-diameter and old tree mortality when prescribed burning in long-unburned forests. The synthesis herein suggests recommendations for maintaining and perpetuating old trees in fire-dependent ecosystems. It expands on efforts funded by the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) to define the issues surrounding burning in fire excluded forests of the United States that are adapted to survive frequent fire. When the JFSP initially funded this synthesis, two JFSP projects were examining the effect of raking on reducing old ponderosa and Jeffrey pine (subsequently published in Fowler and others 2010; Hood and others 2007a). Another JFSP project examined the effect of prescribed burning under different duff moisture conditions on long-unburned old longleaf pine mortality (Varner and others 2007). Two other syntheses were also recently published on this subject: Perpetuating old ponderosa pine (Kolb and others 2007) and The conservation and restoration of old growth in frequent-fire forests of the American West (Egan 2007). The scope of the synthesis herein focuses only on limiting over story tree mortality in species adapted to survive frequent fire; therefore, the implications of fire suppression and fuel treatments on other ecosystem components are not discussed.
