Long-term changes in masticated woody fuelbeds in northern California and southern Oregon
December 2, 2015 @ 12:20 pm
to 01:10 pm
Warren Reed, Penn State
102 Forest Resources Bldg
The use of fuels treatments is increasing as a forest management strategy across fire prone ecosystems of North America. One common fuels treatment is mechanical mastication, which crushes and shreds midstory trees and shrubs into a compacted layer of shredded surface woody fuel._ A major question facing fuels managers is the longevity of mastication treatments and how fuelbeds change over time. We measured surface fuel loading at 25 masticated sites with a diverse range of stand characteristics and times since treatment (1 to 16 years) in northern California and southern Oregon._ We capitalized on the opportunity to revisit seven previously sampled fuels treatments to investigate how surface fuelbeds transition over time._ Surface woody fuel loading varied across sites and ranged from 12.1 to 92 Mg ha-1 and decreased with time since treatment by an average of 2.3 Mg ha-1 per year._ Across all sites, 62% of fuels were concentrated in the 1 and 10-hour classes._ In sites where previously measured data exist, 1-hour and 10-hour woody fuels averaged 69% and 33% reductions in mass respectively after 8-9 years._ Since fine fuels drive surface fire behavior and spread, our findings will be useful in planning and maintenance of masticated fuels treatments. _
Contact
Laura Radville
lur150@psu.edu