Fuel Succession in a western hemlock/Douglas-fir forest

Metadata:

• Identification_Information
• Data_Quality_Information
• Spatial_Data_Organization_Information
• Spatial_Reference_Information
• Entity_and_Attribute_Information
• Distribution_Information
• Metadata_Reference_Information

Identification_Information:

Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: James K. Agee and Mark H. Huff

Publication_Date: 1987

Title: Fuel Succession in a western hemlock/Douglas-fir forest

Series_Information:

Series_Name: Canadian Journal of Forest Research

Issue_Identification: Volume 17, Number 7, 1987

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Publisher: National Research Council of Canada

Description:

Abstract:

Fuel succession was quantified for a 515-year chronosequence in a Tsuga heterophylla/Pseudotsuga menziesii forest. Postfire stand ages selected were 1,3,19,110,181 and 515. After initial reductions due to mortality from fire in the first 3 years, live aboveground biomass in the tree component increased over time to over 1100 t/ha. Shrub and herb layer biomass was highest in year 19 and year 515. Dead aboveground biomass had different trends for different fuel/size classes; normalized fuel loadings of five dead and down fuel categories peaked at four different stand ages; 1-h and 10-h timelag (TL) fuels, age 1; 100-h TL fuels, age 19; 1000-h TL fuels, age 110; 1000-h TL fuels, age 515. Surface fire behavior was highest early in the sere and lowest at ages 110-181. Old-growth forest patches appear to be best buffered against forest fire by mature forest patches rather than old growth or recently burned natural stands.

Purpose:

To test the hypothesis that while site biomass would increase over time since disturbance, fireline intensity and fire rate of spread would decrease.

Supplemental_Information:

The geographic coordinates for this study are the coordinates of the Olympic Peninsula, estimated from as USGS 1:24000 map. For exact coordinates of the study sites, please contact the author.

Time_Period_of_Content:

Currentness_Reference:

Status:

Progress: Complete

Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: None Planned

Spatial_Domain:

Description_of_Geographic_Extent:

5 study sites were selected in Olympic National Park

Bounding_Coordinates:

West_Bounding_Coordinate: -124.7

East_Bounding_Coordinate: -122.6

North_Bounding_Coordinate: 48.4

South_Bounding_Coordinate: 46.9

Keywords:

Theme:

Theme_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Theme_Keyword: Forest

Theme_Keyword: fuel succession

Theme_Keyword: fire ecology

Place:

Place_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Place_Keyword: USA

Place_Keyword: Washington

Place_Keyword: Olympic Peninsula

Place_Keyword: Olympic National Park

Stratum:

Stratum_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Temporal:

Temporal_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Taxonomy:

Taxonomic_Keywords: Tsuga heterophylla

Taxonomic_Keywords: Pseudotsuga menziesii

Taxonomic_Coverage:

Specific_Taxonomic_Information:

Kingdom: Plant

Division-Phylum: Coniferophyta

Class: Pinopsida

Order: Pinales

Family: Pinaceae

Genus: Tsuga

Species: Tsuga heterophylla

Applicable_Common_Names: Western hemlock

Taxonomic_Coverage:

Specific_Taxonomic_Information:

Kingdom: Plant

Division-Phylum: Coniferophyta

Class: Pinopsida

Order: Pinales

Family: Pinaceae

Genus: Pseudotsuga

Species: Pseudotsuga menziesii

Applicable_Common_Names: Douglas-fir

Access_Constraints:

Contact authors for data, or obtain reprint from the Canadian Journal of Forest Research or your local library

Use_Constraints:

Must cite author if using data in a published work.

Point_of_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Dr. James K. Agee

Contact_Organization: University of Washington

Contact_Position: Professor of Forest Ecology

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing and Physical Address

Address: University of Washington

Address: Box 352100

City: Seattle

State_or_Province: Wa

Postal_Code: 98195-2100

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 206/543-2688

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 206/543-3254

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: jagee@u.washington.edu

Data_Set_Credit:

This research was funded through contract CX-9000-9-E079 to the University of Washington from the National Park Service, Pacific Northwest Region, Seattle. Field assistance on two sites was provided by crews from Quest Northwest, Seattle.

Security_Information:

Security_Classification_System: None

Security_Classification: Unclassified

Security_Handling_Description: None

Analytical_Tool:

Analytical_Tool_Description:

Fire behaviour estimates were made with the BEHAVE system, a series of interactive computer programs for establishing wildland fire behavior for various fuels, weather and topography situations.

Tool_Access_Information:

Tool_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Patricia Andrews

Contact_Organization: USDA Forest Service

Contact_Position:

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing and Physical Address

Address: Forestry Sciences Laboratory

Address: PO Box 8089

City: Missoula

State_or_Province: MT

Postal_Code: 59807

Country: USA

Tool_Citation:

Data_Quality_Information:

Lineage:

Methodology:

Methodology_Type: Field

Methodology_Identifier:

Methodology_Keyword_Thesaurus: None

Methodology_Keyword: vegetation sampling

Methodology_Keyword: vegetation plot

Methodology_Keyword: transect

Methodology_Description:

Methods The stands were selected within the western hemlock/sword fern (Polystichum munitum (Kaulf.) Presl.) habitat type of Olympic National Park (Franklin and Dyrness 1973; Fig. 1). This plant association is one of the wettest within the Tsuga heterophylla series. Five study sites receiving 250-400 cm of precipitation annually were chosen to represent postfire stand development stages (Oliver 1981): stand initiation (Hoh Fire replication in years 1-3, and Queets Fire year19), stem exclusion (North Fork Fire year 110), understory reinitiation(Mineral Creek Fire year 181), and old growth (Olympus Guard Fire year 515). Study sites were selected to have a similar geographical characteristics: habitat type, aspect, elevation, and slope (Table I).These sites represent a general successional trend but do not represent the same stand at different developmental stages. All but the oldest fires are known to have burned forests 300 years of age or older with extensive overstory mortality. This was determined on recent fires by the age structure of trees burned by the fires; on older fires (> 100 years)ages of residual trees were used to establish stand age at the time of the fire. No information on stand age at time of burn was available for the 515 year site. At the Hoh (1 to 3year) and Queets (19year) sites, fires scorched crowns and killed the trees but generally did not consume the crowns; similar information at the older fire sites was not available. Two randomly located 50 x 50 m plots were established in each study area between 100 and 400 m inside the fire boundary. Species, height, and diameter at breast height (dbh) of live and dead trees >5.5 cm dbh were measured; density of smaller trees was measured on four 12.5mē circular subplots. Decay class of snags (cf. Cline et al.1980) was recorded. Herb and shrub frequency was recorded on a total of 96 0.1mē subplots. Dead and down woody fuels were measured by the planar intersect method (Brown 1974). Along a continuous line 5 m inside the edge of each plot and along two lines bisecting each plot center, fuel transects totalling 15 m for l-h timelag fuels (0-0.62 cm diameter), 30 m for 10-h (0.63-2.54 cm diameter) and 100-h (2.55-7.62cm diameter) timelag fuels, and 240m for >100-h timelag(>7.62cm diameter) fuels were established. Diameter and decay class of individual 1000-h (7.63-20.32 cm diameter) and >1000h(>20.32cm diameter) timelag fuels were measured. A total of 25 litter-duff depth samples was measured on each plot.

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

Biomass of live fuels was estimated by applying allometric equations contained in Gholz et al. (1979) for most species on all plots. Foliar biomass of Douglas-fir larger than 50 cm dbh was adjusted downward using equations in Dale and Hemstrom (1984). The diameter of tree regeneration (<5.5 cm dbh) was usually below the limits of the Gholz et al. equations, so equations from Brown (1978) were applied. Although these data were from the western Rocky Mountains, geographic location may be less important than whether the trees were open grown or understory grown (Agee 1983). Weights of shrub and herb layer fuels were estimated by visually determining depth of each layer averaged over the macroplot and a bulk density class similar to those of Burgan and Rothermel (1984) but adapted with equations for western Washington shrub types (Agee et al. 1985); loads were reduced proportional to percent cover for each plant layer. The mass of dead and down fuels was calculated by size class. Values were adjusted by known densities for different decay classes (USDA Forest Service 1974; Graham and Cromack 1982; Sollins 1982) and weighted by species. Weights were apportioned by species according to relative snag and tree species density of each study area, as species of down wood was often difficult to determine. Quadratic mean diameters (Bevins 1978) were assigned to fine woody fuels (=100-h timelag) and density was assumed to be the average of decay categories II and III. Litter biomass was calculated using depth-weight regressions developed for the northern Cascade Range (Agee et al. 1985). Duff biomass was estimated from depth-weight regressions for the Cascades (Williams and Dyrness 1967). Biomass of standing dead stems was estimated by computing volumes from large end diameter and height, with taper estimated from the international log rule (Avery and Burkhart 1983) and multiplied by appropriate density based on decay class (Sollins 1982). Dead stems were assumed to have no branches except for the 1- and 3-year-old sites where branch biomass was calculated from the live branch equations in Gholz et al. (1979), and on the 19-year site where 50% of branch biomass was assumed to have fallen. Fire behavior estimates were made with the BEHAVE system, a series of interactive computer programs for estimating wildland fire behavior in various fuels, weather and topography situations (Burgan and Rothermel 1984). Available biomass for fire was defined to include live regeneration, shrub and herb biomass, litter, and 1, 10, and 100htimelag fuels on each site and were derived from the total biomass at each stand age. Topography was held constant at 50% slope, which is quite common in the area. A late summer condition was assumed, with 50% of herbaceous fuels cured and a 70% live fuel moisture for the live understory. Fire behavior was calculated for many combinations of fuel moisture and wind; results are reported for midflame windspeedsof 268 m/min (10 mph) and dead fuel moistures of 6, 7, and 8% for 1-,10-, and 100-h timelag fuels. In the older stands (110-515 years),microclimatic amelioration was assumed and additional results are presented for midflame windspeeds of 134 m/min (5 mph) and dead fuel moistures of 10, 11, and 12% for 1-, 10-, and 100-h timelag fuels. The fire behavior results are theoretical in that no confirming experiments were conducted to test the validity of the output; in addition, the BEHAVE program is limited to predicting surface fire behavior.

Process_Date: Unknown

Process_Time: Unknown

Process_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Dr. James K. Agee

Contact_Organization: University of Washington

Contact_Position: Professor of Forest Ecology

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing and Physical Address

Address: University of Washington

Address: Box 352100

City: Seattle

State_or_Province: Wa

Postal_Code: 98195-2100

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 206/543-2688

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 206/543-3254

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: jagee@u.washington.edu

Metadata_Reference_Information:

Metadata_Date: 19980718

Metadata_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Robert Norheim

Contact_Organization: University of Washington

Contact_Position: GIS Technician

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: Mailing and Physical Address

Address: University of Washington, Box 352100

City: Seattle

State_or_Province: Washington

Postal_Code: 98195

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 206/543-9138

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 206/543-9138

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: norheim@u.washington.edu

Contact_Instructions: Unavailable

Metadata_Standard_Name:

Content Standards for National Biological Information Infrastructure Metadata

Metadata_Standard_Version:

NBII Draft of December 1995, Based FGDC of June 8, 1994

Metadata_Access_Constraints: none

Metadata_Use_Constraints: None

Metadata_Security_Information:

Metadata_Security_Classification_System: None

Metadata_Security_Classification: Unclassified

Metadata_Security_Handling_Description: None