Fire Monitoring Handbook National Park Service U.S
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National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Fire Monitoring Handbook National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Fire Management Program Center National Interagency Fire Center Fire Monitoring Handbook Preface i Abstract Fire is a powerful and enduring force that has had, and The levels are cumulative, requiring users to include all will continue 3to have, a profound influence on levels below the highest specified. National Park Service (NPS) lands. Fire management decisions within the National Park Service require The standards outlined in this handbook require moni- information on fire behavior and on the effects of fire toring at all four levels for prescribed fires. For levels 1 on park resources. With good reason, the public is to 3, the handbook describes Recommended Standard holding park management increasingly accountable, variables, including fire conditions and vegetation especially in the area of fire management. Federal and parameters. Procedures and recommended frequencies state agencies are instituting progressively more strin- for monitoring and analysis are also specified. gent guidelines for burning, monitoring, and evalua- Depending on a park’s management objectives, a park tion. The impetus behind these guidelines and the may need a specific monitoring design beyond or purpose of this handbook are to ensure that manage- instead of the design covered in this handbook. Refer- ment objectives are being met, to provide guidance ences to different monitoring procedures are provided that can prevent fire management problems from in the appendices. developing, to limit possible legal actions against the agency, and to ensure that all parks collect at least the A standardized system to cover the wide diversity of minimum information deemed necessary to evaluate areas within the National Park Service will need fine- their fire management programs. tuning from park to park. To facilitate this, each park will receive oversight and review for its monitoring There are many benefits to establishing these standard- program from its regional fire monitoring program ized data collection procedures. Uniformly-gathered manager, and refinements to this Fire Monitoring data will facilitate information exchange among parks Handbook will be made as necessary. Until a subse- and provide historical program documentation and quent revision of this handbook is published, these databases useful for refinements of the parks’ fire refinements will be made available on the Internet at management programs. In addition, standard proce- <www.nps.gov/fire/fire/fir_eco_monitoring.html> dures will enable fire monitors to move to or assist Also at this website is information on how parks other parks without additional training. are using their data and how to download the associated software. The fire monitoring program described in this Fire Monitoring Handbook (FMH) allows the National USDI National Park Service. 2003. Fire Moni- Park Service to document basic information, to detect toring Handbook. Boise (ID): Fire Manage- trends, and to ensure that each park meets its fire and ment Program Center, National Interagency resource management objectives. From identified Fire Center. 274p. trends, park staff can articulate concerns, develop hypotheses, and identify specific research studies to develop solutions to problems. This handbook is intended to facilitate and standardize monitoring for National Park Service units that are subject to burning by wildland or prescribed fire. This Keywords: Fire Behavior, Fire Monitoring, Adaptive handbook defines and establishes levels of monitoring Management, Vegetation Monitoring, Sampling, activity relative to fire and resource management Sampling Design, Objective Development, Wildland objectives and fire management strategies. At each suc- Fire, Prescribed Fire. cessive level, monitoring is more extensive and com- plex. level 1 covers environmental monitoring, and levels 2, 3, and 4 call for monitoring of fire conditions, Printed on Recycled Paper short-term change, and long-term change, respectively. ii Fire Monitoring Handbook Acknowledgments Many have worked toward the development of this handbook. While we cannot possibly acknowledge all contrib- utors, including all the people who used this methodology and provided us with comments, we would like to rec- ognize individuals who were critical to this effort. Fire Monitoring Steering Committee, 1977 Stephen J. Botti (Task Force Chairperson), National Park Service, National Interagency Fire Center Craig Allen, US Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Dan O’Brien, National Park Service, Intermountain Regional Office, Bandelier National Monument retired Elizabeth Anderson, National Park Service, Intermountain Regional Rebecca Power (Representative, Region 3 Fire Monitoring Task Office, retired Force), US Fish and Wildlife Service, Necedah National Wildlife Refuge MaryBeth Keifer, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Doug Wallner, National Park Service, Philadelphia Support Office Task Force Co Task Force Consultants and Reviewers Jonathan Arnold Wesley Newton, US Geological Survey Biological Resources, Lassen Volcanic National Park Division Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center Henry Bastian, Zion National Park Howard T. Nichols, Pacific West Regional Office Pam Benjamin, National Park Service, Intermountain Regional Office Larry Nickey, Olympic National Park Ed Berg, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Tonja Opperman, Bitterroot National Forest Frank Boden, Bureau of Indian Affairs, retired William Patterson III, University of Massachusetts Beth Buchanan, Daniel Boone National Forest Arnie Peterson, Lassen Volcanic National Park Dan Buckley,Yosemite National Park Nathan Rudd, The Nature Conservancy, Oregon Field Office Gary Davis, Channel Islands National Park Kevin Ryan, Intermountain Fire Sciences Lab John Dennis, National Park Service, Natural Resource, Information Division Kathy Schon, Saguaro National Park Robert Dellinger, Great Smoky Mountains National Park Tim Sexton, National Park Service National Interagency Fire Center Dennis Divoky, Glacier National Park Carolyn Hull Sieg, Rocky Mountain Research Station Gregory Eckert, National Park Service, Geoffrey Smith Biological Resource Management Division Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Steve Fancy, National Park Service, Tom Stohlgren, US Geological Survey Biological Resources Division, Colorado Natural Resource, Information Division State University Patti Haggarty, Corvallis Forest Science Laboratory Tim Stubbs, Carlsbad Caverns National Park Walter Herzog, Bureau of Land Management, Gary Swanson, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Redding Resource Area Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge Laura Hudson, National Park Service, Intermountain Regional Office Charisse Sydoriak, Bureau of Land Management Roger Hungerford, USDA Forest Service Alan Taylor Intermountain Research Station, retired Pennsylvania State University Ben Jacobs, Point Reyes National Seashore Lisa Thomas, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield Evelyn Klein, Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park, retired Laura Trader, Bandelier National Monument Mary Kwart, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Jan Van Wagtendonk, US Geological Survey Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Biological Resources Division, Yosemite Field Station Bill Leenhouts, Fish and Wildlife Service, C. Phillip Weatherspoon, US Forest Service National Interagency Fire Center Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station Michael Loik, University of California Meredith Weltmer, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 3 Mack McFarland, Grand Teton National Park John Willoughby, Bureau of Land Management, California State Office Melanie Miller, Bureau of Land Management, National Interagency Fire Center nsultants and Reviewers ask Force Consultants and Reviewers Preface iii Steering Committee Support Staff: Rewrite Committee Paul Reeberg (Coordinator, Content Editor) Eric Allen, Jewel Cave National Monument National Park Service, Pacific West Regional Office MaryBeth Keifer, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks Richard Bahr, National Interagency Fire Center Elizabeth Anderson, National Park Service, Intermountain Regional Tony LaBanca, California Department of Fish and Game, Northern Office, retired California-North Coast Region Stassia Samuels, Redwood National and State Parks Rick Anderson, Archbold Biological Station Jeanne E. Taylor, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, retired John Segar, Boise National Forest Dale Haskamp, Redwood National and State Parks, retired Data Entry and Processing Software Walter M. Sydoriak (Developer), Bandelier National Monument Tim Sexton (Coordinator), National Interagency Fire Center Editorial Review Kathy Rehm Switky, Menlo Park, CA Formatting Paul Reeberg and Brenda Kauffman National Park Service, Pacific West Regional Office Design and Illustration Eugene Fleming National Park Service, Pacific West Regional Office Cover Photography Fire on the Ridge: © Richard Blair, www.richardblair.com Shoot emerging from pine needles: © Michael S. Quinton, National Geographic Society iv Fire Monitoring Handbook Contents Abstract - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ii Acknowledgments - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - iii Use of this Handbook - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ix Symbols Used in this Handbook - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x Chapter 1 Introduction - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -