Camp Edwards Integrated Fire Management Plan (IFMP)
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INTEGRATED FIRE MANAGEMENT PLAN CAMP EDWARDS TRAINING SITE MASSACHUSETTS ARMY NATIONAL GUARD This Integrated Fire Management Plan (IFMP) meets all requirements as described in the Army Wildland Fire Policy Guidance and references therein, Army Regulation 200-3 (Natural Resources-Land, Forest and Wildlife Management), Army Regulation 420-90 Fire and Emergency Services, and the Executive Summary of this document. Furthermore, the undersigned do hereby agree to cooperate in the implementation of the Camp Edwards IFMP. ________________________________________________Date:___________________ Adjutant General of Massachusetts Office of the Adjutant General Massachusetts National Guard ________________________________________________Date:___________________ Director of Facilities and Engineering Massachusetts Army National Guard ________________________________________________Date:___________________ Environmental Program Manager Massachusetts Army National Guard ________________________________________________Date:___________________ Commander, Camp Edwards Training Center Massachusetts Army National Guard Camp Edwards, Massachusetts ________________________________________________Date:___________________ Director of Plans, Operations, and Training Massachusetts Army National Guard Camp Edwards, Massachusetts ________________________________________________Date:___________________ Natural Resource Manager Massachusetts Army National Guard Camp Edwards, Massachusetts i INTEGRATED FIRE MANAGEMENT PLAN CAMP EDWARDS TRAINING SITE MASSACHUSETTS ARMY NATIONAL GUARD April 2006 Prepared by: Daniel J. Grenier, M.S. Fire Management Ecologist The Nature Conservancy Massachusetts Chapter Plymouth, Massachusetts And Natural Resource Office Environmental and Readiness Center Massachusetts Army National Guard Camp Edwards Training Site, Massachusetts ii Reviewed by: Massachusetts Army National Guard Michael A. Ciaranca Natural Resources Manager Camp Edwards Training Site John P. Kelly Natural Resource Planner Camp Edwards Training Site The Nature Conservancy Karen Lombard Assistant Director of Conservation Science Massachusetts Field Office iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This Integrated Fire Management Plan is based upon the research, planning, documentation, prescribed burning and other field work of Dr. William A. Patterson III and his students at the University of Massachusetts. This plan expands previous fire management planning at Camp Edwards by Dr. William A. Patterson III and Charles Ruffner (2001). We also recognize Joel Carlson, the former Fire Manager for the Massachusetts Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, for initiating the partnership that now exists between the MAARNG Natural Resource Office and The Nature Conservancy. This partnership has provided a framework for better planning and has allowed for the advancemnmet of fire management on Camp Edwards. We would like to thank Andrew M. Beavers, Center for Environmental Management of Military Lands, Colorado State University Fort Collins, Colorado and the Environmental Office, Kansas Army National Guard, Topeka, KS as we adopted much of the format and content (applicable to the Camp Edwards Training Site) from their Integrated Fire Management Plan. Thanks are also extended to Dr. Michael Ciaranca (MAARNG), John Kelly (MAARNG), Joel Carlson, and Karen Lombard (TNC) for their review and comments that aided in the completion of this integrated fire management plan. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES x ACRONYMS xi EXUCTIVE SUMMARY xii 1. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1. Existing Conditions 1 1.2. Military Training 1 1.3. Regulatory Requierments 2 1.4. General Resposibilities 3 2. SITE BACKGROUND INFORMATION 3 2.1. General Description 3 2.2. Topography 4 2.3. Geology 4 2.4. Soils 8 2.4.1. Soils of the Sandwich and Buzzards Bay Terminal Moraines 8 2.4.2. Soils of the Outwash Plain 8 2.5. Hydrology 9 2.6. Climate 9 2.7. Vegetation and Natural Community Classification 13 2.8. Wildlife 18 2.9. Special Elements 19 2.10. Disturbances Other than Fire 20 2.10.1. Natural Disturbances 20 2.10.2. Anthroprogenic Disturbances 26 3. THE HISTORICAL ROLE OF FIRE AND THE FIRE ENVIRONMENT 29 3.1. Fire History 29 3.2. Fire Weather 33 3.3. Fuels 34 3.4. Wildfire Fuel Load Modeling 38 4. FIRE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES 39 4.1. General Management Justifications and Considerations 39 4.2. Wildland Fire Management Goals 41 4.3. Wildland Fire Management Options 42 v 4.4. Fire Management Blocks, Smoke Management Zones and Burn Units 46 4.4.1. Fire Management Blocks 46 4.4.2. Smoke Management Zones 53 4.4.3. Fire Management Units 53 4.5. Fire Management Planning Tools 56 4.5.1. Fire Danger Rating 56 4.5.2. Software and Spreadsheets 56 4.5.3. Databases and Websites 58 5. WILDLAND FIRE MANANGEMENT PROGRAM COMPONENTS 59 5.1. Wildland Fire Suppression 59 5.2. Wildland Fire Use 61 5.3. Prescribed Fire 61 5.3.1. Permits and Notifications 61 5.3.2. Training Standards 62 5.3.3. Fire Planning and Prescription 62 5.3.4. Precsribed Fire Complexity 63 5.3.5. Fire Weather 63 5.3.6. Ignition 64 5.3.7. Fire Monitoring 64 5.3.8. Communications 65 5.3.9. Contingencies 65 5.3.10. Air Quality and Smoke Management 65 5.3.11. Wildland Fire Response 66 5.4. Non-fire Fuel Applications 66 5.5. Firebreak and Fuels Management 67 5.6. Emergency Rehabilitation and Restoration 67 6. TRAINING AND SAFETY 68 6.1. Training Requirements 68 6.2. Fitness Requirements 71 6.3. Staffing 75 6.4. Equipment and Supplies 81 6.5. Wildfire and Prescribed Fire Hazards 82 7. PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT 84 8. INTERAGENCY COOPERATION 94 9. ORGANIZATION AND BUDGET 94 10. MONITORING AND EVALUATION 94 LITERATURE CITED 98 APPENDIX A: WILDLAND FIRE RESPONSE PLAN 105 vi APPENDIX B: PLANT SPECIES OF THE MMR 137 APPENDIX C: MACROLEPIDOPTERA (MOTH AND BUTTERFLY) SPECIES OF THE MMR 144 APPENDIX D: ODONATE (DRAGONFLY AND DAMSELFLY) SPECIES OF CAMP EDWARDS 148 APPENDIX E: BIRD SPECIES OF CAMP EDWARDS 150 APPENDIX F: MAMMAL SPECIES OF THE MMR 153 APPENDIX G: REPTILE AND AMPHIBIAN SPECIES OF THE MMR 154 APPENDIX H: STATE LISTED RARE SPECIES AT THE MMR 155 APPENDIX I: CAMP EDWARDS AIR QUALITY (PRESCRIBED FIRE) PERMIT 156 APPENDIX J: CAMP EDWARDS PRESCRIBED FIRE NOTIFICATION PROTOCOL 159 APPENDIX K: PRESCRIBED FIRE BURN PLAN TEMPLATE 175 APPENDIX L: PRESCRIBED FIRE COMPLEXITY RATING WORKSHEET 184 APPENDIX M: CAMP EDWARDS POST-BURN SUMMARY TEMPLATE 201 APPENDIX N: TYPE 6 ENGINE, SPECIFICATIONS 205 APPENDIX O: MASSACHUSETTS ARMT NATIONAL GUARD HELICOPTER SUPPORT PROCEDURES 206 vii LIST OF TABLES TABLE 2.1 MMR Climatological Data TABLE 3.1. Historic Fires Identified on the Upper Cape Cod. TABLE 3.2. Fuel Model Parameters Used for Fire Behavior Predictions at Camp Edwards. TABLE 4.1. Prescribed Fire Activity, Camp Edwards Training Area, 1983 -2005. TABLE 4.2. Estimates of Vegetation Cover By Community Class in Acres and Percent Cover with Corresponding Fuel Models for the Fire Management Blocks Identified for Camp Edwards. TABLE 6.1. Standard Fire Orders and Watch Out Situations. TABLE 6.2. Incident Command System and Wildland Firefighter Training Courses. TABLE 6.3. Wildland Firefighter Training Qualification Requirements. TABLE 6.4. Prescribed Fire Qualifications. TABLE 6.5. ICS Positions - Non-Operational Technical Specialists. TABLE 6.6. ICS Positions - Skilled Operational Positions. TABLE 6.7. Wildland Firefighter Training Qualifications Requirements for Assigned Personnel. TABLE 6.8. Minimum Fire Cache Resources. TABLE 6.9. Mandatory Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). TABLE 7.1. MMR Command Contact List. TABLE 7.2. Contact List for Fire Departments Adjacent to the MMR. TABLE 7.3. Police Department Contact List for Bordering/Surrounding MMR Communities TABLE 7.4. Barnstable County Jail Contact Information. TABLE 7.5. Administrator Contact Data for Towns Bordering the MMR. viii TABLE 7.6. Contact Information for Town Selectmen Representing Municipalities Near The MMR. TABLE 7.7. State and Federal Environmental Agency Contact Information. TABLE 7.8. Contact Coordinates for Newspapers Covering News and Issues on Cape Cod. TABLE 7.9. Contact Data for Radio Broadcasting Companies Transmitting on Cape Cod. TABLE 7.10. Immediate Notification List for Unusual Occurrences on the MMR. ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1. Location of the MMR. Figure 2.2. Current Occupancy, MMR 2006. Figure 2.3. Topography and General Geology of the MMR. Figure 2.4. Otis Air National Guard Base Annual Wind Rose Figure 2.5. Natural Communities, MMR, Barnstable County, Massachusetts. Figure 2.6. Insect Defoliation at the MMR in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Figure 2.7. Insect Defoliation at the MMR in the 1980’s. Figure 2.8. Insect Defoliation at the MMR in the 1990’s. Figure 2.9. Time Series Photos Highlighting the Effects Frost Can Play Upon the Vegetation in Topographic Depressions on the MMR. Figure 2.10. Time Series Photos Highlighting the Effects Frost Can Play Upon the Vegetation in Topographic Depressions on the MMR. Figure 2.11. Blueprint Showing Depression Era Work that Occurred on the Shawme State (Currently Shawme-Crowell) Forest. Figure 2.12. Time Series Photos Showing a Chronosequence of Land Use Impacts in the Northwest Corner of the Impact Area from 1943 - 2002. Figure 3.1. Fire Incidents (1975-1998) By Year for the MMR. Figure 3.2. Fire Incidents (1975-1998) By Month for the MMR. Figure 3.3. Wildfire Fuel Load Assessment, MMR, August, 2005. Figure 4.1. Fire Management Blocks, MMR. Figure 4.2. Smoke Management Zones, MMR. Figure 4.3. Prescribed Fire