Progress 09/16/18 to 09/15/20
Outputs
Target Audience:In addition to regional and state resource management partners (US Forest Service - PNW Research Station, WA Department of Natural Resources) this work is relevant to conservation organizations such as The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and a national/international community of scientists and managers working in dry, fire prone forest ecosystems. Changes/Problems:No problems or changes have been encountered in this reporting period. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Don Radcliffe (PhD student), Madison Laughlin (MS student), Michele Buonanduci (PhD student), Jenna Morris (PhD student), and 12 undergraduate students were involved in the field sampling and training of the fieldwork methods. All were trained in forest measurement techniques such as tree height, tree diameter, species ID, fuels transects, coarse woody debris measurements, and tree health classifications. Radcliffe and Laughlin gained field crew leadership experience with mentorship from Brian Harvey (faculty). After the fieldwork, the undergraduate and graduate students are continuing to work on data entry, QA/QC, and analyses techniques to address the research questions stated in our proposal. Allison Phillips (undergraduate student, field work) is working towards completion of an undergraduate research capstone, which is exposing her to many components of the scientific process including data management, conducting an analysis, oral presentation, and writing a scientific-style paper. Additionally, Radcliffe is gaining intensive student mentorship experience from Phillips' capstone project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In September 2019, we held a field trip visit with project stakeholders from the USFS and the WA DNR. During the all-day trip, we traveled to the field sampling sites, discussed the project overview and progress from summer 2019 field sampling, and hiked to visit three of the field sites to observe conditions and get stakeholder input on future research. Study design and preliminary results have been presented at three professional conferences, and in two classroom presentations. Additionally, Radcliffe has communicated the study design and preliminary results in numerous internal meetings with top restoration ecologists and forestry researchers in the Washington Department of Natural Resources and United States Forest Service, as part of the Restoration treatment need and monitoring project. Currently, we are refining statistical analyses for the focal research questions in our proposal, which will form the core of two chapters of Radcliffe's PhD dissertation. We have also begun drafting introduction material for two manuscripts. We are planning on presenting the results at professional meetings of ecologists and managers, including the International Fire Ecology and Management Congress in Autumn of 2021, and in additional state and local level outlets to a variety of target audiences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In the 2019 and 2020 field seasons we employed a total of 15 students and recent graduates working in ecological and management-based fields. We sampled a total of 249 plots, collecting data on forest fuels, tree populations, downed logs and tree regeneration from areas that had either been thinning, prescribed burned, thinned + prescribed burned, burned in a wildfire, or left alone. The data collected will form the foundation of two PhD dissertation chapters and at least two peer-reviewed publications, and has formed the foundation of three professional conference presentations. The work will inform fuels management to reduce the negative consequences of past fire suppression and future climate change in dry forest types of the western US.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Radcliffe D.C., Laughlin M.M., Bakker J.D., Harvey B.J. 2020. How long do fuels reduction treatments reduce wildfire risk in dry forests? Long term experimental results from the East Cascades of Washington. Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Annual Student Symposium. Seattle, Washington. Oral Presention (virtual).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Radcliffe D.C., Laughlin M.M., Bakker J.D., Harvey B.J. 2020. Long-term trajectories of fuel profiles among experimental restoration treatments in dry forests of the Eastern Cascades. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah. Powerpoint Presentation (virtual).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Radcliffe D.C. 2020. Long term effects of thinning, burning, and thinning + burning on fuel loadings in East Cascades of Washington. Graduate Student Symposium, University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences. Seattle, Washington. Oral Presentation.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Radcliffe D.C., et al., in prep. Long-term fuels dynamics after thinning, prescribed fire, and low-severity wildfire in the East Cascades of Washington. Manuscript in preparation.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Radcliffe D.C., et al., in prep. Long-term stand structural heterogeneity dynamics after thinning, prescribed fire, and low-severity wildfire in the East Cascades of Washington. Manuscript in preparation.
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Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:US Forest Service - PNW Research Station WA Department of Natural Resources Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Don Radcliffe (PhD student), Michelle Buonanduci (MS student) and Jenna Morris (MS student), along with the five undergraduate students listed above were involved in the field sampling and training of the fieldwork methods. They were all trained in forest measurement techniques such as tree height, tree diameter, species ID, fuels transects, coarse woody debris measurements, and tree health classifications. After the fieldwork, the undergraduate and graduate students are continuing to work on data entry, QA/QC, and analyses techniques to address the research questions stated in our proposal. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In September 2019, we held a field trip visit with project stakeholders from the USFS and the WA DNR. During the all-day trip, we traveled to the field sampling sites, discussed the project overview and progress from summer 2019 field sampling, and hiked to visit three of the field sites to observe conditions and get stakeholder input on future research. PhD student Radcliffe is also contacting over 100 researchers and landowners in Washington and Oregon to share insights from our work and assemble a database of existing fuels treatments in eastern WA. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?urrently, we are conducting statistical analyses for the focal research questions in our proposal, which will form the core of a chapter of the PhD dissertation for Don Radcliffe. Following completion of those analyses, we anticipate to begin manuscript preparation for peer-reviewed papers (which will also be dissertation chapters) in fall 2020.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During this reporting period, we were able to employ three graduate students and five undergraduate students on this project in a full re-measurement of long-term forest and fuels monitoring plots established in 1998 at the Mission Creek Fire and Fire Surrogates study site on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington. Across 142 plots, we sampled data (basal area, stem density, fuels, mortality from insect outbreaks, regeneration, etc.) associated with our key research questions about whether thinning and prescribed burning treatment longevity extends to ~15 years post treatment, reducing fire hazard. These plots are distributed across a series of 12 treatment units (3 replicate treatment blocks of each of the four treatments: control, burn, thin, thin+burn).
Publications
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