National Fire Plan Success Story

Evaluating the Influence of Landscape Attributes and Burn History On Fire Severity in The Klamath Mountains
Klamath National Forest
National Fire Plan - Firefighting
2007

Project Description

The Klamath National Forest, Pacific Southwest Research Station, and Region 5 Ecology Program monitored vegetation based fire severity for the 2006 fires in the Klamath Mountains, California. We sampled 100 field plots across five large fires (greater than 1000 acres) in the summer of 2007, using both the Composite Burn Index (CBI) and more explicit measurements of fire effects to stand structure and survival. The field data allow for validation (accuracy assessment) and calibration of fire severity measurements ("RdNBR") made from LANDSAT remotely sensed imagery.

Our overall purpose is to investigate the roles played by landscape attributes (e.g., slope, aspect, slope position) and other variables (e.g., vegetation type, time since last burn, fuel moisture) in driving spatial patterns of fire severity. We are also interested in developing a more quantitative alternative to (or version of) the CBI. This project responds directly to management needs, and products and procedures developed should prove valuable to managers before and after future fires.

A predictive model of fire severity could help fire managers and Forest line officers to plan appropriate management response to fires in actively managed landscapes as well as wilderness settings. This information could help to reduce costs of fighting fire. Our fire severity data can also be used to (1) calibrate fire behavior and effects modeling, (2) carry out post¬fire updates to vegetation layers, and (3) address a variety of specific resource questions.

Implementation Plan and Accomplishment To Date

We plan to finish data analysis over the winter and complete a manuscript describing our findings by the end of the summer, 2008. As fires occur in the Klamath Mountains, we will continue to collect fire severity data, based on funding and field crew availability. Eric Knapp and Carl Skinner of the PSW-Research Station are the lead researchers on this project.

Table 1. Fire severity statistics collected by this project for five wildfires in the Klamath Mountains, 2007.

Fire Name	Start Date	Control Date	Unchanged Acres	Low Acres	Moderate Acres	High Acres	Total
Somes	24­Jul	Nov. 8	5697	9192	565	170	15,624
Titus	23­Jul	Sept. 24	1176	2934	1219	943	6,272
Hancock	23­Jul	Oct. 23	10440	8499	2187	1044	22,170
Rush	23­Jul	Oct. 2	808	3317	758	257	5,140
Uncles	23­Jul	Oct. 23	3454	7744	3752	2699	17,649
Total			21,575	31,686	8,481	5,113	66,855

Contacts

• Clint Isbell, Fire Ecologist, Klamath National Forest. 530­841­4510; cisbell@fs.fed.us.
• Max Creasy, Northern California Province Ecologist, USDA­Forest Service Region 5 Ecology Program. 530­841­4432; mcreasy@fs.fed.us.
• Eric Knapp, Pacific Southwest Research Station, Redding Lab. 530­226­2555; eknapp@fs.fed.us.
• Jay Miller, Remote Sensing Specialist; Fire, Fuels and Aviation Mgmt. 916­640­1063; jaymiller@fs.fed.us.