Project details
The Prescribed Fire Practicum, an experimental class designed to provide students from The University of Montana with technical training, practical applications and theoretical foundations in ecological burning in the Southeastern United States, was initiated in January, 2008. Two instructors, Carl Seielstad and LLoyd Queen, from the National Center for Landscape Fire Analysis, led six students to participate in prescribed burning in Georgia. Their work supported longleaf pine restoration on The Nature Conservancy and Georgia State lands. In addition to the prescribed burning, students reviewed literature documenting ecosystem function and evaluated burn plans based on this literature. The students all have experience as wildland firefighters and are studying forestry or natural resource management. This course gave them the opportunity to fill fire roles that they might not do in a normal fire assignment. As students rotated through positions and responsibilities, they learned how to put together organizational structures to accomplish their goals. The students implemented burn plans, monitored weather and fire behavior, experimented with lighting patterns, did readings on ecological burning, met with the forest biologist, did daily briefings and after action reviews, and kept a written and visual log of their work.
The team managed six prescribed burns in the Moody Forest Natural Area and adjacent state lands, burning 600+ acres on eight of their available eleven days. One burn unit was an old growth turpentine longleaf pine trees; historically, longleaf pines were tapped for their resin, which was refined into turpentine. In these stands, the goal was to expose the ground for seedlings, without scorching the crowns or burning away the duff at the base of the trees, where seedlings may be sprouting. In the Charles Harrold Reserve, the team brought in the first prescribed fire to the endemic Georgia plume, a threatened deciduous shrub. At another site, the team burned a property that has no current longleaf pine population, but that will be planted with longleaf pine seedlings this spring. In Little Ocmulgee State Park, the team worked with state park employees to re-introduce fire into remnant longleaf pine stands and helped to build the state’s prescribed burn program
Project development
Like the surrounding Georgia State lands, Moody is a longleaf pine-blackjack oak forest. In the 1700’s, longleaf pine covered as much as 90 million acres in North America; today, less than three percent of that forest remains. The longleaf pine forest hosts the most diverse array of species among forested ecosystems in North America; many of those are threatened or endangered species. Hence, The Nature Conservancy and others are trying to protect and restore the remaining longleaf pine forests across the southeastern U.S.
Fire suppression has altered the natural fire regime in longleaf pine forests so that forest managers now use prescribed fire to clear the understory and remove competing trees. Prescribed fire is a safe application of the natural fire process necessary to perpetuate the longleaf pine forests. Fire-dependent species such as quail, eastern wild turkeys, songbirds, and the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker also benefit from prescribed burning for ecological objectives.
Project application
The NCLFA will lead a prescribed fire practicum in January 2009 in order to create more opportunities for firefighting students to combine their academic study with practical field work. Also in 2009, NCLFA research scientists LLoyd Queen and Casey Teske, along with UM graduate student Emily Garlough, will study the relationship between duff mound moisture content and post-fire duff consumption and will utilize a thermal infrared camera to capture data on radiant temperature during the burns. (Duff is defined as the layer of decomposing organic materials below the litter layer of freshly fallen leaves, twigs and needles, and immediately above the mineral soil.) Concurrently, two research scientists from Rocky Mountain Research Station’s Fire Sciences Laboratory will collect data on tree stem heating and tree mortality as a result of fires. These research efforts will help scientists better understand the thermal characteristics of fire and to calculate thermal flux.
Principal Investigators: Carl Seielstad, LLoyd Queen
2008 Students: Ann Hadlow, Jon Holmes, Anna Lahde, Tobin Orient, Tim Wallace, Devin Yost
2009 Students: Tyson Atkinson, Michael Bagan, Nicole DeWeese, Emily Garlough, Patrick Johnson, Jacob Miller, Jacob Quigley
January, 2008. Two instructors, Carl Seielstad and LLoyd Queen, from the National Center for Landscape Fire Analysis, led six students to participate in prescribed burning in Georgia. Their work supported longleaf pine restoration on The Nature Conservancy and Georgia State lands. In addition to the prescribed burning, students reviewed literature documenting ecosystem function and evaluated burn plans based on this literature. The students all have experience as wildland firefighters and are studying forestry or natural resource management. This course gave them the opportunity to fill fire roles that they might not do in a normal fire assignment. As students rotated through positions and responsibilities, they learned how to put together organizational structures to accomplish their goals. The students implemented burn plans, monitored weather and fire behavior, experimented with lighting patterns, did readings on ecological burning, met with the forest biologist, did daily briefings and after action reviews, and kept a written and visual log of their work.