Burned Forest Vs Unburned Forest

Every forest has a story to tell. By looking closely at its habitants, that story can be interpreted. Much of this narrative is written in the trees: their age, their tolerance to shade, and the rate at which they grow are all characteristics that can imply a lot about their environment. Exploring these relationships and how they connect with each other can indicate the health and history of the land. Heiberg Forest, located in northern New York, was once used for agricultural purposes in the 1800-1900’s. (Nowak, Lecture Notes) Much of the land once used for farming was left to regrow back into a young forest. The life history of different tree species can be determined by examining the most common species in Heiberg.

It is so horrible to see all of that timber go to waste. Our society depends on timber a lot and we need so much of it to produce so many useful goods. What would happen if we did not have any timber to make homes or proved some type of shelter? We would be lost and have no where to go. Prescribed burns can prevent that great loss of timber and save a lot of trees. Although one purpose of controlled burns is to curve paths for huge forest fires, they are also used to freshen up the area. If an area of trees is left untreated from prescribed burns, the sands are expected to decline in growth (Mitchell 1). Also, to ensure a healthy forest,

Fire has long been understood to have an impact on the ecosystem of our native woodlands, but it is only recently that we have come to understand its importance in maintaining the ecosystem. This report takes samples of the flora structure and growth in two different areas of Anstey Hill Recreation Park. The first was last burnt in 1995, and the second burnt in 2012. The results of these samples can be compared to data sampled in 2011, when the 2012 burnt area had not been burnt since Ash Wednesday in 1983.

The topography of the island is also of note. The west end of the island features a closed-canopy forest with more hardwood trees. The east end of the island is better characterized as a “boreal forest,” a term used to describe regions that are mostly covered by coniferous forests. It is good to note that the balsam fir is found on both ends of the island, but that samples used in the study from the west end of the island were, on average, older, but shorter, than those samples found on the east side of the island.

The Burnt Area of Mount Pilot contains mixed stands of competing, seedlings with slower growing Callitris seedlings and re-sprouting Eucalyptus trees. There is few Callitris endlicheri, as the species is fire sensitive and often destroyed by fire, particularly when in quick succession. Prior to the 2003 fire the site was dominated by Callitris species of tree. The seedlings that emerged were mostly Eucalyptus, with less dense Callitris seedlings proving that the growth of Callitris is not consistent with long term site suitability. Surprisingly, more Eucalyptus seedlings died in the first six years of regeneration that Callitris seedlings; competition in co-existence does not determine survivability. The major trend is that the growth of Eucalyptus seedlings is faster than that of Callitris seedlings. The density of Eucalyptus seedlings is shown to effect Callitris seedlings growth which thrives where Eucalyptus seedlings are sparser. Callitris may take 7-15 years to produce sufficient seeds (Cohn, Lunt, Ross, & Bradstock, 2011; I. Lunt, Jones, N., & Petrow, M.,, 2003; I. Lunt, Price, J.,, 2016; Ian D Lunt, Zimmer, & Cheal, 2011; Zimmer, 2012).

This was attributed to the ranges of vegetation type with elevation and slope, with mixed conifer tree species growing at higher elevations with increased tree cover. Similar patterns can be identified with the Rim Fire in the Stanislaus National Forest. The Pinus ponderosa (ponderosa pine) or Calocedrus decurrens (incense cedar) tree species tend to favor higher elevations, slopes between 0 - 45 degrees, and aspects between 0 - 33 degrees from North (Myers).

Looking further into the impacts of the Rodeo-Chediski fire the trees saw the greatest impact of the fire. Almost 90% of the trees suffered complete crown kill (Ffolliott, 2008). Either some trees had survived with low severity, were harmed, or dead because of the drought and the fire combined. Even though some of the trees that had faced high severity apparently after having seen what trees had survived the fire yet by 2004 two years after the fire they had died (Ffolliott, 2008). The wildfire also impacted the standardization structure, post-fire mortality of trees, and stocking of tree reproduction on the Steamer Ridge Watershed (Ffolliott, 2008). After the fire had finally been contained the density of the forest had been forever changed.

The reduction of vegetative cover during and after fire can have a severe negative impact on several different factors including: water quality, soil erosion, wildlife and threatened or endangered species, introduction or spread of invasive and exotic species, and economic or social impacts to the surrounding communities. We will implement a vegetation monitoring protocol that will help guide us in restoration and recovery efforts of the High Park fire scar and the surrounding areas and watershed. A collaboration with the US Forest Service will be aggressively pursued in the hopes that a combined use of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program and our separate vegetation monitoring protocol can be utilized. We will use the burn severity field data collection points and cross-reference them with the FIA data points to see if there is any overlap between them. If there is then the FIA data points will be given preference as those points can possibly provide more information than solely High Park Fire data collection points. If there is not the ability to utilize the FIA data collection points, due to privacy, cost, or unforeseen reasons, then the High Park Fire data collection points will be

In North America, the boreal forest is known to be one of the largest carbon storage systems. A boreal forest is a biome that is made up of trees such as pines, spruces and another conifer species, the Black Spruce being one of the most essential species of the boreal forest. Fires may be a significant element to the ecosystem in terms of maintaining an ideal community by selecting for species and their traits that, in return, shape the environment, however forest fires are causing the Black Spruce species to deteriorate in population size due to the effects of the fires, caused by a rise in temperature. Clearly, temperature is the leading factor causing constant wildland fires across North America. This concludes the degree of heat intensity in the environment is

The biomass and density of trees surrounding each plot were also recorded. A static chamber method was used to measure the fluxes of the three GHG. The method was carried out using a closed cylindrical chamber equipped with a small fan, and gas concentrations were measured with an infrared, non-dispersive scope. There were other more detailed, accurate methods used as well to be more accurate with exact numbers for the concentrations of each gas. The concentrations of each gas were compared between each location and results are as follows: As the thickness of the active layer increased, all three greenhouse gas emissions increased. Carbon dioxide fluxes increased with time since the last fire, with the 1969 fire area having the highest CO2 emissions, and the 2012 fire area having the lowest CO2 emissions. Methane fluxes had a significant increase in the 1990 fire area, and a lower influx in all other fire areas. Nitrous oxide had a high influx in every fire area except for the 1990 area, where the fluxes were significantly lower. Addressed in the discussion, the authors write about how their results indicate that areas affected by fire will take approximately 50 years to fully recover to their pre-fire conditions. As well, areas with a recent fire had much lower soil moisture than areas with a long time since last

The hardwoods will stay in the shrub state unless the fire frequency decreases then the hardwoods will grow rapidly causing the longleaf pines to fight for nutrients more (Guerin, 1993). As well as helping the longleaf pines receive more nutrients, if you take away the hardwoods from the equation for wildfires, then the length of the time that the fire will be in the forest will diminish greatly. Fires do not affect the adult trees as much as the younger trees because they are more susceptible to the fires from being lower to the grounds or smaller (Boyer, 1993). Since most of the trees in the two forests that were measured on the UNCW campus were mature longleaf pines, the prescribed fires did not affect the trees as must as it would if the trees were

While not all the effects of prescribed burns are known some are very evident. The first of these common effects is that vegetation and fallen dead material are burned creating an open forest floor. This eliminates any fuel that could contribute to a high intensity fire in the future. When the fire burns the organic material in the forest, nutrient rich ash is left behind. When the first rain comes, the nutrients in the ash dissolve into the soil for the new plants to use. This process is called nutrient recycling. These nutrients left in the soil are a good source of food for the young plants that will begin to grow back. Another outcome of prescribed fire is that new growth begins immediately after the fires have been extinguished. Within

Our sample data supports our alternative hypothesis that English Ivy does have an effect on the growth of moss on trees. Our p-value shows that our data is statistically significant demonstrating that moss growth may be inhibited by the presence of ivy. Assuming our null hypothesis, that ivy has no effect on moss growth, our p-value states the probability of getting a sample as extreme or more extreme than our sample with a t-test of -2.33 is 2.18%. With this p-value, we can reject our null hypothesis.

Humans have been changing the Western forests' fire system since the settlement by the Europeans and now we are experiencing the consequences of those changes. During the summer of 2002, 6.9 million acres of forests was burnt up in the West (Wildland Fires, 1). This figure is two times the ten year annual average, and it does not look like next summer will be any better (Wildfire Season, 1).

Forests have covered the earth for millions of years, providing habitat and food for animals and humans. These forests have stabilized different ecosystems and have continued the natural cycle that keeps plants and animals in check. The discovery of fire changed all of this. It was the beginning of deforestation, a process that has continued and increased over the last 200,000 years. Humans are the responsible party for the deforestation that has occurred. Humans discovered that animals could be driven with fire. This led to accelerated forest loss due to uncontrolled burning for hunting use (Miller & Tangley 1991: 28). Agriculture was the next problem