Lidar Project

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

Trp. Burrell was participating in a Lidar project on I-85 north near Popular Creek Road in Vance County. Trp. Burrell was notified of a black SUV traveling north at a high rate of speed. Trp. Burrell activated his blue lights and siren and attempted to make an enforcement stop, but was impeded by a silver Mitsubishi SUV in the passing lane. Trp. Burrell followed behind this vehicle a short distance with his blue lights and siren activated, and the vehicle yielded to the left toward the median. Trp. Burrell proceeded north on I-85 and stopped the black SUV that originally was the target of the Lidar project. This complaint is unfounded based on Trp. Burrell was not traveling at a high rate, and the vehicle in front of him yielded to the

As local climatic conditions play a significant role in bushfire behaviour, it is important to understand fire weather and its influence on bushfire risk levels to a site on a daily, weekly or seasonal basis.

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

An increase in elevation sees an abrupt change in vegetation structure and composition, occupied by low growing sub-alpine woodland dominated by snow gums and treeless valleys (Figure 1). Barker (1998) found that post-fire, the woodland consisted of regrowth from lignotubers. However, if fire intensity is too severe, these lignotubers will be destroyed, severely impacting on the regeneration process and vegetation structure (Barker 1998). Such conditions will burn vegetative cover, removing or damaging the vegetation enough that the above ground parts die shortly after the fire event. In seasonal, low intensity fires, woodlands burn slowly, where the above part of the tree survive and the bark at the base of the trunk is damaged due to the

Several software programs have been written and tested to simulate the future of these altered forests using a variety of fire regimes to map the trajectory of the Pacific Northwest forests based on what is

For most of the 20th century active fire exclusion was the rule in the American southwest. Previous to suppression policies, ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forests experienced a frequent, low- to mixed-severity fire regime (Agee 1996, Allen et al. 2002). As a result of a century of fire suppression, successional trajectories have been significantly altered, in that ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer forests have become increasingly dense with late successional, non-fire-adapted trees and excess accumulations of surface fuels (Parsons and Debenedetti 1979, Higgens et al., 2015).

Large open fires threaten lives and properties worldwide. In the United States, only in 2016, over one million fires were reported which has caused 3390 civilian death and 10.6 million dollars property loss [1]. In open fires, three mechanisms have been renown for spreading of fire: (1) direct flame contact, (2) radiant and convective heat flux, and (3) firebrands. A 2008 study found that the direct flame and radiant/convective heat flux mechanism is relatively weak and ultimately incapable of initiating another fire when the distance is more than 100 feet [2]. Therefore, the first two mechanisms are conceivably less dangerous with distance. On the other hand, firebrands are capable of initiating spot fires miles away from the fire line. These flying hot particles can be either burning combustible materials (woods) or high temperature non-combustible materials (metals) depending on their origin at which they have been lofted. Given both the firebrands’ ignition capabilities at great distances as well as the diversity of the firebrands’ origins [3], the natural problem culminates around the firebrands’ potential for catastrophic destruction. The lethality of a firebrand depends on various parameters such as mass, projected area and lying distance. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct experiments and measure the above mentioned parameters. This papers addresses the measurement of the projected area (the measurand) and the uncertainty in this measurement.

The LiDAR results were compared with known depressions and topographical features identified during the Area 9 Lot Grading Assessment. This comparison was completed to qualitatively validate the accurate identification of topographical features through the LiDAR analysis. Figure 3 6 to 3 8 below illustrates the comparisons of field data and LiDAR analysis output.

The purpose of our experiment was to test the intermediate disturbance hypothesis by observing plant diversity patterns along a trail. According to the theory, we should observe minimal plant diversity right next to the trail and not much far from the trail. However, there should be a greater amount of diversity some intermediate distance from the trail. We went to the James K. McPherson preserve to observe the types of plants and number of them along the trail. Our sampling method was to observe a patch of vegetation measuring 10cm by 50cm, looking for different plant species and number of individuals. We excluded all trees and shrubs and only measured tree and shrub seedlings and other understory species. Our results showed that further away from the trail, there were more diverse plants and more of them. Our experiment supports the idea that intermediate levels of disturbance promote diversity.

We used a database of 26,838 wildfire reports obtained from the Rural Affairs Department of the Regional Government (Xunta de Galicia), and the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA) from the period January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2011. Forest fire reports list general information including location, date, and causes and motivations. Only fires affecting wildland vegetation are included in this database. We evaluated the coordinates of fire ignition points by checking the agreement between those coordinates and the parish and municipality given in fire reports, using topographic maps (National Topographic Map Series, IGN, scale 1:25,000) and the burned areas as visually identified in Landsat 5 TM images taken in different

In 1988, a series of fires burned much of Yellowstone National Park (Klotzbach, Thayn 2014). Satellite images were used to measure light reflection, which were used to represent the growth and health of the trees after the fires (Klotzbach, Thayn, 2014). Lodgepole Pine, (Pinus contorta), was one of the species focused on since it is found in about 80% of the park (Turner et all, 1999). Satellite images were taken in late summer to early fall, on cloudless days (Klotzbach, Thayn, 2014). In areas that were only lightly burned, percentage coverage of Lodgepole pine returned to normal, before the fires, in 1991 (Turner et all, 1999). The seed density after the fires varied based on fire severity, areas with severe surface burns had little seed distribution at first, but increased substantially in 1990 (Turner et all, 1999). Areas that had

Sites were constructed at Robertson fields (41°39'32.1"N 80°08'56.0"W) at Allegheny College and the Ernst Trail (41°36'55.5"N 80°09'53.0"W) in the town of Meadville, Bousson Environmental Research Reserve (41°35'48.9"N 80°02'35.9"W) in the town of Guys Mills, and the Erie National Wildlife Refuge (41°37'31.1"N 79°57'38.3"W) in Randolph Township. Each location was sampled twice throughout the study period. The Ernst trail and Boussoun Environmental Research Reserve sites were both located using a road as the edge. The Roberston fields and Erie National Wildlife sites were both located off fields of varying cover and use. At each location, there were two sites of were transects were set up. Transects would contain two 50 x 5 meter sections, the first running parallel to the forest edge and the second located 50 meters into the forest from the far edge of the first (figure). The inner transect was located at a minimum distance of 70m from another edge. In each transect, two 1x1 meter squares were placed. In this square forest type, percent canopy cover, soil temperature and soil moisture. Percent canopy cover is calculated by laying a 12.7 x 12.7 centimeter grid on the ground and counting the number of shaded squares, then multiplying that number by four to determine a percentage. Soil moisture was calculated by taking a sample of leafs and placing them in a paper bag and weighing them. Then the

Successional patterns of forests including the complexity, duration and process, vary widely from one forest type

Tropical fires can change interannual and long-term trends in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. These changes can have large effects on Net Primary Production, seasonal cycle of net biome production, and on carbon fluxes in biomes of intermediate moisture. The paper found out that about six percent of the annual Net Primary Production in the region between thirty-eight degrees North latitude and thirty-eight degrees South latitude was burned by fires. These changes can help magnify natural, smaller fires into large extreme fire events. One such example of this is the large 1997-1998 Brazil and Indonesia fires that showed that closed canopy forests can be consumed by fire when extreme climatic conditions exist and even more so when worsened by human activities.