Post Fire Segmentation

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 Appalachians span over a distance of 1,600 miles, ranging across 14 states, from Newfoundland in the North, to Alabama in the South. The Appalachians are the oldest chain of mountains on the North American continent. With forest, comes forest fires, some natural and some prescribed by humans. In order to reduce the calamitous damage caused by natural wildfires, the technique of prescribed fires is used. This is done by diminishing the amounts of trees, shrubs, and brush in the intended area. By doing this, new native plant growth is encouraged and it helps maintain some plant and animal species that depend on the periodic fires. With this man made force comes numerous effects on vegetation, wildlife, and the human impact.

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).

The Rim Fire of 2013 ravaged the slopes of the Stanislaus National Forest leaving many areas severely burned and unable to recover. Restoration efforts have been made and 56,000 saplings were planted in 2016 in the most severely burned areas; but the forest still has a long way to recovery. Fires are a naturally occurring hazard in the Stanislaus National Forest, and have contributed to the replenishment, control, and sustainability of the forest; but fires of the Rim Fire's intensity are very rare. The Rim Fire destroyed over 277,314 acres of habitat, harmed many mature trees, and ruined the layers of topsoil, and increased erosion and runoff. The devastation of the Rim Fire would not be have been so intense if it weren’t for past fire

Today due to controlling forest fires in the past overgrown shrubs now affect trees. Prescribed burnings are conducted to replenish nutrients into the soil while protecting the trees themselves. Prescribed burning is less hot and less intense so that it can be controlled.

The fire began as the result of an out-of-control campfire, and because of high wind and drought conditions which resulted in low fuel-moisture spread relatively quickly for an upland fire in the southeastern United States, although not to the scale of western wildfires. Even though the 2000 Linville Gorge fire was mainly a surface fire, the fire burned 4,000 hectares of wilderness area, and forced local management agencies to start paying more attention to upland ecosystems that were not previously thought to be fire-dependent. Considering the magnitude of the fire, it was fortunate that no human lives or homes were lost in the inferno. Vegetative studies show that Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia), an evergreen shrub, reproduced much faster than other understory species (Dumas, Neufeld, & Fisk, 2007). This is attributed to its ability to resprout following a fire. The Linville Gorge Fire has been significant in shaping Southeastern fire mitigation in that it gave foresters an opportunity to study oak-pine forests that had not seen fire for over 50

The rising number of high severity wildfires in California has significant ecological, economic, and health impacts. Many western American forests are adapted to frequent low severity fires. However, the majority of these forests, and particularly the mixed conifer forests of California, are not adapted to high intensity fires and do not possess fire resistance adaptations such as serotinous cones to protect seeds. Consequently, high severity fires have significant negative impacts on California forests, and the absence of low severity fires has considerably altered many fundamental ecosystem processes (Miller et al. 2008). Prior to 1900, low severity fires would burn every 6-15 years. Low severity fires are generally non-lethal, have minimal change to the overstory, and kill mainly small trees. In the past, these fires were started naturally by lightning, or by Native Americans who used low severity fires to manage the forests.

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

When both changes of climate and fire regimes were simultaneously accounted for, on average, the climate scenario RCP2.6 resulted in the highest values for NPV, size diversity and total carbon stock under all management intensities, and the highest species diversity under most intensities. In year 2100, in general, the 20-year cutting cycle led to higher total carbon stock and size diversity but lower NPV and species diversity. Low-intensity management caused the highest total carbon stock (10 years: 823 – 854 ton ha-1; 20 years: 864 – 888 ton ha-1) and size diversity (10 years: 1.93 – 2.11; 20 years: 1.95 – 2.10) but the lowest NPV (10 years: 9,318 – 9,955 $ ha-1; 20 years: 3,426 – 4,056 $ ha-1) and species diversity (10 years: 1.28 – 1.31; 20 years: 1.18 – 1.22). Lower total carbon stock (10 years: 778 – 814 ton ha-1; 20 years: 800 – 828 ton ha-1) were expected with medium intensity but satisfactory species diversity (10 years: 1.50 – 1.53; 20 years: 1.36 – 1.39), size diversity (10 years: 1.47 – 1.59; 20 years: 1.91 – 2.02), and NPV (10 years: 18,721 – 19,812 $ ha-1; 20 years: 7,749 – 9,596 $ ha-1). High intensity resulted in the lowest total carbon stock (10 years: 740 – 775 ton ha-1; 20 years: 768 – 794 ton ha-1) and size diversity (10 years: 0.89 – 1.02; 20 years: 1.27 – 1.40), but the highest NPV (10 years: 26,749 – 27,440 $ ha-1; 20 years: 13,302 – 13,757 $ ha-1) and species diversity (10 years: 1.58 – 1.61; 20 years: 1.53 – 1.56) (Tables 2-4).

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

Invasive species are known to affect fire regimes in dramatic ways. One example of this is Bromus tectorum, also known as downy brome, Mormon oats, and bronco grass, but called cheatgrass by most people (See Figure 1; Devine, 1993). Cheatgrass is an annual grass that germinates in the winter and is able to rapidly adapt to a specific ecosystem (Chambers et al., 2014). Bromus tectorum creates a feedback loop with fire (Taylor, Brummer, Rew, Lavin, & Maxwell, 2014). It acts as a continuous fine fuel in the sagebrush-steppe, which helps fires to spread (Reisner, Grace, Pyke, & Doescher, 2013; Davies et al., 2011; Devine, 1993). After a fire, re-establishment of native vegetation is nearly impossible as a monoculture of cheatgrass

A recent report states there has been a 40% increase in the number of bushfires in Victoria since 2007. As a new resident to Victoria, this is of concern, and you can never be lax when it comes to looking for ways you can protect your home from bushfire danger. One aspect of your home the previous owner may not have given much thought to is how flammable the trees in the back garden are. It is not only the location of the trees that stop bushfire embers getting too close to your home, but also the type of tree you have out there. So, what do you need to know about making changes to the trees you have out back?

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).

The origin of fire is approximated to be the Paleozoic era (540 mya), especially with the origin of the Silurian land plants. This is because before the photosynthetic organisms the atmosphere lacked enough oxygen and fuels to ignite fire (Glasspool, 2004). This particular period provide some lessons for the current fires in some regions, such as some of the fire regimes evident today occurred during this period like surface fires in many Northern Hemisphere coniferous forests (Cressler, 2001), high frequency and light surface fires evident by charcoal fragments and tree ring patterns (Francis, 1984) similar to today’s fire patterns in some Northwest American pine forests (Allen et al. 2002).The succeeding fire history was marked by high

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