Monitoring Report Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park

Forder, Missy

The area consists of seven fields for a total of 130 acres. Originally, 50 acres was to be burned, but due to increased winds, and the lateness of the day, only 14 acres were burned on March 13, 2007. The remaining acres were to be burned during the next available window. These fields are usually bush-hogged by park maintenance one to two times a year. The purposes of the burn are to reduce brushy fuels to open up the historic scene, open up and maintain vistas, and promote the growth of native tall grasses, so that park maintenance will no longer need to use time, equipment, and fuel to maintain these open fields, and so that park visitors can get a feeling for the battlefield as it was during the Civil War. The area to be burned is located in the Spotsylvania Courthouse Unit of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. The unit is partially surrounded by blacktop road and is fuel model 1 and 3. The area consists of warm season native grasses, cool season exotic grasses, and shrub/scrub to a height of 2-6 feet. Due to a mis-communication with maintenance a portion of the Harrison House field was bush-hogged in November. As a result there was no growing season between the cutting and the prescribed fire and resulting fire behavior was less intense. At the time of this burn, the hazel alders (Alnus serrulata) were blooming in the drainage area of the Harrison Hose field, the mixed hardwood forest surrounding the unit was at 5-10% of green-up, and about 25% of the shortest grasses were green, and the Cricket frogs (Acris crepitans) could be heard in some of the wet areas.