Alaska Region Fire Ecology Annual Report: Calendar Year 2008
Barnes J. 2008. Alaska Region Fire Ecology Annual Report: Calendar Year 2008
A summary of fire ecology activities and program information for the Park/network including fire effects plot workload, staffing, management objectives and monitoring results, and planning, fire monitoring, communications, and research. Also included are staff accomplishments/areas of focus, future program direction and other optional information (e.g. data analysis graphics or presentations, annual highlights, publications, program challenges, unique solutions to problems, collaboration, photographs of monitoring/fire activities, and suggestions on FFI). The purpose of the Alaska Region Fire Ecology program is to obtain baseline data on the natural variability of fire on the landscape, to monitor the effects of fire or mechanical treatments on vegetation, fuels and soil parameters, and to provide fire ecology information to fire managers, other park staff, and the public. During 2008 the NPS Alaska Fire Ecology program re-measured 7 permanent wildland fire use plots in Yukon-Charley Rivers NP, coordinated a JFSP research project to determine tundra fire regimes in Bering Land Bridge and Noatak National Preserves using lake cores, conducted validation of a NASA/NPS invasive plant spread model, and participated in several interagency projects and meetings. The science education program with the Community of Eagle School continued this year at the King Cr sites near Yukon-Charley Rivers NP. In addition a peer-reviewed manuscript titled “Assessing the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio’s ability to map burn severity in the boreal forest and tundra ecosystems of Alaska’s national parks” was published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire.