Fire Ecology Annual Report: Calendar Year 2011; Big Cypress National Preserve

Author unknown

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 Fuels/Fire effects crew at Big Cypress National Preserve had a busy year. In CY 2011 we completed 9 prescribed fire projects for a total 19,000 acres. When not burning or doing burn prep a vast amount of time was spent writing 5 new burn plans that encompass 95% of the burnable vegetation on the Preserve. 50 pre and post burn plots were visited. The lack of staff has forced the employees in the Fuels/Fire effects crew to come up with innovative and time saving solutions that allowed us to do all the work needed without sacrificing quality. Here is a brief list of some of those accomplishments. - In 2011 three employees in the Fuels/Fire effects crew have participated in Technical Fire Management. One person completed TFM, One person in finishing TFM, and one person has just started TFM. Final projects from these endeavors have rewarded BICY with creative, time saving, ecologically friendly, and cost efficient ways of implementing prescribed fire and preparing for wildfire. - Updated comprehensive database for an easy way to compare data collected at many different photopoints. - Created 33 additional plots. Each pine plot covers 30,000sq/ft. Every pine tree in the plot is measured for CBH, DBH, scorch height, crown scorch, and total height. We discovered that we average 14% pine mortality per fire event. - Collected 360° panoramic photos, in addition to typical N, S, E, and W views, and we are in the process of linking them to GIS so when the photopoint is clicked a 360° view is available for the user. - A new TFM project is almost complete that evaluates pine stand characteristics and NFDRS indices/components against pine mortality. The results show that we can accurately predict conditions and stand characteristics that lead to high mortality. We also maintain 4 weather stations that we perform all annual maintenance on. We have several sites around the preserve that we collect weekly fuel moistures from. We maintained all the fire reports and updated and error checked the WFMI, and WIMS for all the data since 1978. We have started using the hydrology levels at 9 stations on the preserve and we have created a database for those hydrology levels that allow us to track seasonal severity.