Fire Ecology Annual Report: Calendar Year 2012; 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 2012 we completed 20 prescribed fire projects and 23 Wildfires for a total 53,000 acres treated. When not burning or doing burn prep a vast amount of time was spent writing 2 new burn plans, 1 mechanical fuels treatment plan. 100% of the Preserve now falls under a burn plan. 106 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 2012 two employees in the Fuels/Fire effects crew have participated in Technical Fire Management. One person completed TFM, One person is finishing 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. - Evaluated an additional 49 plots evaluating stems per acre of wax myrtle following or preceding a 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 statistically tests the hypothesis (alpha = .05) using a linear regression model that the average stems-per-acre and average stem height per plot has a statistically significant relationship to elevation, FRI, fire weather conditions, hydrology, and NFDRS indices. 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. 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. All the firefighters at Big Cypress National Preserve are suppression firefighters and prescribed firefighters regardless of their official title. We depend on each other for many things from monitoring to welding to digging handline.