Big Thicket National Preserve, Fire Ecology Annual Report: Calendar Year 2013
Author unknown. Big Thicket National Preserve, Fire Ecology Annual Report: Calendar Year 2013
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). Big Thicket National Preserve Fire Ecology Program saw many changes this year. In the beginning of the year within a month of each other, the fire ecologist took a new position, and a new lead fire effects monitor was hired. Do to the time constraints the fire ecologist and lead FEMO only had about a month of time to collaborate the views each had on the future direction for the program. It was decided by both that because of the coming budget issues the most important aspect of the season was to get the fire effect crew familiarized with the current plot reading practices and locations. This season we hired three seasonals with FEMO backgrounds in order to help with the field work that needed to be completed. The week of their arrival the Lead FEMO was informed that the only returning seasonal took another position leaving just three employees for the crew. Although the crew was not complete we still finished all the predetermined work including: All 235 BITH FEMO plots, installed eighteen rapid assessment plots, and monitored both longleaf seedling survivorship in previously planted restoration areas and survivorship of Texas Trailing Phlox plots. The monitoring crew also participated in four prescribed burns in our Big Sandy Unit, Turkey Creek, and Hickory Creek Units, totaling in 1921 acres. Post burn assessments were taken at the Hickory Creek Unit and monitoring reports for submitted to the Fire Management Officer upon completion of all Rx burns. Crew members also participated in wildfire assignments in different capacities in Arizona, California and Texas Gulf Coast.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Author unknown
- Units
- BITH , FIEC
- Keywords
- FFI, Fire Effects, Fuels, Monitoring
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Landscapes | Fire and Fuel Dynamics | Fire and Fuel Dynamics