Fire Ecology Annual Report: Calendar Year 2008 [Chihuahuan Desert]

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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 Chihuahuan Desert Fire Ecology Group has experienced an expansion in its workload over the past two years. For the first time plots were installed on cultural sites at Gila Cliff Dwellings NM as the park prepared for fire use fires moving onto the park from the surrounding Gila Wilderness. Plots were also installed for the first time at White Sands National Monument to assess the fire effects on shrub cover and density and grass cover as the park seeks to restore and maintain its remaining desert grasslands. Prescribed fire activity also occurred for the first time in a decade at Carlsbad Caverns NP and five years at Guadalupe Mountains NP involving the installation of new plots and the rereading of existing ones. Prescribed fire activity continued at Big Bend NP along the Rio Grande River in concert with Resource Management facilitating the eradication of exotic plants and restoring river bank fluvial dynamics. These efforts also assisted the Customs and Border Protection by removing screening cover used by undocumented aliens crossing the border into the United States. In 2008, the Gyro-Trac mulcher was used for the first time at Big Bend to remove fuels from an historic cottonfield at Sublett Farm Historic distric. Additionally we incorporate legacy plots established in the '60s, the late '70s and the early '80s into our fire ecology plots network resulting in a master's degree for one of our former seasonal allowing us to validate trends in fuels accumulation seen in our JFS research. Additionally we initiated research following up on recently completed JFS research to evaluate fuel management alternatives to manage ultimately for natural fire regimes at Big Bend National Park's forest and woodlands. We also partnered with The Nature Conservancy to extend the research to include Guadalupe Mountains NP and the Davis Mountain Preserve. Following is a list of publications as a result of our two recently completed Joint Fire Sciences research projects at BIBE and GUMO. One of the projects includes work done in collaboration with the Nature Conservancy and our sister park in Mexico the Maderas Del Carman Protected Area.

Fire Ecology Annual Report: Calendar Year 2008 [Chihuahuan Desert]

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