Northern Great Plains Fire Ecology, Annual Report: 2006

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). 2006 can be noted as the year that the fire ecology program data finally made the transition to Access. The data is now easy to view, query, summarize, and has been used to create several reports and posters presented to national groups. In the field, the fire effects crew visited 101 plots in 9 parks. The Northern Great Plains (NGP) fire ecology plot network now has 287 permanent plots across 10 parks. We continued to work with the NGP Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Network installing and remeasuring plots including several 2005 plots which were remeasured in 2006 to assess annual variability. Three prescribed fires were conducted in the area in 2006; one at Fort Union in April, several small blocks at Badlands were burned as part of a research project, and one at Wind Cave in November. Six fire effects monitoring plots were burned in these fires. Cody and Andy traveled to San Diego for the 3rd International Fire Ecology & Management Congress. Andy gave an oral presentation titled ‘Using upland sedges for predicting success of prescribed fire treatments in reducing non-native cool-season grasses’ and Cody presented a poster titled ‘Ten years of monitoring fire effects in national parks of the northern Great Plains.’ Cody also presented two posters at the NPS Fire Management Workshop in Phoenix. One was the poster presented at San Diego and the second was titled ‘Combining mechanical fuel reduction and prescribed fire at Devils Tower National Monument and Mount Rushmore National Memorial.’

Northern Great Plains Fire Ecology, Annual Report: 2006

Collections