Fire Ecology Annual Report: Calendar Year 2008; Report for Indiana Dunes, Lincoln Boyhood, and Sleeping Bear Dunes

Fisher-Dunham, Mary; Weyenberg, Scott

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). This was the eleventh year of the fire effects program at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (INDU). This year’s staff included one permanent and three seasonal positions. As well as monitoring the plots at INDU, the crew is also responsible for the monitoring at Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial (LIBO) and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (SLBE). Fire personnel from INDU met with SLBE resource staff to select burn units. The fire ecologist met with resource advisors and viewed the selected burn units and also indentified several other potential units in pine/oak forest. They hope to conduct a burn in the fall of 2009. An area around the Platte River campground will likely be the unit selected for burning this fall. Four spring burns were conducted at INDU, however due to wet conditions no burns were conducted in the fall. The fire ecologist visited INDU for a week in November to gather information on burn units so implementation plans could be written. No burns were conducted at LIBO or SLBE for 2008.