Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area FFI Fire Effects Monitoring Data

Witter, Marti

Fire effects monitoring data collected in the Santa Monica Mountains. The data were collected in the spring and summer from 1990 - 2015 by the Point Reyes fire effects monitoring crew. Beginning in 2002 Santa Monica Mountains vegetation staff under the direction of the MEDN Coast Network fire ecologist collected data in the spring and summer following prescribed burns and wildfires. Data were collected using a variety of protocols. Data from FMH plots established in the 1990's were collected using the protocols described in the Fire Management Handbook (FHM). They included shrub and grass 30 meter point intercept data to obtain relative and percent cover and 30 m brush belt transects to measure seedling and shrub density. Photographs are taken from each end of the transect to document change. Data collected from 50 x 20 m forest plots include tree inventory to obtain density and basal area, fuel load using Brown's method for inventorying surface fuels and biomass, seedling density, as well as all shrub transect methods for 50 m transects. Prescribed burn and wildfire plot data collected after 2001 use more specialized protocols. Changes in cover and biomass in annual grassland plots were measured one year after a 2005 prescribed burn with unburned control plots. Valley oak sapling growth data following a 2002 prescribed burn and the 2005 Topanga wildfire annually measures plant architecture, dbh and height. Annual monitoring of shrubland vegetation after the 2005 Topanga Fire (1st year only data) and 2007 Corral Fire uses a modified version of Keeley's nested macroplots (ex: Keeley and Fotheringham 2003) to measure shrub mortality and seedling recruitment, burn severity, % cover, shrub density and species richness. For additional details, consult the NPS Fire Monitoring Handbook or the metadata within the database associated with the protocol or project of interest.

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area FFI Fire Effects Monitoring Data

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