Central and Southern California Fire Effects Monitoring Program 2001 Annual Report

The Central and Southern California Fire Effects Monitoring Program covers six parks: Channel Islands National Park, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Joshua Tree National Park, Pinnacles National Monument, Point Reyes National Seashore, and Santa Monica National Recreation Area. As of last year, responsibilities for the fire effects program at Lake Mead National Recreation Area were transferred to the Utah/Great Basin Fire Effects Monitoring Program due to the Utah/Great Basin program’s proximity to Lake Mead and its familiarity with the Ponderosa Pine and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland plant communities. The Central and Southern California Fire Effects Monitoring Program, currently base out of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, experienced a change in positions in the last year. In the spring 2001, the former Lead Monitor, resigned, and in June 2001, the new Lead Monitor was hired. In the interim, the Fire Ecologist for PORE, GOGA and PINN, supervised the Fire Effects Program. The 2001 field season proved to be rather atypical, as there were only 19 FMH plots due for re-measurement (5 forest plots on GOGA, 10 brush plots on PORE, and 3 brush/ 1 forest plot on SAMO). Six additional post-burn plots were measured on the McDonald Omnibus burn units in PORE. There were no plots to be read in CHIS, JOTR, or PINN. Thus, much of the Fire Effects Monitoring Crew’s time was spent on other fire-related projects.