Live fuel moisture sampling methods for Chiricahua National Monument

Rice, Carol

This paper discusses the development of a live fuel moisture monitoring program which would be included in the updated fire management plan for Chiricahua Naitonal Monument. The staff at Chiricahua National Monument is improving their fire management program. The fire management plan is currently being revised, and several prescribed burns have been conducted in the park in order to provide research and operational information necessary to guide the overall program. Further prescribed burns and manual treatment of fuels and overstory are planned in the future to enhance public safety through fire hazard reduction and to restore vegetation structure and composition. Refining the prescription (in planning prescribed burns) to achieve desired fire behavior and thus desired effects is an ongoing process. Wildfire potential is also being considered. A main factor in understanding and predicting fire behavior is the moisture content of the material to be burned. While the staff of Chiricahua has monitored litter in the past, a little work has been done with live fuels. Thus a process is required to monitor live fuel moistures in order to better gauge wildfire potential and describe conditions under which desirable fire behavior can be achieved. The purpose of this project is to develop a live fuel moisture monitoring program. The first objective is to establish a trend of live fuel moistures for selected, characteristic species. Within this objective are three goals, which are to determine the effects of: (1) varying aspect; (2) topographic position; and (3) species on the level and trends of live fuel moistures. An additional objective is to determine the effects of rain after extended dry periods on live fuel moistures, concentrating on the timing and magnitude of the rise in moisture content.