National Park Service Fire Ecology Annual Report 2006 Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks and Devils Postpile National Monument

Caprio, Anthony; Webster, Karen

During 2006 35 FMH plot visits were made within nine monitoring units in Sequoia and Kings Canyon N.P. (SEKI) and Devils Postpile N.M. (DEPO). These included four new plot installations and reads of three preburn and three postburn plots. Significant progress was made in error checking legacy FMH data errors for all data converted to FEAT 2.4 (Fire Ecology Assessment Tool) in 2005. Additional fieldwork continued on several projects that have or will provide supplemental information to the fire management program at both the local and national levels. The most involved of these was CBI (composite burn index) field sampling for the National Landscape Assessment Project (burn severity mapping). Fire ecology staff also participated in seven prescribed burns, suppression or wildland fire use (WFU) fires as fire- fighter, fire effects monitor (FEMO), or resource advisor positions. A review of the overall fire ecology program in SEKI was organized and implemented in February. This review, Where Fire Ecology and Management Meet, was the fourth since the Christenson Report program review in 1987 and the first since 2000. The purpose of the reviews are to provide an opportunity to examine and evaluate the current status and future direction of the Parks’ fire ecology program and “desired future conditions” with special emphasis on the use of and need for natural resource and scientific data. A ten- year postfire report on the long- term effects 1992 Rainbow Fire in Devils Postpile was completed based on fire effects plots established immediately postfire. Two papers were also presented at the Association for Fire Ecology International Fire Congress in San Diego. One incorporated data from the DEPO fire effects sampling combined with more recent tree regeneration and fire history sampling to evaluate impacts of the 1992 Rainbow Fire and make recommendation on possible future fire management options for the area. The second paper detailed findings from fire history sampling of lodgepole pine in the southern Sierra Nevada that provides an update and significant improvement in our understanding of the past fire regime in this vegetation type. Additionally, the Fire Ecologist collaborated with and was actively involved in a number of fire related research projects underway in the parks by USGS, USFS, NASA, or university researchers (several funded through JFSP). Inputs (data and meetings) were also provided to the national LANDFIRE modeling effort with fire/vegetation models developed for high elevation vegetation types of the Sierra Nevada. Considerable efforts in public outreach were also made through venues such as publications, the Fire Information Cache website, field trips, and lectures to university classes or other groups. These reach a large audience and provide important support for fire management and fire related natural resources activities. Funding issues continued to impact some positions in the SEKI Fire Ecology Program, although temporary solutions were found with the assistance of the Fire Management Office.

National Park Service Fire Ecology Annual Report 2006 Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks and Devils Postpile National Monument

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