Third Year Assessment Of Prescribed Burning On Forest Productivity Of Some Coastal British Columbia Sites

This review focused on the primary literature that described, modeled, or predicted the probability of postfire mortality in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii). The methods and measurements that were used to predict postfire tree death tended to fall into two general categories: those focusing on measuring important aspects of fire behavior, the indirect but ultimate cause of mortality; and those focusing on tissue damage due to fire, the direct effect of fire on plant organs. Of the methods reviewed in this paper, crown scorch volume was the most effective, easiest to use, and most popular measurement in predicting postfire mortality in both conifer species. In addition to this direct measure of foliage damage, several studies showed the importance and utility of adding a measurement of stem (bole) damage. There is no clear method of choice for this, but direct assessment of cambium condition near the tree base is widely used in Douglas-fir. Only two ponderosa pine studies directly measured fine root biomass changes due to fire, but they did not use these measurements to predict postfire mortality. Indirect measures of fire behavior such as ground char classes may be the most practical choice for measuring root damage. This review did not find clear postfire survivability differences between the two species. The literature also does not show a consistent use of terminology; we propose a standard set of terms and their definitions.

Prescribed burning is widely used as a forest management tool. This paper quantifies the impacts of fires of different severity on woody debris and soil organic horizons. Three low-severity spring burns, two high-severity fall burns and two unburned controls were established on three sites near Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Most of the low-severity spring burn area was accidentally reburned during an adjacent high-severity fall burn, resulting in a very high-severity burn.

Some no. include reports compiled from information furnished by State Foresters (and others).