This work was the result of a project funded by the Rocky Mountain Research Station and Region 2 of the U.S.D.A. Forest Service. The Project Leader was Dale Bartos of the RMRS Logan's Restoration Ecology work unit. The Field Work Coordinator and Crew Leader was Shauna Rae Brown, an Ecologist with the Fishlake National Forest, Utah. Aspen monitoring in the Sanford Fire burn area was funded by the Dixie National Forest, as a part of their Monitoring Plan.

Six wildfire burn areas were sampled over five national forests in three states. The three burn areas in Colorado are the Rio Grande National Forest's Million Fire 2002, the San Juan National Forest's Missionary Ridge Fire 2002, and the Pike National Forest's Hayman Fire 2002. Two burn areas were sampled on the Black Hills National Forest in South Dakota: Battle Creek Fire 2002, and Jasper Fire 2000. The last burn area was the Dixie National Forest's Sanford Fire 2002 on the Powell Ranger District. In all, 76 sites were sampled and designated according to an estimated burn severity.

For each site sampled on the Million and Missionary Ridge burn areas, photosets of 4 photographs at plot 10 were taken. The sequence of photographs is north, east, south, and west. The photosets for the Hayman Fire contain 5 images, with the first or last being a title or site identification shot. Since burn intensities were difficult to estimate, each site sampled on the Black Hills and Dixie National Forests (Battle Creek and Jasper Fires [South Dakota], and Sanford Fire [Utah]), there are 3 photosets of 5 photographs each taken at plots 1, 10, and 20. The sequence of photographs is usually the title, north, east, south, and west, but there are a few exceptions in which the title shot follows the cardinal shots.

All photographs were taken with an Olympus Camedia D-560 Zoom, a digital camera, and are in jpeg (Joint Photographic Experts Group) or *.jpg format. File sizes range between 550KB to 780KB at 2048 x 1536 pixels in 24 bit True RGB color. Global Positioning System (GPS) locations were also collected at plots 1, 10, and 20 with a Garmin eTrex Vista, which were written as Latitude/Longitude in the field, and then were later downloaded and converted into shapefiles for use in ESRI's ArcView 3.x or ArcGIS 8.3. The use of these products is neither an endorsement, nor a condemnation for their use.

While in the Durango, Colorado area, we sampled the Million and Missionary Ridge Fires of 2002. Twelve sites, three each of no, low, moderate, and high burn, were sampled on the Rio Grande National Forest's Million Fire. We only had time to sample four sites, two of each burn type, on the San Juan National Forest's Missionary Ridge Fire. The Million Fire and Missionary Ridge Fire burn areas are abbreviated RG and SJ, respectively.

While stationed in the Woodland Park, Colorado area, we sampled the Pike National Forest's Hayman Fire of 2002. Sixteen sites, four each of no, low, moderate, and high burn, were sampled. The abbreviation for sites sampled here is "PH" for Pike-Hayman.

We sampled 21 sites on the Black Hills National Forest; 9 on the Battle Creek Burn Area, and 12 on the Jasper Burn Area. Jasper Fire burn area and Battle Creek Fire burn area are abbreviated JA and BC, respectively, with the sites indicated by the hyphenated two-digit number. The latitude/longitudes given are from plot 10. Burn severities/intensities noted were estimated based on the amount of black found in the under- and overstory.

We sampled 19 sites on the Dixie National Forest's Powell Ranger District, located near Panguitch, Utah. Sampling sites were named for the area (first two letters or if three letters refers to sites sampled in 2002), two-digit number (referring to chronological order), and burn severity observed (last letter in the abbreviation). The Lat/Longs given are from plot 10. Burn severities were estimated based on the amount of black found in the under- and overstory. The Executive Summary gives a brief summary of the report written following this monitoring.

If you have any questions, my contact information is:
shaunarae at cox dot net.   Please, NO unsolicited advertising.

 

The End

Left to Right: Helena, Tiffany, Shauna Rae, and Jill.
We're leaning against the Ford Expedition that we used for the summer. We worked hard, but had great fun in beautiful country.

 

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This page last updated 2 January 2012.
All photographs & artwork by Shauna Rae Brown