Research Accomplishment Reports 2010

Prescribed Fire in the Southern Appalachians: Stand Structure, Oak Seedlings, and Fuel

M.A. Arthur
Department of Forestry

 

Non-Technical Summary

Fire has been an important disturbance agent in our forests for thousands of years, and is thought to have been integral to the long-term development of upland oak forests in the Appalachian region and beyond Starting in the 1930s, fire suppression was initiated as a control measure to limit the negative impacts of fire on forest stands.

Although seemingly necessary at the time, recent evidence suggests some negative effects on forest stand structure and species composition resulting from this policy of fire suppression. This project builds on ten years of research examining the potential role of carefully prescribed fire in the management of stand structure, light availability and tree seedling success, and fuel reduction and accumulation. This project has an important technology transfer component that stems from close collaboration with National Forest and USDA Forest Service Experiment Station personnel.

2010 Project Description

Fire has been an important disturbance agent in central and Appalachian hardwood forests for thousands of years, and is thought to have been integral to the long-term development of upland oak forests in the Appalachian region.

Starting in the 1930s, fire suppression was initiated as a control measure to limit the negative impacts of fire on forest stands. Although seemingly necessary at the time, recent evidence suggests some negative effects on forest stand structure and species composition resulting from fire suppression.

This project builds on fifteen years of research examining the potential role of carefully prescribed fire in the management of stand structure, light availability and tree seedling success, and fuel reduction and accumulation. Prescribed fires have been implemented as part of thus study in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009 in the Daniel Boone National Forest.

The results of this research have been widely disseminated in peer-reviewed journal articles and directly to managers through the Central Appalachian Fire Learning Network, the US Forest Service Daniel Boone National Forest Management Team, the Kentucky Prescribed Fire Council, the National Advanced Silvilculture Program,the 4th International Fire Ecology and Management Congress, and other workshops.

2010 Impact

Experimentation to test the effectiveness of prescribed fire in achieving management objectives articulated by forest managers is very limited throughout the region, and yet necessary to the development of forest and fire management in the southern Appalachian region.

Researchers in the University of Kentucky Department of Forestry are collaborating with USDA Forest Service researchers and managers to examine the effects of annual and infrequent prescribed fires on forest stand structure, seedling response, and fuel consumption on a landscape scale on the Daniel Boone National Forest. This project includes an important outreach component and is contributing to the regional dialogue on hardwood forest management using prescribed fire. Data are made available to land managers who are actively implementing prescribed fires across the landscape through periodic meetings and dissemination of research results, as well as a website. Results have led to a greater understanding of the limitations and uses of prescribed fire to achieve specific forest management goals.

2010 Publications

Green, S.R., M.A. Arthur and B.A. Blankenship. 2010. Oak and red maple seedling survival and growth following periodic prescribed fire on xeric ridgetops on the Cumberland Plateau. Forest Ecology and Management 259: 2256-2266.

Royse, J., M.A. Arthur, A. Schorgendorfer, and D.L. Loftis. 2010. Establishment and growth of oak (Quercus alba, Quercus prinus) seedlings in burned and fire-excluded upland forests on the Cumberland Plateau. Forest Ecology and Management 260: 502-510.

Alexander, H.D. and M.A. Arthur. 2010. Implications of a predicted shift from upland oaks to red maple on forest hydrology and nutrient availability. Canadian Journal of Forest Research: 40: 716-726.