Research Accomplishment Reports 2011

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.

2011 Project Description

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 throughout the eastern deciduous forest. 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 sixteen 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 were implemented as part of this study in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2011. Long term datasets describe impacts of burning on fuel reduction, growth and damage to residual trees, and oak seedling regeneration. These components of the research are of interest and importance to forest managers as they plan ongoing and future burning programs across large acreages of public land.

In some cases, evidence we have gathered to date does not strongly suggest that prescribed fire can accomplish management objectives, perhaps because fire is an imprecise management tool whose effects unfold over long time periods. The results of this research have been widely disseminated in both peer-reviewed journal articles and to managers.

Key outreach activities for dissemination of the results were communicated through the Central Appalachian Fire Learning Network, to the US Forest Service Daniel Boone National Forest Management Team, and through the Kentucky Prescribed Fire Council. We also co-hosted the Cumberland Plateau Prescribed Fire Workshop, August 11-13, 2008, a regional meeting of fire researchers and managers, with the Daniel Boone National Forest. A website hosted by the Daniel Boone National Forest (http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/boone/fire/fsa/ ) provides access to all research and outreach products. An MS and a PhD student completed their degrees on this project.

2011 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 have collaborated 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 is made available to land managers who are actively implementing prescribed fires across the landscape through periodic meetings and dissemination of research results. Results of this research are being used in forestry extension activities, including bi-annual training sessions for the US Forest Service Program of Advanced Silvicultural Studies (PASS), Mountain Module.

In addition, presentations on the role of prescribed fire in the Central Hardwood Forest region are frequently contributed to fire trainings. Dissemination of research results to forest managers are contributing to the development of realistic goals for short and long term forest burning to achieve specific management goals.