Long-term changes in masticated woody fuelbeds in northern California and southern Oregon, USA

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dc.contributor.authorReed, Warren P.en
dc.contributor.authorVarner, J. Morganen
dc.contributor.authorKnapp, Eric E.en
dc.contributor.authorKreye, Jesse K.en
dc.contributor.departmentForest Resources and Environmental Conservationen
dc.date.accessioned2021-03-16T12:13:39Zen
dc.date.available2021-03-16T12:13:39Zen
dc.date.issued2020-06-05en
dc.description.abstractMechanical mastication is a fuels treatment that shreds midstorey trees and shrubs into a compacted woody fuel layer to abate fire hazards in fire-prone ecosystems. Increased surface fuel loading from mastication may, however, lead to undesirable fire intensity, long-duration flaming or smouldering, and undesirable residual tree mortality. Two major questions facing fuels managers are: how long do masticated fuels persist, and how does the composition of masticated fuelbeds change over time? To evaluate these changes, we measured 25 masticated sites with a range of vegetation, species masticated and time since treatment (1-16 years) in the western US. Seven of the 25 sites were sampled nearly a decade earlier, providing a unique opportunity to document fuelbed changes. Woody fuel loading ranged from 12.1 to 91.9 Mg ha(-1) across sites and was negatively related to time since treatment. At remeasured sites, woody fuel loads declined by 20%, with the greatest losses in 1- and 10-h woody fuels (69 and 33% reductions in mass respectively). Reductions were due to declines in number of particles and reduced specific gravity. Mastication treatments that generate greater proportions of smaller-diameter fuels may result in faster decomposition and potentially be more effective at mitigating fire hazard.en
dc.description.adminPublic domain – authored by a U.S. government employeeen
dc.description.notesAn earlier draft of the manuscript benefitted from feedback provided by C. Copenheaver. We are grateful for the helpful comments from the three anonymous reviewers that helped improve this manuscript. This research was supported in part by funds provided by the USDA and the USDI Joint Fire Science Program (Project 12-1-03-31). Assistance with field data collection was provided by G. Hamby, C. Keller and J. Tobia. We appreciate the cooperation of the Sierra, Stanislaus, Tahoe, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit, Shasta-Trinity and Klamath National Forests as well as the Medford Bureau of Land Management office for assistance with selecting study sites and providing information about how treatments were implemented. J. Kane provided logistical support and numerous conversations through project development from which this study benefited.en
dc.description.sponsorshipUSDAUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA) [12-1-03-31]; USDI [12-1-03-31]en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1071/WF19156en
dc.identifier.eissn1448-5516en
dc.identifier.issn1049-8001en
dc.identifier.issue9en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/102727en
dc.identifier.volume29en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsPublic Domainen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/en
dc.subjectdecompositionen
dc.subjectfire hazard reductionen
dc.subjectfuel loadingen
dc.subjectfuels treatmentsen
dc.subjecttimelagen
dc.subjectwoody fuelsen
dc.titleLong-term changes in masticated woody fuelbeds in northern California and southern Oregon, USAen
dc.title.serialInternational Journal of Wildland Fireen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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