A Demonstration Area on Ecosystem Response to Prescribed Burns in the Great Basin Pinyon-Juniper Woodlands

GBEM-Team Leader

   -Jeanne Chambers

EPR-Project Leader

   -Robin Tausch

The Book

   -Great Basin Riparian Ecosystems

GBEM-Field Tour

Employment

This project has established a demonstration watershed for illustrating both the feasibility and ecological effects of prescribed fire on pinyon-juniper dominated ecosystems to managers, researchers, and the public.  It is a collaborative effort between the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management, Battle Mountain District.  Objectives include:

1. Determine the recovery thresholds and successional trajectories of vegetation communities with different stand densities of pinyon and juniper

2. Determine the changes in fuel loads that occur with increasing stand densities of pinyon and juniper

3. Examine the influence of stand density and topographic position on soil properties

4. Evaluate the effects of prescribed burn projects on stream channels, sedimentation and water quality

5. Examine the effects of the burn on the species richness and occurrence of taxa shown to exhibit quantifiable responses to similar disturbances, i.e., birds, butterflies, and ants.

Information from the demonstration area is being used to develop guidelines for evaluating the effects of stand density and fuel loads on vegetation community and soil response to prescribed burns.  Also, much needed information on the effects of watershed-scale burns on stream channels, sedimentation and water quality and important taxa in semi-arid, intermittent systems is being obtained.  The research plots were burned in May 2002 and a larger watershed scale burn was conducted in May 2004.  Initial project duration was from October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2005 funded by the JFSP.  There are several ongoing research projects within the Demonstration Area funded largely through RMRS and the National Fire Plan.

JFS Webpage

JFS Report

Thesis on Fuels

Thesis on Umbrella Species

Thesis on Soils

Contacts: 

Jeanne C. Chambers

jchambers@fs.fed.us

775.784.5329)

Robin J. Tausch

rtausch@fs.fed.us

775.784.5329