Jeanne C. Chambers, Robin J. Tausch, and Michael C. Amacher, USDA Forest Service, RMRS

Dru Germanoski, Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences

Erica Fleishman, Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University

Desiderio Zamudio, Ecology Team, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest

PROJECT SUMMARY

Since European settlement of the Great Basin about 130 years ago, pinyon and juniper have exhibited significant increases in both area and stand densities.  Progressive increases in woody and fine fuel loads coupled with the invasion of a highly flammable annual grass, cheatgrass, have resulted in dramatic increases in fire frequency, severity and size in the woodlands.  To prevent the widespread deterioration of the woodlands and their associated communities, it will be necessary to implement proactive prescribed burning programs prior to stand closure and before cheatgrass dominance.  This project provides a demonstration watershed for illustrating both the feasibility and ecological effects of large-scale prescribed fire on pinyon-juniper dominated ecosystems to managers, researchers, and the public.  Objectives include:  (1) Illustrate the use of a watershed-scale approach to conducting prescribed burns; (2) Provide information on the costs associated with conducting a watershed-scale burn project; (3) Determine the recovery thresholds and successional trajectories for vegetation communities that have different stand densities of pinyon and juniper, i.e., early, mid, and late seral stands with low, intermediate, and high tree densities, and that occur at different elevations and aspects within the watersheds; (4) Determine the changes in fuel loads that occur with increasing stand densities of pinyon and juniper; (5)  Examine the influence of differences in stand density and topographic position on soil properties that influence recovery potential and soil erosion; (6)  Evaluate the effects of large-scale prescribed burn projects on stream channels, sedimentation and water quality.  (7) Examine the effects of the burn on the species richness and occurrence of taxa shown to exhibit quantifiable responses to similar disturbances, i.e., butterflies.  The project is a collaborative effort between the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station and Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, and the Bureau of Land Management, Battle Mountain District.  In addition to providing a demonstration area, it is being used to develop guidelines for evaluating the effects of stand density/seral stage on vegetation community and soil response to prescribed burns.  Information on the changes in fuel loads that occur as stand density increases is being obtained.  Also, much needed information on the effects of watershed-scale burns on stream channels, sedimentation and water quality and butterflies, important taxa in semi-arid, intermittent systems are being gathered. 

The research plots were burned on May 11-14, 2002 and information on the fire (soil temperatures, photos) is available on the website for the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station's Great Basin Ecosystem Management Project for Maintaining and Restoring Watershed and Riparian Ecosystem Integrity:  www.ag.unr.edu/gbem. 

The lead institution on this project is the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station and the contact is Jeanne Chambers.  The project has been funded by the Joint Fire Sciences Program for $99,027, and the duration is from October 1, 2000 to September 30, 2003.  A complimentary project, "Effect of Fire and Rehabilitation Seeding on Sage Grouse Habitat in the Pinyon-juniper Zone," has been funded by the Joint Fire Sciences Program for $137,000, and the duration is June 1, 2002 to September 30, 2005.  Also, two University of Nevada, Reno, Master's students are using the Demonstration Area for their research projects.  They are examining the combined effects of increasing tree density and fire on soil seed banks and ant taxa.