• Rocky Mountain Research Station
• 240 West Prospect
• Fort Collins, CO 80526
• (970) 498-1100

Ecology of Montane Grassland Fire at the Valles Caldera National Preserve, New Mexico

All proposed field study plots were established in early summer, 2005, and sampled at scheduled times prior to the prescribed fire in the autumn. The prescribed fire was undertaken on November 1-2, 2005, by fire teams from the US Forest Service and Bandelier National Monument. Initial estimates of fire coverage indicated that approximately 70% of the surface area of the designated fire acreage was burned; as expected, areas that did not burn either had insufficient fuel loads or (in the case of some riparian areas) were too moist and replete with green vegetation. Special attention for ignition was directed to the research study plots, and all of these areas were burned successfully and completely.

Follow-up field sampling in 2006 is ongoing, but preliminary results indicate that the prescribed fire did not cause any measurable negative impacts on either the grassland or forest ecosystem. Plant productivity on burned study plots equals or exceeds that of unburned sites; mortality of grasses and forbs was negligible. Elk use of the burned areas increased dramatically compared to the summer before the fire. Soil erosion appears to be insignificant, although this may be due to the extreme drought conditions and lack of snowpack during the winter of 2005-2006. Fire impacts on stream water quality, fish populations and aquatic macroinvertebrate communities also appear to be minimal, a result likely due to the lack of fire in the adjacent streamside sedges and grasses.

In total, the use of prescribed fire in the montane grasslands and adjacent forests of the Valles Caldera National Preserve appears to have no measurable negative ecological impacts. If future measurements on the study plots bear out this conclusion, prescribed fire will continue to be an important management tool for the Valles Caldera Trust.