Pacific Southwest Research Station

Effects of Prescribed Fires in California State Parks

California State Parks installed a total of 87 monitoring plots from 1992 to 2004 on state park properties along the west shore of Lake Tahoe. As of 2006, there are 10 years of postfire data from prescribed burn treatment plots. This project proposes to analyze this data set to examine a greater range of short- and long-term effects of the treatments and to evaluate the effectiveness of the monitoring program itself.

Full title:    Analysis of 15 years of data from the California State Parks Prescribed Fire Effects Monitoring Program

Lead Researchers:    Dr. Bruce Pavlik and Alison Stanton, BMP Ecosciences

Goals:

1. Evaluate effects of prescribed fire treatments in mixed conifer stands.
2. Evaluate effectiveness of California State Parks fire monitoring program.

Sites:    Approximately 40 existing plots in five park units located on west and north shore, sampled for fuel loading and vegetation structure

Timeframe:    October 2007 through March 2009 (2.5 years)

Products:

1. Final report on the fire effects monitoring data.
2. Recommendation report for the California Department of Parks and Recreation Fire Effects Monitoring Program .
3. Presentation at a regional scientific meeting and to local managers.
4. Peer-reviewed publication.

Figure: The project will examine 15 years of data on effects of prescribed burning on vegetation and fuel loads in California State Parks (courtesy BMP Ecosciences).