Reports
Wirth, T.A., Pyke, D.A., 2007, Monitoring
Post-fire Vegetation Rehabilitation Projects-A Common Approach for
Non-forested Ecosystems: U.S. Geological Survey Sceintific
Investigations Report 2006-5048, P. 36.
Download the .pdf version of this
report
here.
Abstract
Emergency Stabilization and
Rehabilitation (ES&R) and Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER)
treatments are short-term, high-intensity treatments designed to
mitigate the adverse effects of wildfire on public lands. The federal
government expends significant resources implementing ES&R and BAER
treatments after wildfires; however, recent reviews have found that
existing data from monitoring and research are insufficient to evaluate
the effects of these activities. The purpose of this report is to: (1)
document what monitoring methods are generally used by personnel in the
field; (2) describe approaches and methods for postfire vegetation and
soil monitoring documented in agency manuals; (3) determine the common
elements of monitoring programs recommended in these manuals; and (4)
describe a common monitoring approach to determine the effectiveness of
future ES&R and BAER treatments in non-forested regions. Both
qualitative and quantitative methods to measure effectiveness of ES&R
treatments are used by federal land management agencies. Quantitative
methods are used in the field depending on factors such as funding,
personnel, and time constraints. There are seven vegetation monitoring
manuals produced by the federal government that address monitoring
methods for (primarily) vegetation and soil attributes. These methods
vary in their objectivity and repeatability. The most repeatable methods
are point-intercept, quadrat-based density measurements, gap intercepts,
and direct measurement of soil erosion. Additionally, these manuals
recommend approaches for designing monitoring programs for the state of
ecosystems or the effect of management actions. The elements of a
defensible monitoring program applicable to ES&R and BAER projects that
most of these manuals have in common are objectives, stratification,
control areas, random sampling, data quality, and statistical analysis.
The effectiveness of treatments can be determined more accurately if
data are gathered using an approach that incorporates these six
monitoring program design elements and objectives, as well as repeatable
procedures to measure cover, density, gap intercept, and soil erosion
within each ecoregion and plant community. Additionally, using a common
monitoring program design with comparable methods, consistently
documenting results, and creating and maintaining a central database for
query and reporting, will ultimately allow a determination of the
effectiveness of postfire rehabilitation activities region-wide.
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