Live fuels monitoring

        Growing up in Portland I had no experience with wildfires or the effects of fire suppression until I moved to Bend and realized the important role wildfires play in ecosystem dynamics. Roaming around on the rivers and through the woods in Central Oregon I have observed how the suppression of wildfires can create zones of little biodiversity and large amount of fire fuel. And vice versa where in places with recurrent fires would have greater biodiversity and less fire fuel. For the first few years I lived in Bend this was the extent of my knowledge about fire science. Then ecology courses exposed me to the concepts of succession and fire regimes in Ponderosa Pine ecosystems, as well as in Sagebrush ecosystems with Juniper encroachment.

       This last summer I worked on a live fuels internship where I collected data on plant moisture content around Central Oregon. I would take samples of Juniper, Sagebrush, Ceanothus, Antelope Bitterbrush and Manzanita in four different locations. By weight the samples wet and dry weights and some exciting excel calculations I was able to get the average % moisture content of these plants in the four different locations. Then by recording this data throughout the summer I was able to track the rapid change in moisture, and with be able to help determine the fire potential in those four areas around Central Oregon.  This data was posted on a BLM database where it was relayed to wildland firefighting companies. Although I’m sure this data was the least of their worries this past summer. The images below are from the areas I was collecting this data.

 

This image is from northeast of Bend and the recorded species were of Antelope Bitterbrush, Juniper and Sagebrush

This image was west of Bend around Sisters and the recorded species were Antelope Bitterbrush, Sagebrush and Manzanita.

This image was from west of Bend going toward Tumalo Falls and the recorded species were Ceanothus, Antelope Bitterbrush and Manzanita

         This was a really cool experience to be able to participate in the science involved in wildfire management. Seeing how quick plants lose moisture in the heat of the summer, as well as the enormous amount of water that Juniper contain was very interesting and has sparked my interest into taking this class.