Fire succession in boreal forest. Post fire plots
Overview description: Regeneration following fire: Experiential Science has established six permanent 30m triangular plots in and about the 1998 fire along the Mount Mac Lower Valley Trail. We have placed plots in areas that were slightly burned, heavily burned and not burned at all. One plot is located on the margin of the burn. We have been keeping records of changing ground cover following the burn and survey the entire plots for and emergent seedlings. Students were asked to predict the impacts of fire in the trees and these trees were marked. Some trees appeared to have little damage. In the following fall students reviewed the original assessment and found that all but one of the twenty trees expected to live, all but one had died. It was apparent that fire did not need to burn the trees down or defoliate the tree to kill it. We then visited the site over the next five years to record plants that were early colonizers following fire.
Community interest or concern Yukon Forestry invited the ES class to monitor the conditions of the stand following fire. The location (in Whitehorse and on the X-Country ski trails made it a readily accessible site for study. We were at the site as fire suppression were on the clean-up phase. Some students mapped the fire perimeter with GPS and in doing so, found two hot-spots they reported to the clean-up crews.
Duration of study and numbers involved This study was conducted form 1998 to 2002 on an semi annual basis. Since then, the studies have been far less frequent, conducted three times over the past 10 years.
Protocols followed and resources. We followed Dan Farrs, forest structure protocols with all 6 plots. We also marked specific trees that students guessed at the damage and possibility of the tree surviving fire.
Contact person and more detailed information Don White (YTG Forestry retired), Bob Sharp, Kevin O’Connor and Alain Dalaire all took part in the first years of the studies.
Overview description: Regeneration following fire: Experiential Science has established six permanent 30m triangular plots in and about the 1998 fire along the Mount Mac Lower Valley Trail. We have placed plots in areas that were slightly burned, heavily burned and not burned at all. One plot is located on the margin of the burn. We have been keeping records of changing ground cover following the burn and survey the entire plots for and emergent seedlings. Students were asked to predict the impacts of fire in the trees and these trees were marked. Some trees appeared to have little damage. In the following fall students reviewed the original assessment and found that all but one of the twenty trees expected to live, all but one had died. It was apparent that fire did not need to burn the trees down or defoliate the tree to kill it. We then visited the site over the next five years to record plants that were early colonizers following fire.
Community interest or concern Yukon Forestry invited the ES class to monitor the conditions of the stand following fire. The location (in Whitehorse and on the X-Country ski trails made it a readily accessible site for study. We were at the site as fire suppression were on the clean-up phase. Some students mapped the fire perimeter with GPS and in doing so, found two hot-spots they reported to the clean-up crews.
Duration of study and numbers involved This study was conducted form 1998 to 2002 on an semi annual basis. Since then, the studies have been far less frequent, conducted three times over the past 10 years.
Protocols followed and resources. We followed Dan Farrs, forest structure protocols with all 6 plots. We also marked specific trees that students guessed at the damage and possibility of the tree surviving fire.
Contact person and more detailed information Don White (YTG Forestry retired), Bob Sharp, Kevin O’Connor and Alain Dalaire all took part in the first years of the studies.