PROJECT DETAILS
Initiated in 2001, this 4-year project is funded by the Joint Fire Sciences Program, USDA Forest Service Regions 1 and 4 National Fire Plan Effectiveness and Monitoring Program, and USGS Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative.
See our Study Plan for a complete description of the project.
WHERE IS THIS STUDY BEING CONDUCTED?
 
WHAT ARE WE MEASURING?
This research focuses on key biotic and abiotic response variables in streams, including:
- Amphibian species density, age structure, and biomass
- Tailed frogs
- Giant salamanders
- Macroinvertebrate richness, density, and biomass
- Primary productivity as measured by chlorophyll-a and ash-free dry mass of periphyton community
- Aquatic habitat conditions
- Channel morphology
- Substrate composition and sedimentation
- Large woody debris
- Water temperature
- Water chemistry
- Discharge
- Riparian habitat conditions
- Canopy cover
- Overhanging cover
- Burn severity of riparian forest
- Upland habitat conditions
- Land management and fire history
- Geology
- Fire severity across watershed scale
WHAT HAVE WE FOUND SO FAR?
HOW WILL THIS INFORMATION BE APPLIED?
The results of this study will provide useful information for the following management questions:
- What are the immediate and short-term effects of prescription burning on stream ecosystems?
- Does prescription burning mimic the functional role of fire in stream ecosystems in dry, interior ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forests in the northern Rocky Mountains and Douglas fir forests in the coastal Cascades?
- How might wildland fires and fuel treatments affect Threatened and Endangered aquatic species, and how might we use fire to better manage these species?
 
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