Presenters: Nicole Vaillant, USFS-WWETAC; Erin Noonan-Wright USFS-Wildland Fire Management RDA; and Carol Ewell, Adaptive Management Services Enterprise Team (AMSET).
Description: The longevity of fuel treatment effectiveness to alter potential fire behavior is a critical question for managers preparing plans for fuel reduction, prescribed burning, fire management, and forest thinning. The presenters share findings from a region-wide fuel treatment effectiveness monitoring study that was initiated in 2001 across many National Forests in California, and include site specific data for pre-treatment and up to 10 years post-treatment in conifer dominated systems treated with either prescribed fire or mechanical methods. They present information pertaining to treatment effects on fuel loads, forest stand structure, and potential fire behavior over time.