Chaparral Fuel Structure after Mechanical Treatments

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The Southwest U.S. Mechanically Treated Chaparral Photo Series is a series of 55 photographs that display a range of fuel loadings across mechanically masticated and crushed chaparral that were treated on the Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres and  San Bernardino national forests of southern California between 2004 and 2010. Accurate, complete fuels data are critical for making fuel management decisions and for predicting fire behavior and fire effects.  This photo series will allow fire and natural resource managers to quickly quantify fuel and vegetation properties by comparing on-site conditions to the series of photos showing a range of calculated fuel loads within natural and mechanically treated chaparral that varied in age and dominant species type.

Research Publication & Brief

The effects of the treatments on fuel structure was published in the International Journal of Wildland Fire in 2015. The full publication is

Brennan, T. J. and J. E. Keeley. 2015. Effect of mastication and other mechanical treatments on fuel structure in chaparral. International Journal of Wildland Fire. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF14140

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