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District Issues

Landscape Treatment Prioritization to Reduce Northern Spotted Owl Habitat Loss from Wildfire: A Test Case Using Fire Regime and Condition Class on the Klamath RD Dr. Gregg Riegel, Ecologist, Central Oregon Ecology Program, Deschutes NF Co-authors: Jane Kertis, Fire Ecologist, USFS

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District Issues

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  1. Landscape Treatment Prioritization to Reduce Northern Spotted Owl Habitat Loss from Wildfire: A Test Case Using Fire Regime and Condition Class on the Klamath RD Dr. Gregg Riegel, Ecologist, Central Oregon Ecology Program, Deschutes NF Co-authors: Jane Kertis, Fire Ecologist, USFS Sarah Malaby, Fremont-Winema NF John Foster, Fire Ecologist, TNC Lois Shoemaker, Bio. Tech, Fremont-Winem, NF

  2. District Issues • Loss of bald eagle habitat • Threats of catastrophic fire to spotted owl habitat • Loss of variable stand and landscape composition and structure

  3. Project Goals • Develop strategic plan to reduce fuels to improve landscape resiliency • Restore landscape to appropriate composition and structure to support owls and bald eagles

  4. Process • Conduct FRCC mapping/analysis • Develop a current fire risk assessment • Identify other issues (WUI, nest site/key owl and bald eagle habitat, fish habitat) • Create priority areas • Recommend treatment types and timing

  5. FRCC MappingCondition Class 1. Vegetation-fuel class 2. Fire frequency/severity

  6. FRCC Mapping: Vegetation Fuel Classes 1. Determine PNVGs/BPS 2. Define appropriate “landscapes” 3. Crosswalk current vegetation to seral stage 4. Field verification of seral stages 6. Compare reference to current

  7. FRCC MappingDetermine Biophysical Settings Mixed conifer----- From: 16 Plant Associations To: 2 BiophysicalSettings Red fir-----

  8. FRCC Mapping:Define Appropriate Landscapes • Landscape size considerations: • Historical fire sizes • Landform and Topography • Watershed boundaries

  9. Crosswalk Current Vegetation to Seral Stage

  10. FRCC MappingField Verification of Seral Stages Field verification of: • Plant Association to PNVG • Current vegetation attributes (size class, canopy cover) • Current seral stages

  11. Mixed Conifer Seral Stages B. Mid Seral Closed C. Mid Seral Open E. Late Seral Closed E. Late Seral Closed

  12. Red Fir Seral Stages E. Late Seral Closed B. Mid Seral Closed E. Late Seral Closed

  13. FRCC Current Seral Stage Distribution

  14. FRCC Veg-Fuel AnalysisMixed Conifer

  15. FRCC Veg-Fuel AnalysisRed Fir

  16. Condition Class A categorical measure of departure: Condition Class I = within natural or historical range of variability (NRV or HRV) Condition Class II = moderate departure from HRV Condition Class III = extreme departure

  17. Relative amount % diff -75% -25% 0% 25% 75% Over- represented Abundant Similar Trace Under- represented

  18. Using FRCC Veg-Fuel Class Abundance as Treatment Guidance

  19. FRCC Mapping:Fire Frequency and Severity Condition Class • Used local fire history information to determine reference frequency and severity for each PNVG • Calculated MFI—(# of fires-1/100) to determine current fire frequency.. • Used expert knowledge to determine current fire severity. Current fire severities estimated at 75% compared to reference mixed conifer 5%, red fir 10%

  20. Current Fire Risk Assessment 3 Components: • Probability of ignition • Fire behavior potential • Composite fire risk

  21. Probability of Ignition Fire atlas records from 1960-2001 • Used sections as cell size • Counted all human caused (excluding equipment) and lightning ignitions • Rated low (0-4 fires/section/40 yrs); moderate (5-10 fires); high (> 10 fires)

  22. Fire Behavior Potential Surface fire------Crown fire • Used extreme (95th percentile) weather conditions • Created fuel model and slope class layers • Ran BEHAVE and populated coverage • Used flame length to rate low (0-4 ft), moderate (5-8 ft) or high (> 8 ft) fire behavior risk • Calculated crown fire potential using flame length and seral stage/PNVG designations

  23. Other Issues • Wildland urban interface • Bald eagle land management unit • Spotted owl nests • Late successional reserves • Spotted owl core sites outside of LSRs • Fish (sucker and bull trout) habitat

  24. Create Priority Areas Multi-Resource Wildlife Fuels/fire

  25. Treat Priority Areas • FRCC identifies amount seral stages area deviating from reference conditons (WHAT) • Current fire risk identifies key “hot spots” from ignition and fire behavior risk (WHERE) • Other issues help determine WHERE and HOW to treat landscape

  26. Next Steps 1. Determine schedule for treating high priority blocks 2. Begin NEPA process • Use information from FRCC to guide how much and what kinds of stands to treat • Run FARSITE/FLANMAP to determine best placement of multi-resource treatments

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