Forest Surveys and GIS Applications on the Nez Perce Reservation

1. Forest Surveys and GIS Applications on the Nez Perce Reservation GIS on Fire! Worley - Plummer, Idaho May 11, 2005 Rich Botto, Nez Perce Tribe rbotto@nezperce.org

2. Development of Forest Surveys • Prior to 1970s – Appraisals • timber volume and value • 1974 – First permanent CFI plots installed • forest management plans • sustainable harvest rate • 1987 – Initiated stand based inventory system • silvicultural planning • harvest scheduling • 2004 - FireMon program • monitoring forest fuels • fire management planning

3. Comparison of Forest Surveys

4. Annual Inventory Goals • Pre-harvest cruising • 1 or 2 timber sales • 3 to 5 cutting permits

5. Annual Inventory Goals • Pre-harvest cruising • 456 CFI plots measured every 10 years

6. Annual Inventory Goals • Pre-harvest cruising • 456 CFI plots measured every 10 years • 5,500 acres of stand exams to ensure 10% of land base updated

7. Annual Inventory Goals • Pre-harvest cruising • 456 CFI plots measured every 10 years • 5,500 acres of stand exams to ensure 10% of land base updated • WUI/HFR treatments

8. Data Analysis & Reporting • Forest Projection System (FPS) • Appraisals • Stand exams

9. Data Analysis & Reporting • Forest Projection System (FPS) • BIA Analysis Program, Northwest Regional Office • CFI plots

10. Data Analysis & Reporting • Forest Projection System (FPS) • BIA Analysis Program, Northwest Regional Office • FireMon Data Analysis Software • Fuels monitoring plots

11. Future Inventory Needs • What is the composition of forest fuels at the stand level? • Canopy, snags, ladder fuels, shrubs, nonwoody, litter-lichen-moss, and ground fuels • Fine scale vs. coarse scale assessments • What are the effects of WUI/HFR treatments on fire hazards at the landscape scale? • Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC)

12. GIS Applications • FPS growth model calibration (clumpiness index) • Stem mapping CFI plots • Forest events geodatabase • Documenting forest management practices (current and historical) • Linking historical photographs • Fire hazard mapping using FVS (Forest Vegetative Simulator) • Fire and fuels extension model

13. Stem Mapping • Acquire a GPS location for all trees >5” Dbh on the fixed 1/5 acre plot (6627 live tree records) • XY coordinate of plot center pin • Distance to tree • Azimuth to tree • Calculate offset and GPS locations for each tree

21. Click on plot 604

23. Forest Management Geo-Database • Documenting forest management activities (historical, present, and planned) and creating Activity_IDs for your GIS shapefiles

24. Event Types • Plant • Thin • Harvest • Fire • SitePrep • HFR • Cruise Forest Events • Type of Event • Event Status • Contract Name • Contract Number • Administrator • Start Date • End Date • Approval Status • Map Status Practice Types • Planting • Precommercial thinning • Commercial thinning • Overstory removal/reduction • Sanitation/salvage • Prescribed fire • Mechanical site prep • Pruning • Mechanical brush reduction • Livestock grazing/browsing • Shelterwood • Seed tree • Clearcut • Free thin • Single tree selection • Group selection • Chemical application Forest Management Geo- Database Activities • Event • Activity_ID • Type of Practice • Unit • Year • Tract Name TABLES Activities ForestEvents EventTypes PracticeTypes TractNames PracticePoly

25. Activity_ID (s) for current projects • Summary Reports • Forest practices by tract and time period Reports • Activity_ID • Practice • Unit# • Year • Tract Name • Acres Forest Management Geo- Database GIS Shapefiles • Excel Spreadsheets Export Utilities

29. Fire Hazard Mapping (FVS-FFE) • Torching and Crowning Indices • Surface fire • Passive crown fire • Active fire • Attributes • Surface fuels, surface fuel moisture, canopy base ht, slope, wind effects • Canopy bulk density, slope, surface fuel moisture

30. Fire Hazard FVS-FFE

31. Other Fire Hazard/Risk Mapping*(Coarse Scale) • Fire Severity • Proportion of above ground biomass removed • Fuel Hazard • Containment difficulty • Fire Regime Condition Class • Departure from historic baseline *Idaho Interagency Assessment of Wildland Fire Risks to Communities and Ecosystems, December 21, 2004

32. Fire Severity

33. Fuel Hazard

34. FRCC

35. Future Inventory Needs • Integrate a fuels inventory program at the stand level • Canopy, snags, ladder fuels, shrubs, nonwoody, litter-lichen-moss, and ground fuels

36. Thank you!