Wildland Fire Management Plan Craters of the Moon National Monument XI. Monitoring

A. Monitoring Requirements

All NPS units applying wildland fire use and/or prescribed fire to accomplish resource benefits must prepare a Fire Monitoring Plan (RM-18). Four monitoring levels are recognized and parks must identify each of these in the plan. These levels include environmental planning, fire observations, immediate post-fire effects, and long-term change. These four levels are cumulative and must be linked to each other. This plan should be appended to the Fire Management Plan.

B. CRMO Fire Monitoring Plan

The CRMO Fire Monitoring Plan for Wildland Fire Use will be prepared independent of the Fire Management Plan and attached as an Appendix at a later time. Refer to Appendix M for the CRMO Fire Monitoring Plan. The focus of this monitoring program will be to study big sagebrush plant associations and cheatgrass response. The reason for monitoring is to verify current fire ecology research throughout the monument, and to monitor the invasion of exotic species.

The level of monitoring will be determined by current and predicted fire behavior. Large active fires will require qualified fire monitors recording fire weather readings onsite, estimating fire behavior parameters, noting fire effects, determining fuel moisture levels, and documenting fuel type fire behavior with photographs. Wildland use fires which are inactive or predicted to remain less than 10 acres may only require daily observation from lookouts or aircraft.

Reconnaissance monitoring provides a basic overview of the fire event. The data to be collected is as follows:

Fire Cause (ignition system)
Fire Location (origin)
Fire Size
Fuels and Vegetation Description
Relative Fire Activity
Potential for Further Spread
Current and Forecasted Weather
Resource or Safety Threats and Constraints
Smoke Volume and Movement

Fire Conditions monitoring will be dynamic over the management period of the fire. Fire and/or resource management staff assess and determine the level of monitoring of these variables. We measure the following fire conditions:

Fire Monitoring Period — to be determined by the fire or resource manager.

Topographic Variables
Fire Behavior
Smoke Characteristics
Fuel & Vegetation Type
Current & Forecasted Fire