Monitoring and Research

Members of the NPS fire ecology team collect a soil core sample to study the effects prescribed pile-burning on forest soils.

NPS Photo

Fire management actions taken in Alaska are supported through both research and monitoring. At Denali, ecologists, field technicians, and wildland firefighters work to collect data pertaining to the effects of fire and fuels management activities on park resources – biological, physical, and cultural.

The fire ecology team performs a wide variety of ecological monitoring to ensure fire management actions meet intended objectives and minimize unintended consequences. As example, when a crew conducts thinning of vegetation in the areas around park infrastructure, they follow a “prescription” to guide that work. The prescription may be to increase the spacing between trees to 10 ft, and/or to remove lower branches of trees up to 6ft. Pre- and post-treatment monitoring ensures that the prescription is appropriate and likely to reduce fire behavior as intended. Management decisions and strategies are iterative based on monitoring results. This feedback loop between ecologists and fire managers and practitioners is called adaptative management.

The fire ecology team also collects data, supports research, and applies findings to fire behavior modeling. This ensures that when a wildfire requiring suppression occurs, the most up-to-date information on vegetation and forest fuels (moisture, type, and arrangement) can be used in predicting fire behavior, fireline intensity, and other characteristics important in planning for firefighter safety. These ecological characteristics can provide a well-rounded image of how fire might behave in an ecosystem as well as how that ecosystem might recover.

 

 

 

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Research to Inform Management