# Presentation: 518694

## FRCC = Fire Regime Condition Class   (www.frcc.gov)

*National Program to:*
- 	(1) standardize methodology for Condition Class determination
- 	(2) develop models of historic reference conditions for vegetation and disturbance regimes, and to allow characterization of departure from “natural conditions”

## Why FRCC?

- We have to!
- HFRA mandates use of FRCC in prioritizing and reporting results of vegetation treatment
- Federal policy and law: we must cooperate/collaborate with other agencies, States and private entities
- Standardization
- Different agencies and different units within agencies are currently assessing FRCC in different ways
- Common denominator: we must assess CC across jurisdictions
- Fire-adapted ecosystems
- Modeling and mapping FRCC provides important information for ecological restoration
- FIRESHED
- National focus on integrating fire behavior and fire restoration information in driving vegetation management and fire planning

## 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

## How do we determine Condition Class?

- FRCC incorporates 3 variables.
- 	Historical versus current:
- 	1. Vegetation seral stage distribution 	across landscapes
- 	2. Fire frequency
- 	3. Fire severity

## 1. Fire frequency and severity

**Fire Frequency**  *(years)*

**35**

**200**

**Rare**

**Infrequent**

**Frequent**

**75**

**Fire Severity - % Upper Layer Replacement**

**Fire Regime Group I**

**Group II**

**Fire Regime Group III**

**Group IV**

**Fire Regime Group V - Rare**

**Low & Mixed**

**Replacement**

***Fire Regime Groups (FRG)***

***1. Fire frequency and severity***

## Fire frequency and severity 

- Based on available data, assess departure from historic fire frequency.  e.g. Site has historic FRI of 15 years.  Current FRI is 50 years.
- 	{1 – (15/50)}*100 = 70% departure

- S. Mendocino NF

## Fire frequency and severity 

- 2.  Based on available data, assess departure from historic fire severity (this is difficult to assign a credible number to!)
- 	e.g. Site historically experienced stand replacing severities on about 15% of fire acreage.  Currently +/- 60% of acreage is stand replacing.
- 		{1 – (15/60)}*100 = 75% departure
- 	*Current research should help us with this*

## Fire frequency and severity 

- Average frequency and severity departures to get a single value for fire regime departure
- 	(70 + 75)/2 = 72.5% departure

## Vegetation seral stage distribution 

- Determined from maps of existing vegetation and PNV
- Crosswalk from R5 veg types to FRCC veg types
- e.g. FRCC type “R1PIPO” = CALVEG types JP (Jeffrey pine), PP (Ponderosa) and EP (Eastside pine)
- 3. Crosswalk from R5 canopy closure and size-class to FRCC seral stages

## Definitions of Seral Stages

- (“Vegetation-fuel classes”)

## UPPER SOUTH FORK SALMON RIVER

- Red fir/White fir

- Mixed evergreen

- Chaparral

- Ponderosa pine

- Mixed conifer

## Vegetation seral stage distribution 

- 4. Determine historic reference conditions
- 	- use literature, expert input, research results, etc. to construct model of vegetation type states and transitions between these states (“State and Transition” model)

## Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool Model – 

- Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool Model –
- Eastside Yellow pine (PIPO, PIJE)

- “Vegetation-fuel classes” = +/- seral stages

## Run the model for 500 yrs, 10 different times......

| To: | Disturbanceagent | Probability/year | Time since disturbance | Relative age |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| A | Replacement fire | 0.005 (= 200 y FRI) | 0 | 0 |
| B | Alternate succession | 1 | 40 | 0 |
| C | Surface fire | 0.05 (20 y FRI) | 0 | 0 |
| C | Mixed fire | 0.02 (50 y FRI) | 0 | 0 |
| C | Insect/Disease | 0.005 (200 y RI) | 0 | 0 |

- Default: to D after 50 timesteps

## Historical reference conditions from VDDT models

- Overall mean FRI = 16 years

## Vegetation seral stage distribution 

***Vegetation seral stage distribution ***

- 5. Assess departure from historic distribution of seral stages
- 	1 – 52 = 48% departure

|  | % A (Early seral) | % B (Mid-closed) | % C (Mid-open) | % D (Late-open) | % E (Late-closed) | Similarity |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Historic | 20 | 5 | 20 | 54 | 1 | 100% |
| Current | 6 | 14 | 15 | 25 | 40 | 100% |
| Smallest | 6 | 5 | 15 | 25 | 1 | 52% |

## Condition Class determination 

- Condition Class I = 0 – 33% departure
- Condition Class II = 34 – 66% departure
- Condition Class III = 67 – 100% departure
- Pretreatment Condition Class of site in question is determined by taking largest of vegetation seral stage departure (48%) or fire regime departure (= 72.5%)

## FRCC outputs go far beyond Condition Class

- Ecologically, the real interest is in what science tells us about the way landscapes looked historically
*	**- Ecosystem restoration*
*	**- Continuous departure variables allow for finer spatial resolution*
*	**- Priorities for treatments*
*	**- Mapping Tool now allows for spatial*
*	**representation and analysis*

## DEPARTURE FROM VEG-FUEL CLASS REFERENCE CONDITIONS

- BLUE = +/- 30%
- ORANGE = +/- 70%
- RED = +/- 90%

- Butte Creek

**Example of Mapping Tool output**

## FRCC Mapping Tool 

- Derives a suite of FRCC-related attributes from 3 existing input layers & 1 table
- FRCC/LANDFIRE veg types (“BPSs”) – x-walked from existing veg map, PNV map, etc.
- Seral stages (“vegetation-fuel classes”) – x-walked
- Landscape reporting units (e.g. HUCs)
- Table of veg types (BPSs) with seral stage reference conditions and appropriate landscape (HUC) size for running model

## FRCC Mapping Tool outputs 

- 2. Outputs
- Veg fuel-class % difference
- 	- quantitative measure of difference between existing veg-fuel class and reference
- 	- % diff = _(existing% - reference%_)  *100
- 		     (existing% + reference%)
- 	e.g. Ref% = 30, Current% = 10
- 	(10-30)/40 = -50% change
- 	- Info on locations of successional stages with greatest departure from reference, etc.
- 	- Metric for this measure is in development

## Veg-fuel class % difference

**Veg-fuel class % difference**

- Dk BLUE = -70%
- Lt Blue = -30%
- YELLOW = +30 %
- ORANGE = +60%
- RED = +90%

## FRCC Mapping Tool outputs

- 	- classification of % difference into categories
- C. “Stand-level” condition class
- - from relative amount: get your current CC here

***FRCC Mapping Tool outputs***

- 0%

- 33%

- 66%

- -33%

- -66%

- % diff

- Similar

- Over-
- represented

- Abundant

- Under-
- represented

- Trace

- Relative amount

## Veg-fuel class relative amount

**Veg-fuel class relative amount**

- RED = abundant
- ORANGE = over-represented
- YELLOW = similar
- Lt GREEN = under-represented
- Dk GREEN = trace

## Condition class

**Condition class**
**(based only on**
**veg-fuel classes!)**

- GREEN = CC1
- YELLOW = CC2
- RED = CC3

## Landscape scale FRCC

**Landscape scale FRCC**
**25 YEARS OUT**

## FRCC: Local or Provincial determination?

- Local:
- 	-  Process to determine pretreatment CC takes 2 people 4+ hours *if they are well-trained, if they know the landscape in question, and if they have backgrounds in fire and vegetation ecology*
- 	-  At GS-7, 8 hrs = $144 (salary only)
- 	-  114,000 acres treated in fy 2004.  Average treatment size?
- 	-  @ 100 acre project-size, ttl salary cost = $164,160
- 	-  @ 50 acre, ttl salary cost = $328,320
- 	-  High probability of CC error with local teams
- 		1.  Must be able to ID correct FRCC veg types and assign 	correct landscape proportions to the types
- 		2.  Must be able to ID correct seral stages within veg types 		3.  Must be able to assess current fire severity potential
- 		4.  Must be able to navigate through current FRCC determination 	process, which is cryptic at best

## Local or Provincial determination?

- Provincial:
- 	-  Pretreatment CC determination done and stewarded remotely by Province Ecologist.  Project staff simply pull the value off of a map
- 	-  Local staff uses provided definitions of vegetation-fuel classes to assess whether treatment has changed CC.
- 	-  WFHF funds already support Regional Ecology program = no extra funds necessary, aside from minimal post-treatment assessment on the ground
- 	-  Scientific and technical needs of Regional FRCC program are significant
- 		-  we require a FT veg/fire ecologist/modeler to develop new models and 	modify current ones, to steward the FRCC Mapping Tool and develop add-ons 	as needed, to function as the FRCC member of FIRESHED, etc
- 	-  TNC will share 50% of the cost of this position

## <footer>

- <date/time>

- _Existing vegetation _
- _classification_

- _Plot data_

- _Statistical analysis_

- _Sampling design_

- _Sampling protocols_

- _Broad Scale State and Transition modeling_
*Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool*
-  - Definition of seral stages (“states”)
-  - Determination of transitions (disturbances, e.g.)
-    and transition probabilities

- _Synthesis of existing knowledge_
-  - Research and monitoring results
-  - FRI, fire severity, veg response

- _PNV classification_

- _Plot data_

- _Statistical analysis_

- _Peer review_

- _Model evaluation _
- _and refinement_

- _Mid Scale State and _
- _Transition modeling_

- _LANDFIRE_
-  - National FRCC
-    mapping

- _Monitoring_

- _Understanding of _
- _natural history_
- _ __- successional patterns, etc._

- _Historic reference conditions_

- _Vegetation mapping_
-  - Existing veg
-  - PNV

- _PLANNING_
-  - Sensitivity analyses
-  - Inclusion of mgt actions

- _FRCC Mapping Tool_

- _Crosswalking_
-  - Existing veg and PNV
-    types to FRCC types

- _Condition Class_

- _Fire regime departure_
-  - Fire frequency
-  - Fire severity

- _Vegetation structure _
- _departure_

- _Mapped reference conditions_
- _and departures_
-  - ecological restoration
-  - treatment priorities

- _FIRESHED assessment_

- _Reporting_

_*Ecology roles in R5 FRCC/Fireshed Assessment, etc.:*_
- Red = primary role
- Green = secondary role
- Black = supporting role

- _EUI_
-  - Planning
-  - Watershed   analysis

_*Source: Hugh Safford*_
_*707-562-8934*_
_*hughsafford@fs.fed.us*_

## Post-treatment CC determination 

## Slide 31