Fuels Planning: Science Synthesis and

Integration

Forest Structure and Fire Hazard Fact Sheet: 6

Guide to Fuel Treatments in Dry Forests of

the Western United States: Assessing

Forest Structure and Fire Hazard

United States

Department

of Agriculture

Forest Service

Rocky Mountain

Research Station

Research Note

RMRS-RN-22-6-WWW

March 2005

Forest Structure and Fire Hazard

Team Leader

David L. Peterson

USDA Forest Service

PNW Research Station

400 N. 34th Street, Suite 201

Seattle, WA 98103

Fuels planning: Science synthesis and

integration, an interagency research/

management partnership to support

the Ten-Year Fire Plan, led by Russell

T. Graham, RMRS, and Sarah M.

McCaffrey, NCRS.

Synthesizing

Scientific Information

for Fire and Fuels

Project Managers

What is the Guide to Fuel Treatments?

The Guide to Fuel Treatments analyzes a range of potential silvicultural thinnings

and surface fuel treatments for 25 representative dry-forest stands in the Western United States. These stands are the focus of potential management activities

intended to modify forest structure and fuel to reduce crown-fire hazard on public lands. The guide provides quantitative guidelines and visualizations for treatment based on scientific principles identified for reducing potential crown fires.

The guidelines cover a broad range of possible treatments and stand conditions;

however, these representative cases are not comprehensive, and actual application of the guidelines may need to be adjusted based on local conditions and

objectives.

Silvicultural treatments analyzed:

• No action

• Prescribed fire only

• Thin from below to 50 residual trees per acre, no tree more than 18 inch

diameter at breast height removed

• Thin from below to 100 residual trees per acre, no tree more than 18 inch

diameter at breast height removed

• Thin from below to 200 residual trees per acre, no tree more than 18 inch

diameter at breast height removed

• Thin from below to 300 residual trees per acre, no tree more than 18 inch

diameter at breast height removed

The following surface fuel treatments were implemented:

• No surface treatment

• Pile and burn

• Prescribed fire

Intended Users

The fuel treatment scenarios can be used by resource managers to examine alternatives for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents and other

applications that require scientifically based information to quantify the effects

of modifying forest structures and fuels. The guide is particularly useful for fire

managers, silviculturists, and wildlife managers.

Intended Uses

• NEPA documents

• Assessments of ecological, economic, and sociological effects of silvicultural and surface fuel treatments

• Display of outcomes of alternative fuel treatments for public meetings

Pacific Northwest

Research Station

Rocky Mountain

Research Station
The Fuels Planning fact sheets are based on preliminary findings. Information from fact sheets will be synthesized in an upcoming publication.

Forest Structure and Fire Hazard Fact

Sheets

Look for other fact sheet topics from the Forest Structure and Fire

Hazard Team with information about fire hazard, visualization,

silviculture, uncertainty, and larger scale treatments.

Fuels Planning: Synthesis and Integration

This fact sheet is one in a series being produced as part of a larger

project supported by the USDA Forest Service to synthesize new

knowledge and information relevant to fire and fuels management.

Fact sheets address topics related to stand structure, environmental

impacts, economics, and human responses to these factors. Information in the fact sheets is targeted for the dry forests of the Inland

West, but is often applicable across broad regions of the country.

For more information, please visit our Web site at:

www.fs.fed.us/fire/tech_transfer/synthesis/synthesis_index

Required Inputs

The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) uses forest inventory or stand exam data to simulate vegetation

change. FVS is programmed to input stand data into

“FVS-ready” format. Translation programs have been

developed to convert the information contained in these

databases into FVS-ready format. The Fire and Fuels

Extension (FFE) of FVS calculates fuel loadings and

weather data. Quantitative results are presented in tabular format for pre-and posttreatment effects for potential fire behavior attributes such as crowning and torching potential, fire type (that is, surface, passive, active),

canopy base height, and canopy bulk density. Qualitative results are displayed as pre- and-posttreatment images rendered by EnVision visualization software immediately after the treatments were implemented. A

After treatment: thinned to 50 trees per acre from below with 18 inch

upper dbh limit, resulting in a 23 percent reduction in basal area, and 52

percent reduction in stand density index.

Before treatment

potential fire behavior for different stand conditions.

Fuels data can be entered directly, although FFE-FVS

assigns default values for fuels based on assumed standfuels relationships for different geographic locations. The

FVS Web site (http://www.fs.fed.us/fmsc/fvs/index.php)

contains specific information on data requirements and

format for the FVS program.

What the Model Does

The guide examines the efficacy of treating representative dry-forest stands that have high stem densities and

heavy ladder fuels. Quantitative and qualitative effects

of each treatment are displayed for the 75th percentile

(moderate) and 97th percentile (severe) historical fire

graph of pre- and posttreatment effects on canopy bulk

density is also provided.

How to Obtain the Model

The guide will be available in hard copy and online

(http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/publications/index.shtml)

from the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station. It will also be posted online at: http:

//www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera