Filling in the Blanks for Prescribed Fire in Shrublands: Developing Information to Support Improved Fire Planning

By collecting information on fuel loading, fuel consumption, fuel moisture, site conditions and fi re weather on fires in a variety of shrubland types, researchers are developing a fuller knowledge of shrubland fire effects. Results are being integrated into the software package CONSUME, a user-friendly software tool for predicting fuel consumption and emissions for fire, fuel and smoke management planning. Shrubland types studied include chamise chaparral in California, big sagebrush in Montana, pine flatwoods in Florida and Georgia, and pitch pine scrub in the New Jersey Pinelands. Measurements were made of fuel characteristics before and after prescribed fi res in the four vegetation communities in order to improve managers’ abilities to plan prescribed burns in these shrubland types. The outcomes of this research project contribute to our understanding and management of fi re effects in shrub ecosystems where data were previously limited