Fuel Consumption and Flammability Thresholds in Shrub-Dominated Ecosystems. Final Report to the Joint Fire Science Program, Project No. 03-1-3-06

摘要

Fuel loading, fuel consumption, fuel moisture, site conditions, and fire weather were measured on a series of operational prescribed fires in big sagebrush (n=16), pine flatwoods (n=40), chamise chaparral (n=12), and pitch pine scrub (n=7) ecosystem types with a particular focus on consumption of the standing shrub biomass. Multiple linear regression models to predict fuel consumption from fuel and environmental variables are being developed and programmed into the software package CONSUME, an application for predicting fuel consumption and emissions for fire, fuel and smoke management planning. Relations between plant dimensions and biomass, and plant cover, height and biomass are also being developed to allow non-destructive biomass estimation from common and easy-to-make measurements.