1 map; Report title; Includes bibliographical references
A park policy of letting lightning fires burn is onlv practical and applicable for areas largely devoid of fuels such as those surrounding the c aid era rim. Any fire management plan in the national park must assure visitor safetyf protect developments, and insure safety of lands outside the park. Prescribed fire used under safe burning conditions with careful planning and preparation should be successful in meeting ecological objectives. 2. Summary of Prescribed Burning Plans Prescribed fires in the panhandle section will be in 10 to 20 ha plots. Firelines have been constructed around these plots where natural barriers such as Annie Creek or man-made ones such as roads do not exist. A 20-man U. S. Forest Service suppression team has built the firelines and they and their fire suppression equipment will be available during the burns. Test burns to date have totalled only six acres and have provided the opportunity to observe fire behavior amd effects in fuel types typical of the park's ponderosa pine forest. Vegetation changes in the burn plots will be studied through inventories of permanent vegetation plots. These data will be significant in interpreting the actual results of the prescribed burns in the ponderosa pine forest. Additional periodic inventories in future years will yield date indicating whether the objectives of prescribed burning are being achieved. Soil samples collected from both burned and unburned plots will be analyzed for nutrients ? Such a comparison will be useful in understanding nutrient recycling and its effects on plant growth. Because the burn plots are relatively small, correlations between any wildlife observations and the results of prescribed fire may be limited. However, several investigations suggest burning improved habitat for birds and mammals associated with the early stages of plant succession; generally the effects of such small burn plots on wildlife will be minimal.
A park policy of letting lightning fires burn is onlv practical and applicable for areas largely devoid of fuels such as those surrounding the c aid era rim. Any fire management plan in the national park must assure visitor safetyf protect developments, and insure safety of lands outside the park. Prescribed fire used under safe burning conditions with careful planning and preparation should be successful in meeting ecological objectives. 2. Summary of Prescribed Burning Plans Prescribed fires in the panhandle section will be in 10 to 20 ha plots. Firelines have been constructed around these plots where natural barriers such as Annie Creek or man-made ones such as roads do not exist. A 20-man U. S. Forest Service suppression team has built the firelines and they and their fire suppression equipment will be available during the burns. Test burns to date have totalled only six acres and have provided the opportunity to observe fire behavior amd effects in fuel types typical of the park's ponderosa pine forest. Vegetation changes in the burn plots will be studied through inventories of permanent vegetation plots. These data will be significant in interpreting the actual results of the prescribed burns in the ponderosa pine forest. Additional periodic inventories in future years will yield date indicating whether the objectives of prescribed burning are being achieved. Soil samples collected from both burned and unburned plots will be analyzed for nutrients ? Such a comparison will be useful in understanding nutrient recycling and its effects on plant growth. Because the burn plots are relatively small, correlations between any wildlife observations and the results of prescribed fire may be limited. However, several investigations suggest burning improved habitat for birds and mammals associated with the early stages of plant succession; generally the effects of such small burn plots on wildlife will be minimal.