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Spatially Placed Area Fuel Treatments (SPLATs)
Location: Sagehen Experimental Forest, Truckee Ca
Contact: Station Manager Jeff Brown (530) 587-4830, jrbrown@uclink4.berkely.edu
Project Stage: Preliminary research and modeling complete
Next Milestone: Implementation at Sagehen and Outreach to Stakeholders
Beginning in 2004 the Tahoe National Forest and the University of California, Berkeley, partnered to employ the fire-shed assessment process at Sagehen Experimental Forest to create potential Spatially Placed Area Fuel Treatments (SPLATs). This approach to fire management integrates the most successful ways of changing potential fire behavior on a landscape level or a “fire-shed”. This research has created a partnership between Sagehen researchers and Forest practitioners with a common goal. Forest composition and fuel loading data, shared with high resolution remote sensing (Lidar Data) has given researchers the input for Flam mapping. This tool is a virtual modeling system allowing the fire-shed data to be analyzed under different SPLAT placements. This landscape wide approach to fire management has not yet been applied on the ground in the realm of forestry, but the results of this study present great potential for its success.
Compounding unstable trends such as pest outbreak, herbivory, flooding, catastrophic fire, climate change, earlier snowmelt, and deforestation continue to take their toll on the resiliency of forest ecosystems and their services to humans. The SPLAT concept was written into the Sierra Nevada Framework as a proposed plan for modifying fuel behavior, ultimately restoring the forests capacity to endure fire. The goals of the SPLAT research at Sagehen are to “assess the effectiveness of one of the SPLAT treatments designed for Sagehen to reduce modeled flame length and fireline intensity and reduce post fire tree mortality. Increasing surface fire more frequently lets fire back in to the forest, making it more resilient to catastrophic fire overtime. Research shows through core sampling at Sagehen that, prior to harvesting, small fires would run through parts of this forest every 2-5 years.
The 531 plots at Sagehen have been measured for canopy cover, ground data, elevation, slope and aspect. Fuel reduction treatments such as reducing surface fuels, increasing canopy base height, and reducing canopy bulk density have been simulated strategically across the landscape. There are four main iterations of treatments with different placements varying between long and sparse, or large and concentrated. Next, with Flam Mapping technology – computer modeling, a series of fires burning under different weather conditions were simulated in the Sagehen basin’s conifer forest. Findings reveal that SPLATs make fires less intense, on the ground, and faster. This is a positive thing because there is less chance of destroying the soils’ living organisms.. SPLATs have proven far more effectual than randomly placed treatments of equivalent area “in reducing relative fire size, spread rate, flame length and fire-line intensity on varying landscapes.” (Valliant) The expected spread rate with treatment was found to have a 50-60% spread rate reduction, also slowing down fires adjacent to the Treatment area. The effectiveness of treatments is estimated to last less than 20 years. “Through this iterative fire behavior modeling it has been proven that strategically placed area fuel treatments (SPLATs) can alter fire behavior at the landscape-level by treating around one-third of the landscape.” (Valliant)
This initial SPLAT research at Sagehen field station is now complete. In the coming months the plan is to finish proposals for areas to be treated and to undertake the NEPA process. Once through the NEPA process the plan is to then implement SPLATs on the ground with short and long term monitoring of the area. Collaboration between diverse stakeholders is necessary to move this project to the next level. Sagehen plans outreach in the coming months to bring people in from varying perspectives and backgrounds to collaborate in the process. Proposed documentaries are one mode of outreach, intended to convey successes and challenges to an audience of all ages and related professions. Sagehen station manager Jeff Brown says there is no perfect answer in restoring the resiliency of the forests. Some challenges include patience in the process, non-judgment of the outcomes as different prescriptions are explored, and lastly to establish trust between growing partnerships. Jeff Brown says “Trust in the forest’s ability to self manage is also crucial in exploring how to allow fire back in, restoring natural fire cycles”.
For more about:
The Project
see the Sagehen Experimental Forest Home Page
Related Articles
Valliant, Nicole M. PhD. UCB. 2008. Sagehen Experimental Forest Past, Present, and Future: An Evaluation of the Fireshed Assessment Process. 172 pp.
McDanial, J. 2006. Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center SPLATS, SPOTS and the future of fuel treatments
Stewart, S.A. 2006. National Interagency Fire Center. Using a strategic placement of treatments to maximize the effectiveness of fuel and vegetation management with integrated landscape design [SPLATs], Stewart, S. A.
Other Resources Flam mapping
US Forest Service Sierra Nevada Homepage
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