INTRODUCTION TO NATIONAL STUDY

Fire in Southern Appalachian Mountains Fire-adapted forest ecosystems are denser and have excessive fuel loadings as a result of fire exclusion and fire suppression policies, changes in land use practices (grazing, farm abandonment, timber harvests), and climate change. Forest health has subsequently deteriorated in some ecosystems and current forest conditions have reached dangerous levels of potential severe wildfire occurrence. Mechanical fuel treatments, silvicultural thinnings, and prescribed fire have been recognized as important practices in helping to reduce the potential for wildfire. However, the ecological consequences of these practices are unknown.

The National Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) study, funded by the Joint Fire Sciences Program, will examine the consequences and tradeoffs of alternative fuel reduction techniques involving fire and mechanical “fire surrogate” treatments. This study is a national collaborative effort between federal and state agencies, universities, and private groups to examine the effects of the FFS treatments on "core" variables including vegetation, soils, wildlife, fire behavior, entomology, pathology, and economics.

The goal of this study is to reduce fuel loading and subsequently decrease the risk of severe wildfire occurrence while causing minimal damage to ecosystem functioning and processes in ecosystems that historically sustained frequent, low-intensity fires . The Southern Appalachian Mountains site is one of thirteen sites across the United States that are part of the national FFS study.

The FFS study presents an experimental design that: provides a national network based on specific "core" variables for multiple disciplines including vegetation, fuel and fire behavior, wildlife, soils, entomology, pathology, and economics; allows each site to be independent for analyses and modeling while at the same time remaining compatible with the national network; and permits investigators to add to the core design, provided they do not compromise its integrity.