12-3-10 Meeting Announcement.

Download meeting agenda [PDF-74KB].

We hope you can join us for the next stakeholder meeting:

Friday
December 3, 2010
10:00am – 3:00 pm
We will start and end promptly!
RSVP to: Lisa Wallace at lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org

We have spent the past several meetings becoming more familiar with the landscape of the Sagehen Basin and Forest and visiting the Test Plots. Now we begin discussions to provide feedback for the Proposed Action for the treatments of the Sagehen Forest. We will start to discuss:

• incorporating recent work (such as the Strategically Placed Land Area Treatments (SPLATS))
• additional data (such as habitat data for American marten and other wildlife)
• treatment constraints (such as economic limits)
• treatment goals (such as mimicking fire behavior, protecting legacy trees)
• Many other topics, ideas and concerns raised in the May, October, and November meetings

The Meeting Planning Committee and the Project Leads look forward to continuing and further developing many of the discussions that have been started “in the field”.

Meeting Location:
USFS Truckee Ranger District office, front conference room
10811 Stockrest Springs Road
Truckee, CA 96161

Conference Calling:
If you will be calling-in for the meeting, please RSVP as such and you will be emailed the phone number and confirmation code.

Logistics:
The meeting will take place no matter the weather. Sun, rain or snow – the meeting will not be cancelled.

The entire meeting will be held indoors at the Truckee Ranger District. Please RSVP to Lisa Wallace at lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org so we can plan seating and copies accordingly.

Please be sure to bring:
Your own lunch. We’re not providing lunch and there is not a convenient place to buy lunch;
Water bottles ~ we will have water for re-fills, but we are not providing bottled water.

Please RSVP so we can plan seating and copies.

Thanks!
/lisa
*************
Lisa Wallace
Executive Director
Truckee River Watershed Council
P.O. Box 8568
Truckee, CA 96162
(530) 550-8760 (Phone)
(530) 725-4407 (fax)
www.truckeeriverwc.org
lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org

Wolverine program on PBS.

The Sagehen wolverine is mentioned in this recently aired program from Nature.

Watch here.

More info.

Upcoming meetings.

The next meetings for the Sagehen Collaborative Project are:

Friday
December 3, 2010
10:00am to 3:00pm
Truckee Ranger District offices

Thursday
January 20, 2011
10:00am to 3:00pm
Truckee Ranger District offices

A week before each meeting we will publish an agenda and, as much as possible, include the meeting materials.

We hope you can join us for all meetings, but you are welcome to attend as many or few as your schedule allows.

11-16-10 Meeting Summary

Sagehen Collaborative Project
Stakeholder Meetings hosted by US Tahoe National Forest and Pacific Southwest Research Station

Thank you to those who were able to join us at the 11/16/2010 stakeholder meeting. For you and for those who were not able to join us, download the meeting summary [PDF-49K].

Comments, Suggestions, Feedback
Please send comments, suggestions or feedback to Lisa Wallace (facilitator) at
lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org

If you have suggestions for the next meeting, please send comments to Lisa Wallace
lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org

Access to Presentations and Materials
All available meeting materials are posted on the Sagehen Forest Project Blog at: http://sagehenforest.blogspot.com/

Next Meetings:

• Friday December 3, 2010 10:00am to 3:00pm Truckee Ranger District offices
• Thursday January 20, 2011 10:00am to 3:00pm Truckee Ranger District offices

11-16-10 Meeting Announcement

We hope you can join us for the next stakeholder meeting:

As this is the last likely opportunity to be in the field until late spring 2011, we will be in the Sagehen Basin all day.

We have had requests from many participants to tour the units in the Sagehen Basin which will receive treatment. We will visit representative sites in as many of the units as time, weather and roads allow.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010
9:00am – 4:00pm
We will start and end promptly!
RSVP to: Lisa Wallace at lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org so we can plan seating and copies

Meeting Location:
Highway 89N and Sagehen turnoff (respond if you need detailed directions)

Conference Calling:
We will be in the Sagehen Basin the entire day. No conference calling will be available.

Meeting Materials:
Meeting materials will not be posted prior to the meeting. We will have maps that will be distributed on 11/16 and these will be posted at http://sagehenforest.blogspot.com the following day.

Logistics:
The meeting will take place no matter the weather. Sun, rain or snow – the meeting will not be cancelled.

Please RSVP to Lisa Wallace at lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org so we can plan accordingly.

The meeting will be on-site in the Sagehen Basin. The forecast is for clear, but cold weather. Please be sure to bring:

• Clothing for wet and cold weather;
• Clothing that can get dirty – we’ll be walking in several sites in the Sagehen Basin;
• Very sturdy footwear – we will be walking on uneven ground in the Test Plots;
• Hats, sunblock and whatever else you need to be comfortable to be outside in fairly rough conditions for the entire day
• Your own lunch. We’re not providing lunch and there isn’t a convenient place to buy lunch;
• Water bottles. We will have water for re-fills, but we are not providing bottled water.

Please RSVP so we can plan for the tour.

Thanks!
/lisa
*************
Lisa Wallace
Executive Director
Truckee River Watershed Council
P.O. Box 8568
Truckee, CA 96162
(530) 550-8760 (Phone)
(530) 725-4407 (fax)
www.truckeeriverwc.org
lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org

Meeting Summary, October 29, 2010.

October 29, 2010 Meeting...

• Meeting announcement.
• Meeting agenda.
• Meeting summary [PDF].
• Powerpoint Presentations:
• Malcolm North [142MB]
• Facilitator and Forest Service [4.4MB]

Next meeting, November 16, 2010.

We hope you can join us for the next stakeholder meeting:

As this is the last likely opportunity to be in the field until late spring 2011, we will be in the Sagehen Basin all day.

We have had requests from many participants to tour the units in the Sagehen Basin which will receive treatment. We will visit representative sites in as many of the units as time, weather and roads allow.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010
9:00am – 4:00pm
We will start and end promptly!
RSVP to: Lisa Wallace at lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org so we can plan seating and copies

Meeting Location:
Highway 89N and Sagehen turnoff (respond if you need detailed directions)

Conference Calling:
We will be in the Sagehen Basin the entire day. No conference calling will be available.

Meeting Materials:
Meeting materials will not be posted prior to the meeting. We will have maps that will be distributed on 11/16 and these will be posted at http://sagehenforest.blogspot.com the following day.

Logistics:
The meeting will take place no matter the weather. Sun, rain or snow – the meeting will not be cancelled.

Please RSVP to Lisa Wallace at lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org so we can plan accordingly.

The meeting will be on-site in the Sagehen Basin. The forecast is for clear, but cold weather. Please be sure to bring:

Clothing for wet and cold weather;
Clothing that can get dirty – we’ll be walking in several sites in the Sagehen Basin;
Very sturdy footwear – we will be walking on uneven ground in the Test Plots;
Hats, sunblock and whatever else you need to be comfortable to be outside in fairly rough conditions for the entire day
Your own lunch. We’re not providing lunch and there isn’t a convenient place to buy lunch;
Water bottles. We will have water for re-fills, but we are not providing bottled water.

Please RSVP so we can plan for the tour.

Thanks!
/lisa
*************
Lisa Wallace
Executive Director
Truckee River Watershed Council
P.O. Box 8568
Truckee, CA 96162
(530) 550-8760 (Phone)
(530) 725-4407 (fax)
www.truckeeriverwc.org
lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org

Next meeting dates.

Hello Everyone,

The Meeting Planning Committee** has set the additional meeting dates. The next three meetings are as noted below. Additional meetings beyond January 2011 will be announced in January.

Information about the Sagehen Collaborative Project and these meetings is posted at http://sagehenforest.blogspot.com/

Tuesday
November 16, 2010
9:00am to 4:00pm
Sagehen Basin Field Visit

Friday
December 3, 2010
10:00am to 3:00pm
Truckee Ranger District offices

Thursday
January 20, 2011
10:00am to 3:00pm
Truckee Ranger District offices

A week before each meeting, I will publish an agenda and, as much as possible, include the meeting materials.

We hope you can join us for all meetings, but you are welcome to attend as many or few as your schedule allows.

Thank you for your interest and willingness to participate.

/lisa

**Meeting Planning Committee

o Jeff Brown, UC Berkeley Sagehen Creek Field Station
o Kris Boatner, USFS Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District
o Scott Conway, USFS Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District
o Joanne Roubique, USFS Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District
o Peter Stine, USFS Pacific Southwest Research Station
o Craig Thomas, Sierra Forest Legacy
o Lisa Wallace, Truckee River Watershed Council


*************
Lisa Wallace
Executive Director
Truckee River Watershed Council
P.O. Box 8568
Truckee, CA 96162
(530) 550-8760 (Phone)
(530) 725-4407 (fax)
www.truckeeriverwc.org
lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org

10/14/2010 Stakeholder Meeting - summary

The Summary for the 10/14/2010 Stakeholder Meeting:

Plot 10 Prescribed Burn on 10/15/2010

The fuels came into condition quickly, so the Forest Service was able to burn plot 10 yesterday. Jeff & I went up to take a look.

10/14/2010 Stakeholder Meeting

Here are the preliminary notes from the 10-14-10 meeting.

Downloads:

• Get meeting notes as PDF [24K].
• Meeting Guidelines [PDF-9.4K]
• PowerPoint presentation from meeting [54M]. 
• Working prescription [PDF-2MB] - link updated 11/4/10.
• Pine Martin research references and presentations.

Next meeting...

We hope you can join us for the next stakeholder meeting:

Thursday
October 14, 2010
10:00am – 3:00 pm
We will start and end promptly!
RSVP to: Lisa Wallace at lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org

Meeting Locations:
USFS Truckee Ranger District office, front conference room
10811 Stockrest Springs Road
Truckee, CA 96161

Sagehen Creek Field Station (directions and carpooling will be sorted out at the meeting)

Conference Calling:
If you will be calling-in for the first part of the meeting, please RSVP as such and you will be emailed the phone number and confirmation code.

Logistics:

The meeting will take place no matter the weather. Sun, rain or snow – the meeting will not be cancelled.

The first part of the meeting will be held indoors at the Truckee Ranger District. Please RSVP to Lisa Wallace at lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org so we can plan seating and copies accordingly.

Lunch and the second part of the meeting will be on-site at Sagehen Creek Field Station. Please be sure to bring:

Your own lunch. We’re not providing lunch and there is not a convenient place to buy lunch;
Water bottles ~ we will have water for re-fills, but we are not providing bottled water;
Clothing for cool to very cold weather;
Clothing that can get dirty – we’ll be walking in and amongst the Test Plots;
Very sturdy footwear – we will be walking on uneven ground in the Test Plots;
Hats, sunblock and whatever else you need to be comfortable to be outside in fairly rough conditions for 2.5 hours.

Please RSVP so we can plan seating and copies.

Thanks!
/lisa
*************
Lisa Wallace
Executive Director
Truckee River Watershed Council
P.O. Box 8568
Truckee, CA 96162
(530) 550-8760 (Phone)
(530) 725-4407 (fax)
www.truckeeriverwc.org
lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org

Truckee Talks segment

The Sagehen Forest Project from F. Felix on Vimeo.
Jeff Brown, Malcolm North & Scott Conway talk to Maia Schneider about the Sagehen Forest Project underway in the Sagehen Experimental Forest.

More information on the project blog at http://sagehenforest.blogspot.com/

Announcement from our facilitator

Hello Everyone,

I am excited to be joining the Sagehen Collaborative Project.

The next three meetings will take place as noted below. Additional meetings will be scheduled in collaboration with all of you.

Thursday
October 14, 2010
10:00am to 3:00pm
Truckee Ranger District offices & Sagehen Field Visit

Friday
October 29, 2010
10:00am to 3:00pm
Truckee Ranger District offices & Sagehen Field Visit

Tuesday
November 16, 2010
10:00am to 3:00pm
Truckee Ranger District offices (& Sagehen Field Visit as needed and weather permitting)

A week before each meeting, I will publish an agenda and, as much as possible, include the meeting materials.

While a detailed agenda will be published for the October 14 meeting, I’d like to let you know we (Peter Stine, Joanne Roubique and other USFS staff) expect to review the goals of the Sagehen Collaborative Project, recruit a planning committee, receive a briefing on the two Demonstrations Plots and tour the Demonstration Plots.

The overall aim of the meetings is to devise a forest management strategy that incorporates the objectives of our collaborative group. We hope to have that completed by the spring of 2011 so we can proceed with NEPA.

We hope you can join us for all meetings, but you are welcome to attend as many or few as your schedule allows.

Thank you for your interest and willingness to participate.

/lisa

*************

Lisa Wallace
Executive Director
Truckee River Watershed Council
P.O. Box 8568
Truckee, CA 9
(530) 550-8760 (Phone)
(530) 725-4407 (fax)
www.truckeeriverwc.org
lwallace@truckeeriverwc.org

Update from the Forest Service.

Hello Everyone,

Many of you participated in the May 12, 2010 exploratory meeting for the Sagehen Collaborative Project or have expressed interest in participating in future meetings. A summary of the May 12 meeting is available here for your reference.

We have taken several steps since then and wanted to give you an update:

Thanks to the generous assistance of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and the Tahoe National Forest, we have secured some funding to continue a facilitated set of meetings for the Sagehen Collaborative Project. Lisa Wallace, Executive Director of the Truckee River Watershed Council, will convene and facilitate 4-8 meetings, as needed. The Watershed Council has often taken the role of neutral convener and facilitator for natural resource management projects in the Truckee area. Under separate cover, Lisa will send information and notification on the next set of meetings. Our goal is the schedule the next meeting in early October.

Per the discussion and agreements at the May 12 meeting, Scott Conway, of the USFS Tahoe National Forest, Truckee Ranger District, has two Demonstration Plots underway in Sagehen Creek Field Station. These Demo Plots will show us what the area may look like after treatment. The "prescription" for these Demo areas was developed with the help of Dr. Malcolm North, using the principles he and his co-authors developed in their recent publication, "An Ecosystem Management Strategy for Sierran Mixed-Conifer Forests" (aka GTR-220). We will be able to tour the Demo Plots at the next meeting. The plots will show us untreated areas marked for treatment, treated areas and are adjacent to areas previously treated using other "prescriptions".

Thank you again for your participation at the May exploratory meeting. The feedback you provided led directly to our ability to continue the collaborative process and to implementing the Demonstration Plots.

We look forward to seeing you again in the near future.

/s/ Joanne and Peter


Joanne B. Roubique, District Ranger
Truckee Ranger District - Tahoe NF
10811 Stockrest Spring Rd.
Truckee, CA 96161

jroubique@fs.fed.us
530-587-3558 x 232

Peter A. Stine
Pacific Southwest Research Station
U.S. Forest Service
2121 2nd Street, Suite A101
Davis, CA 95616

pstine@fs.fed.us
530-759-1703

Final report on SPLATs project.

Here are two reports to the Joint Fire Sciences Program on SPLATs research at Sagehen.

Final Report, Joint Fire Science Program: 04.2-1-84, Nov. 16, 2007 (PDF - 644K)

Reality Show: SPLATS Take a Trip from Theory to the Tahoe National Forest, Feb. 2009 (704K)

Sagehen American (pine) martens

August 23, 2007: For Sagehen Summer Speaker Series #18, Dr. Bill Zielinsky of the US Forest Service PSW discusses past & upcoming American marten research in Sagehen basin. He also discusses how forest management practice influences marten habitat.


Past & future pine marten research at Sagehen from F. Felix on Vimeo.

GTR-220 implementation discussion

Today, a group of foresters & ecologists led by Malcolm North met to begin discussions on how to write a treatment prescription based on the broadly supported GTR-220 document describing how to restore resiliency to Sierran forests.

As an example of efforts currently underway to implement these guidelines, Eric Knapp discussed work being done on the Stanislaus-Tuolumne Experimental Forest, using detailed forest maps from 1929 & research by Richy J. Harrod, Bradner H. McRae, William E. Hartl: Historic stand reconstruction in ponderosa pine forests to guide silvicultural prescriptions.

Ramiro Rojas of the Sierra National Forest also discussed marking prescriptions for the Dinkey Proposed Actions, a project that has significant fisher habitat considerations.

The rest of the day was spent in the field.

Katie Moriarty talks weasels.

August 7, 2008: For Sagehen Speaker Series #22, researcher Katie Moriarty discusses her work on American martens in the Sagehen basin. She also discusses other Sierran predators, including the big surprise that turned up on her camera trap on February 28, 2008.

Moriarty, K. M., American Marten Distributions over a 28 Year Period: Relationships with Landscape Change in Sagehen Creek Experimental Forest, California, USA. 2009, OSU. 108 pp. [PDF]

Moriarty, K.M., W. J. Zeilinski, A. G. Gonzales, T. E. Dawson, K. M. Boatner, C. A. Wilson, F. V. Schlexer, K. L. Pilgrim, J. P. Copeland, M. K. Schwartz, Wolverine Confirmation in California after Nearly a Century: Native or Long-Distance Immigrant?

More marten research at Sagehen.

Watch videos of Pine Martens.

American Martens in Sagehen Basin. from F. Felix on Vimeo.

Interview with Gary Roller & Jeff Brown about SPLATs research at Sagehen.

10-25-2006: Here's an old TTCTV broadcast of Maia Schneider interviewing Gary Roller & Jeff Brown about SPLATs research at Sagehen.

There's good background here about the unprecedented data set collected for the project: fuels & vegetation surveys, LiDAR imaging of the basin, fire model runs, etc.


Gary Roller & Jeff Brown discuss SPLATs research. from F. Felix on Vimeo.

Sagehen Forest Project Collaboration Exploration Meeting: 5-12-10

On Wednesday, May 12, 2010, a group of interested stakeholders met to talk about the possibility of collaborating on forest health treatments for the Sagehen basin.

Download the meeting notes, including a list of participants.

In this introductory meeting, the Tahoe National Forest, Pacific Southwest Research Station & UC Berkeley Sagehen Creek Field Station shared the work they've done to date to define the problem & the likely areas to be affected. Scott Conway, Scott Dailey & Kris Boatner presented for the Forest Service, Jeff Brown for Sagehen Creek Field Station. The panel discussion included Tom Quinn, Forest Supervisor; Joanne Roubique, District Ranger; Peter Stine, PSW; Bill Zielinsky, PSW; & others.

After the presentations at the Tahoe Forest office, the group visited Sagehen for a field trip to examine some of the issues, somewhat constrained by snowy roads.

Later meetings will focus discussion on what actual treatments [or not] will be best for each area. The next meeting date is currently being worked out on Doodle.

*****

The PowerPoint presentations from the meeting are available for download here [105 MB].

Or watch movies made from the PowerPoints here.

Jeff Brown's introduction to Sagehen slideshow:


50+ Years of Sagehen from F. Felix on Vimeo.
07:00

American (Pine) Marten research in Sagehen basin.

The Sagehen basin and adjacent areas have been the focus of pine marten research since the 1970's, making the marten an indicator for monitoring changes to the basin forest.

The following are some theses resulting from this long-term research:

1. Moriarty, K. M., American Marten Distributions over a 28 Year Period: Relationships with Landscape Change in Sagehen Creek Experimental Forest, California, USA. 2009, Master's thesis, OSU.
2. Martin, S.K., "The ecology of the Pine Marten (Martes americana) at Sagehen Creek, California." 1987, Ph.D. thesis, UCB.
3. Zielinski, W.J., "Food habits, activity patterns, and ectoparasites of the pine marten at Sagehen Creek, California." 1981, Masters thesis, UCB.
4. Spencer, W.D., "Pine marten habitat preference at Sagehen Creek, California." 1981, Master's thesis, UCB. 
5. Simon, "Ecology study of the marten in Tahoe National Forest." 1980, Master's thesis, Sacramento State University.

Selected additional journal publications related to Sagehen marten research:

• Resting Site Selection by Marten at Sagehen Creek, California. Sandra K. Martin, R. H. Barrett, 1991.
• Current Distribution of American martens in California. T. E. Kucera, W. E. Zielinski, R. H. Barrett, 1995
• Current Distribution of American Martens, Martes americana. T. E. Kucera, W. E. Zielinski, R. H. Barrett, 1995
• Relationship between Food Habits and Activity Patterns of Pine Martens. William J. Zielinski, W. D. Spencer, R. H. Barrett, 19

There are more publication references related to Sagehen marten research on our Publications pages.

Sagehen wolverine discovery.

The journal Northwest Science published a research paper by Katie Moriarty, et al about the Sagehen wolverine.

The article tells the story of the discovery of the wolverine during her American marten survey, as well as the fascinating methods used to confirm the animal's species, gender, population source, and personal range.

Here's another article about a sighting of the wolverine, and a video of the animal.

More recent information about the Sagehen wolverine.

Sustainable management of fire-dependent forests

8-13-09: For Sagehen Speaker Series no. 26, Dr. Malcolm North discusses a new, multi-discipline publication from the Forest Service PSW, "An Ecosystem Management Strategy for Sierran Mixed-Conifer Forests" (GTR-220). The report is also available here [PDF].

*Update: GTR-237 is out!

More info about forest fire research at Sagehen.

Sustainable management of fire-dependent forests. from F. Felix on Vimeo.

Forest resiliency & SPLATs research at Sagehen

7-24-08: For Sagehen Speaker Series no. 21, Professor John Battles discusses how we can convert our precious western national forests back into resilient, naturally-functioning ecosystems using Strategically Placed Area Treatments [SPLATs].


Forest Resiliency & SPLATs Research at Sagehen. from F. Felix on Vimeo.

SPLAT-related thesis completed

Nicole Vaillant completed her Ph.D. thesis at Sagehen in 2008: Sagehen Experimental Forest Past, Present, and Future: An Evaluation of the Fireshed Assessment Process.

The study evaluates the Sagehen basin fire history, uses high resolution aerial laser mapping & an extensive dataset of actual fuel & vegetation measurements at hundreds of sites in the basin to compare fire models, & evaluates different possible SPLAT treatments. Strategically Placed Land Area Treatments (SPLATs) are a way of restructuring the forest to interrupt fire behavior, restore resiliency & more closely approximate natural forest structure.

Here's an excerpt from the thesis introduction:

"The first chapter investigates the past through a fire history reconstruction of lower elevation Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi) and Jeffrey pine – mixed conifer stands within Sagehen. Using fire perimeter maps and dendrochronology, the historic fire regime (frequency and seasonality) was determined. This chapter explores the influence of Native American land use practices, Comstock Era logging, fire suppression and climate indices (Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Palmer Drought Severity Index) on the fire regime at Sagehen.

The second chapter focuses on the present comparing three geographic information system (GIS) data sets utilized in the fireshed assessment process available for Sagehen. Eight GIS data layers are required to model fire behavior in FlamMap (Finney 2006), a landscape-level fire behavior and propagation model. The eight layers required include: elevation, slope, aspect, canopy cover, canopy base height, canopy height, canopy bulk density and fuel model. The three GIS data sets being compared in this chapter included:
1) data created using LiDAR and plot information for Sagehen,
2) pre-existing Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Project (Landfire) data (Ryan et al. 2006), and
3) pre-existing Tahoe National Forest Stewardship and Fireshed Assessment data (Bahro et al. 2007).

The three GIS data sets were evaluated against the extensive grid of fuel and vegetation plots to test the correlation of canopy cover, fuel model, canopy base height, canopy height and canopy bulk density to current conditions. Modeled fire behavior metrics (fire type, flame length and fireline intensity) were compared between the three GIS data sets to better understand the implications of different source data on management decisions made during the fireshed assessment process.

The third chapter will again concentrate on the present comparing six SPLAT treatment plans created for Sagehen. Four of the plans were created by the Tahoe National Forest in conjunction with University of California, Berkeley using the fireshed assessment process. These four plans take into account accessibility, cost, landownership and ecological objectives. The second two plans were theoretical. The first is based on the pattern outlined by the fundamental research on the SPLAT theory (Finney 2001). This plan does not consider any of the above limitations. The second was created using the treatment optimization model within FlamMap (Finney 2007). This SPLAT plan excludes areas not available for treatment including watercourse protection zones, archeological sites and locations protected for sensitive or endangered plant and animal species. Potential fire behavior metrics (fire type, flame length, fireline intensity and arrival time) were modeled in FlamMap to evaluate the effectiveness of the six SPLAT plans.

The fourth chapter assesses the longevity of treatment effectiveness to reduce potential fire behavior for one of the fireshed assessment SPLAT treatments into the future. A forest vegetation growth simulator was utilized to model natural regeneration and growth of trees in Sagehen from 2005 through 2055 for the untreated and treated landscapes. Modeled fire behavior (fire type, flame length and fireline intensity) was used to assess the effectiveness of the treated landscape compared to the untreated landscape from 2005 to 2055.

There is much to be gained by integrating the past, present and future of Sagehen Experimental Forest into a spatial and temporal evaluation of the fireshed assessment and SPLATs. To my knowledge, no other watershed has the amount of information available for such a detailed analysis. Nor has there been a detailed evaluation of proposed SPLAT treatments created through the fireshed process. This study would be a first for both SPLAT placement and fireshed analysis, and should be of great value to land managers."

Carolyn Crane interviews SPLAT researchers

August, 2005: Carolyn Crane interviews Sagehen researchers about "Strategically Placed Land Area Treatments (SPLATs)" being studied as a strategy to alter forest fire behavior.

10:30

Forest fire dynamics explored in SPLAT study

Sagehen Science & Education

Welcome!

The Sagehen Experimental Forest is likely going to see big changes in the near future.

UC Berkeley Sagehen Creek Field Station, Tahoe National Forest & the Pacific Southwest Research Station have been studying the Sagehen basin condition with an eye to acting to restore the natural resiliency that protects a healthy forest from destructive insects, fire, disease, water quality loss & other threats.

Continuing Sagehen's 60-year legacy of research & education depends on maintaining as naturally functioning & sustainable an ecosystem as possible, so we hope to correct the existing imbalances within the basin. If we are successful, Sagehen can serve as a model for thousands of acres of western forest with similar problems.

This blog is a place for us to post information about this project as we work with stakeholders & interested parties to come up with an acceptable forest treatment strategy. Let us know how we're doing by using the comments section on each post, or by getting in touch.