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A brief overview of the Selway Falls Cabin Prescribed Fire. This powerpoint is provided to give context to the expected fire behavior and outcomes to the low intensity fire units (3A, 3C, 4, 5, 7, and 8A) in the North Selway Face project.
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A brief overview of theSelway Falls Cabin Prescribed Fire This powerpoint is provided to give context to the expected fire behavior and outcomes to the low intensity fire units (3A, 3C, 4, 5, 7, and 8A) in the North Selway Face project. The Selway Falls Cabin Prescribed fire was implemented in September 2010 to reduce fuels around the Selway Falls Cabin and improve elk winter range. The units depicted are the same elevation, aspect and fuels as the proposed North Selway Face project. The Selway Falls Cabin project is approximately 1 mile east upstream of the proposed North Selway Face project.
North Selway Face (NSF) area with other approved projects: Dark Blue polygon is the project boundary Black polygons are NSF prescribed fire units Light blue lines are Selway Winter Range Improvement units (Hand-felled shrubs) Red polygons are Fenn Face Prescribed Burn units
Selway Falls Cabin RX Burn – September 2009. Typical backing fire through P-pine, late afternoon.
Selway Falls Cabin RX Burn – September 2009. Fire burning in cedar grove. This was typical fire behavior, very low flame lengths and spread. Generally the fire went out at night unless it was established in a log and burned until it hit another patch of fuel, usually in an opening with sunlight on it.
Selway Falls Cabin RX Burn – September 2009. Understory brush burning.
Selway Falls Cabin RX Burn – September 2009. Backing fire on Selway River face, ERU: Lower Selway Canyon; VRU: 3
Selway Falls Cabin RX Burn – September 2009. This slope just burned. Very limited overstory mortality from immediate first order fire effects. Note the mosaic burn on the surface in the forefront.
Selway Falls Cabin RX Burn – September 2009. Post burn effects.
Selway Falls Cabin RX Burn – September 2009. There were small pockets of mortality in the overstory. These occurred when fire ran upslope on the more densely stocked mixed-conifer slopes with heavy fuels and cooked the crowns in the smoke column. Higher mortality would be expected in a free-moving summer wildfire while less would be expected in a backing fire under moderate conditions.
Selway Falls Cabin RX Burn – September 2009. This picture shows the desired effects: removal of encroaching regeneration while retaining the large overstory trees
In October 2010, 1 year after the burn, a non-random, non-statistical plot sampling was taken in the burn area. There were no pre-burn plots, therefore the measurements included living trees or dead trees that had been killed by obvious 1st order fire effects such as crown scorch/consumption or fire bole girdling or damage. The plots were fixed at 1/8 acre. Percent plot burned and percent shrub kill were ocularly measured. While not statistically valid, one can infer from the plots and previous photos that the majority of the brush was top-killed, providing a rejuvenated shrub component and a majority (>90%) of the dominant overstory survived. While not documented with photos, it should be noted that the western flank had no fireline and was contained by shrubfields.
Selway Falls Cabin RX BurnPlot 1-1 % Plot burned: 100 % Shrub top-killed: 10 P-pine live: 1 (20”-25”) 1 (25”+) G-fir dead: 1 (20”-25”)
Selway Falls Cabin RX BurnPlot 1-2 % Plot burned: 70 % Shrub top-killed: 100 G-fir live: 7 (25”+) Cedar live: 3 (25”+)
Selway Falls Cabin RX BurnPlot 1-3 % Plot burned: 100 % Shrub top-killed: 100 G-fir dead: 1 (10”-15”)
Selway Falls Cabin RX BurnPlot 1-4 % Plot burned: 85 % Shrub top-killed: 100 P-pine live: 1 (15”-20”) 1 (20”-25”) 2 (25”+) G-fir live: 1 (15”-20”) 2 (20”-25”) 1 (20”-25”)
Selway Falls Cabin RX BurnPlot 2-1 % Plot burned: 100 % Shrub top-killed: 80 D-fir live: 1 (15”-20”) 1 (20”-25”) 4 (20”-25”)
Selway Falls Cabin RX BurnPlot 2-2 % Plot burned: 100 % Shrub top-killed: 100 G-fir dead: 1 (0”-5”) 1 (5”-10”)
Selway Falls Cabin RX BurnPlot 2-3 % Plot burned: 100 % Shrub top-killed: 100 P-pine live: 1 (25”+) D-fir live: 1 (5”-10”) 1 (10”-15”) 3 (15”-20”) D-fir dead: 1 (0”-5”)