OCR Text |
Show Brian Ferguson (left) and Kim Soper use a Global Positioning System (GPS) to map out BRYCE Forest Service specialists conducted a recent factfinding fact-finding followup on last year's East Creek Prescribed Burn area near Dave's Hollow Ranger station. Forest Service silviculturist Brian Ferguson, Cedar City and Kim Soper, Panguitch toured the area to determine how the approximately approx-imately 1 ,000 acres burned in last year's prescribed burn were progressing. pro-gressing. Prior to conducting the burn last year, foresters had studied the data available on the area to implement a proper prescription for the burn. Since East Creek is located adjacent adja-cent to Bryce Canyon National Park, substantial fire history data had been gathered over the years. Historically, before man decided to suppress fire all together, fires burned somewhere in the area every 2-14 years, Soper said. In addition, foresters, by checking the dendrochronology of trees in an area, can determine when previous study plots on this 1,000 acre prescribed burn near Dave's Hollow. Forest Service Does Fact- Finding Follow-Up On Dave's Hollow Area fires have occurred. Dendrochronology Dendrochron-ology is a method of determining dates of events and intervals of time by comparative study of the sequence of rings of growth in trees and aged wood. They also study the tree population, vegetation, wildlife, and other factors as thoroughly as possible in making their decisions to burn The prescription written years ago for the same area was to manually thin or strip burn the area, resulting in a large thoroughly-burned thoroughly-burned block. In contrast, the intent on this burn prescription from a year ago, was to modify the area, leaving trees of moderate age dead and achieving an uneven age stand of trees. They also planned to leave pockets of unburned grasses, burning only in selected spots and allowing the fire to creep on its own, attempting to duplicate a natural eco-system burn. In following their plan, in May 1995 they burned over 626 acres and in April this year, they completed the task burning an additional 493 acres. Funds to assist in the burn were from the Knutsen-Vandenberg law which allows a certain percent of money generated from timber sales to go back into reforestation, thinning, watershed and wildlife projects. Prior to the burn Soper, who has excellent public relations experience experi-ence from his years working in the area, worked closely with area businesses to inform them of potential smoke lingering from the prescribed burn. Soper and Other forest service personnel also study weather conditions closely just prior to initiating burns looking at long range weather patterns, fronts, and inversions and staying away from high-use holiday times. Soper and Ferguson have set up 53 study plots thus far, following the prescribed burn to monitor the (See Forest Service Does Survey On Dave's Hollow On Page 5-A) |