P.O. Box 2057
Lake
Placid, Florida 33862 USA Phone: 863-465-2571
FAX:
863-699-1927 Email: archbold@archbold-station.org
Archbold Biological Station
P.O. Box 2057 Lake
Placid, Florida 33862 USA
Phone: 863-465-2571 FAX:
863-699-1927
Email: archbold@archbold-station.org
Archbold Biological Station
STATION FIRE MANAGEMENT PLAN
by
Kevin N. Main and Eric S. Menges
November, 1997
Land Management Publication 97-1, 95 pp.
Archbold Biological Station, Lake Placid, Florida
Main, K.N., and E.S. Menges. 1997. Archbold Biological Station, Station Fire Management Plan. Land Management Publ. 97-1, 95 pp.Abstract: Fire management planning at Archbold Biological Station attempts to balance diverse goals and provide temporal and spatial heterogeneity across the landscape. The goals are enhancing biological diversity, enhancing threatened and endangered species, mimicking natural processes, providing a diversity of research and educational opportunities, interacting with other fire management agencies, reducing fire hazards, and conducting safe burns. A mosaic of units of various sizes, burned at various fire-return intervals, should satisfy these goals. The system is built around five fire-return intervals, each of which is a range of years within which individual burn units are planned to re-burn. A key characteristic is the assignment of modal fire-return intervals to vegetation types (e.g. most sandhill will burn every 2-5 years, most rosemary scrub will burn every 20-59 years). Using fire-return intervals, rather than a fixed number of years, increases heterogeneity, provides research opportunities, and creates a plan with flexibility, including the ability to absorb most lightning-ignited fires. Initial burns in fire-suppressed areas are staggered to be burned over a time period corresponding to the modal fire-return interval. Heterogeneity is also provided by assigning units to intervals other than the modal one for the vegetation. We also seek to promote variation in timing of fires, fire patchiness, fire intensity, and size of burns. Recent Station fire management has increased the number of prescribed burns, shifted most burns to the natural ignition season, and used a range of fire sizes (<1 to 73 ha). A variety of fire-return intervals are also assigned to units containing critically-endangered species in order to provide research-based management information. Mechanics of the plan are described, including how burn dates are selected for burn units, how prescribed fires are conducted, pre- and post-fire monitoring, fire mapping, burn unit surveys, and burn day preparations. Policies for dealing with all fires (including lighting-ignited and accidental fires) provide information about acceptable prescription parameters, necessary safety equipment, crew training, maintenance of fire breaks, and archival of fire data.Contact the Land Manager (Email: archbold@archbold-station.org) for information about ordering copies of this fire management plan. |
Contents
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I. GOALS OF FIRE MANAGEMENT AT THE STATION
A. Enhance Biological Diversity
B. Enhance Threatened and Endangered Species
C. Mimic Natural Processes
D. Provide a Diversity of Research Opportunities
E. Provide Educational Opportunities
F. Interact with Other Fire Management Agencies
G. Reduce Fire Hazards by Managing Fuels and Fire
H. Conduct Safe BurnsII. FIRE HISTORY
A. The Florida Environment in the Late Wisconsin and Holocene Eras
B. Presettlement Fire History
C. Early Settlement Era (1880's-1940)
D. Fire Suppression Era (1941-1976)
E. Experimental Fire Management Era (1977-1981)
F. Initial Fire Planning Era (1982-1987)
G. The Current Era (1988-present)
H. History of Burn SeasonsIII. FIRE PLANNING
A. Approach to Fire Planning
B. Defining Modal Fire Frequencies by Vegetation Type
C. Designing Individual Burn Units
D. Assigning Fire Frequency Classes to Individual Burn Units
E. Consideration of Threatened and Endangered Species
F. Delineating Fire Sensitive AreasIV. DETERMINING BURN DATES FOR INDIVIDUAL BURN UNITS
A. Determining Year of Burn for Previously Fire-Maintained Units
B. Determining Year of Burn for Overdue Units
C. Amount (hectares) to Burn Each Year
D. Spatial Configuration of Units Selected for BurningV. PLANNING AND EXECUTING INDIVIDUAL FIRES
A. Burn Unit Surveys
B. Burn Unit Prescriptions
C. Burn-Day PreparationsVI. STATION FIRE POLICIES AND REGULATIONS
A. Administration
B. Safety
C. Equipment
D. Responsibility
E. Unplanned Fires on the Property
F. Unplanned Fires off the Property
G. Prescribed Burning
H. Reports and Evaluation
I. Firelane and Road Maintenance
J. Cooperation with other Fire Management AgenciesVII. MONITORING
A. Mapping Fire Extent and Fire Intensity
B. Ground Photopoints
C. Observations During a Fire
D. Archival of Fire Information
E. Habitat Research and MonitoringVIII. LITERATURE CITED IX. APPENDICES
A. Burn Unit Data for Archbold Biological Station, Highlands County, Florida.
B. Example Burn Unit Prescription for Archbold Biological Station, Highlands County, Florida.
C. Example Fire Report for Archbold Biological Station, Highlands County, Florida.
Contact the Land Manager (Email: archbold@archbold-station.org) for information about ordering copies of this fire management plan.
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© Archbold Biological Station, 1997, 1998 October; last revision, 16 July 2001.
