Regions: South Slave Region
Tags: biology, vegetation, prediction models, botany, historical data, forestry, forest fire management, forest litter, environmental protection plan
| Principal Investigator: | Brungs Simard, Hanita (1) |
| Licence Number: | 12858 |
| Organization: | University of Alberta and South Slave Research Centre |
| Licensed Year(s): |
1996
|
| Issued: | May 30, 1996 |
| Project Team: | Ruthann Gal |
Objective(s): Human emigration to wilderness areas is a movement which results in more frequent and extensive wildland/urban interfaces (WUI). Many dangers are associated with the WUI, one of these being fire. Protecting communities from wildfire involves identifying the type(s) of interface(s) present, as well as understanding the historical role of fire in the landscape. This is achieved through a fire history study in combination with fuel and ecological assessments. Rationale for studying the Ft. Smith area are: 1) the flammable fuels surrounding the town; 2) the proximity of the town to Wood Buffalo National Park; and 3) incineration at the waste disposal area. Objectives of this study are to reconstruct the fire, drought, and weather history of the Ft. Smith area for the past 200 years, and to support the fuel management and community protection plans of the town. Fire scars will be dated to establish a fire chronology, and ring width and density will be used to reconstruct the meteorological conditions for the past 200 years.
Project Description: The study area will be sampled on a 2x2 km grid as the vegetation type of the area in question is predominantly jack pine. At each 2 km interval 3 procedures are done: 1) plant identification and % cover of each species in approx. 100 m. sq., 2) tally of the fuels (logs, twigs, branches) that fall along a triangular transect, 3) discs are removed from one large unscarred tree and one scarred tree for fire event dating and for correlation with weather data.
