Field measurements of coarse wood, duff, litter, and trees for the Eglin Air Force Base 2023 fuels campaign

Field measurements collected before and after 2023 study fires at Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) to document fuel loads (large diameter fuels, litter depth, duff depth) and trees in a 3-year rough in sandhill longleaf pine, and the effects of study fires on these variables. Fuel loads, which were measured along transects, were co-located with tree observations, which were measured within fixed-radius plots. These field observations were also co-located with three-dimensional fuel and laser scan plots to allow for leveraging of these other data.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field	Value
Last Updated	September 18, 2024, 16:20 (UTC)
Created	September 18, 2024, 16:20 (UTC)
Source	https://wfsi-data.org/view/doi%3A10.60594/W4RP40
associated_parties	Carlos Silva, c.silva@ufl.edu, University of Florida, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7844-3560, contributor \| Mauro Allessandro Karasinki, University of Florida, contributor \| Jinyi Xia, University of Florida, contributor \| E. Louise Loudermilk, eva.l.loudermilk@usda.gov, USFS Southern Research Station, contributor \| Kaleigh Hoynes, Tall Timbers Research, Inc., contributor \| Saphira Orrion, Tall Timbers Research, Inc., contributor \| Benjamin Bright, benjamin.c.bright@usda.gov, USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8363-0803, contributor
award	Object-based aggregation of fuel structures, physics-based fire behavior and self-organizing smoke plumes for improved fuel, fire, and smoke management on military lands.
creators	Andrew Hudak, andrew.hudak@usda.gov, USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7480-1458 \| Seth Bigelow, sbigelow@talltimbers.org, Tall Timbers, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0052-191X \| Nuria Sánchez-López, nsanchezlopez@uidaho.edu, University of Idaho, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0455-3951 \| Vanessa Niemczyk, vniemczyk12@gmail.com, Tall Timbers
doi	doi:10.60594/W4RP40
funder	U. S. Department of Defense (DoD), Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP), http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100013316
maintainor	Andrew Hudak, andrew.hudak@usda.gov
method	Plot centers were established and GNSS locations were taken by USFS Southern Research Station personnel in burn units G20, G25 and L25 for the 2023 Eglin Air Force Base study fires. A 16-m line transect intersected the plot center. Duff and litter samples were taken at 0, 5, 11, and 16 m along the transect pre-fire. After the fire, samples were taken at 1, 6, 10, and 15 m along the transect. Duff was measured by inserting a soil sampler ~0.1 m into the soil, then extracting the core and searching for the transition from organic (if present) to mineral soil. Multiple diagnostic criteria for duff (organic horizon) were defined through consultation with an expert (Dr. Mac Callaham from USFS-SRS). We applied these criteria to define the boundary between duff and mineral soil. These criteria included dark color; absence or paucity of sand grains; and cohesion (e.g., due to fungal hyphae). Nuria Sanchez-Lopez and Seth Bigelow frequently cross-checked duff-mineral soil boundary delineations and trained field personnel until they could identify the boundary consistently. Transitions were often unclear and sometime included alternating layers of sand and duff. Litter depth was measured for soil surface to highest litter particle in contact with the ground at the point of measurement. Fuels were measured by tallying 100-hr fuels that intersected the 16-m transect. 1000-hour fuels were measured for diameter at the point where they intersected the transect. A total of 208 plots were established, with 75, 93, and 40 plots occurring in units G20, G25, and L25, respectively. After the study fires in March 2023, trees within 10 m of plot center were identified to functional group (pine, hardwood or species), measured for diameter at breast height with a diameter tape, measured for distance from outer bark to plot center, and measured for azimuth from plot center to tree. Some post-processing was done using lidar scans to distinguish between evergreeen and deciduous hardwoods. Saplings were tallied by ordinal quadrant (up to 5 m from plot center). Tree measurements were not taken in unit L25. The field protocol included in the data package (Eglin_2022_Tree_and_Transect_Field_Protocol.pdf) contains more methodological details.
project	Funding Award RC20-1346: Object-based aggregation of fuel structures, physics-based fire behavior and self-organizing smoke plumes for improved fuel, fire, and smoke management on military lands.
spatial	{"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-86.36658, 30.51316], [-86.75701, 30.51316], [-86.75701, 30.61452], [-86.36658, 30.61452], [-86.36658, 30.51316]]]}
temporal	{"endTime": "2023-03-20", "startTime": "2022-12-07"}