Description
The AWFCG Fire Modeling and Analysis Committee and the Alaska Fire Science Consortium sponsored a fuel moisture sampling field training workshop on May 17, 2012. The purpose of this workshop was to provide step by step instruction for collecting samples and processing moisture data as part of an effort to establish monitoring sites for evaluating seasonal moisture trends in Alaska. These fuel moisture sampling techniques can also be a used by fuels specialists, prescribed fire personnel, fire effects monitors, and any others with a need to calculate fuel moisture content or CFFDRS Fuel Moisture Codes (i.e., FFMC, DMC, and DC). The workshop covered: 1) destructive sampling techniques for 4 fuel sample types (black spruce foliar moisture, feather moss duff moisture, shrub/woody fuel moisture, grass/herbaceous fuel moisture); 2) sample processing (recording data, weighing, and drying); and 3) calculating percent moisture content and associated moisture codes. Associated data sheets, instructions, cheat sheets, and the data entry spreadsheet are provided below.