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  • Wallowa-Whitman National Forest
  • Mixed-conifer forest: Ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir
  • Fire return interval: 10-25 years
  • Represents 400,000 hectares in the Blue Mountains of Oregon

The Blue Mountains project is located on the Wallowa Valley District between Davis and Crow Creek drainages, 45 km north of Enterprise, Oregon. The study site is a complete randomized design of four treatments and four replications, resulting in 16 experimental units. The following suite of four FFS treatments are implemented at Hungry Bob: untreated control, prescribed fire only, initial and periodic cutting only, initial and periodic cutting followed by prescribed fire. Actual fieldwork at Hungry Bob was initiated in 1996 after a careful analysis of implementing the project at three other locations within the Blue Mountains. After three days of burning, all eight experimental units are successfully burned by late September 2000.

Publications

People Sort descending Year Title
Bartuszevige, Kennedy 2009 Synthesis of knowledge on the effects of fire and thinning treatments on understory vegetation in U.S. dry forests
Boerner, Huang, Hart 2009 Impacts of Fire and Fire Surrogate treatments on forest soil properties: a meta-analytical approach
Boerner, Huang, Hart 2008 Impacts of fire and fire surrogate treatments on ecosystem nitrogen storage patterns: similarities and differences between forests of eastern and western North America
Boerner, Giai, Huang, Miesel 2008 Initial effects of fire and mechanical thinning on soil enzyme activity and nitrogen transformations in eight North American forest ecosystems
Chalmers, Hartsough 2001 Thinning and prescribed fire as methods to reduce fuel loading - a cost analysis
Converse, White, Farris, Zack 2006 Small mammals and forest fuel reduction: national-scale responses to fire and fire surrogates
Coulter 1999 Hungry Bob harvest production study: mechanical thinning for fuel reduction in the Blue Mountains of northeast Oregon
Edminster, Weatherspoon, Neary 2000 The Fire and Fire Surrogates Study: providing guidelines for fire in future forest watershed management decisions
Farris, Zack, Amacher, Pierson 2010 Microhabitat selection of bark-foraging birds in response to fire and fire surrogate treatments
Hartsough, Abrams, Barbour, Drews, McIver, Moghaddas, Schwilk, Stephens 2008 The economics of alternative fuel reduction treatments in western United States dry forests: financial and policy implications from the National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study
Kennedy, Fontaine 2009 Synthesis of knowledge on the effects of fire and fire surrogates on wildlife in U.S. dry forests
Kopper 2002 Meta-analysis design and interpretation: a case study of prescribed fire effects on fuel loadings in ponderosa pine ecosystems
Matzka 2003 Thinning with prescribed fire and timber harvesting mechanization for fuels reduction and forest restoration
Matzka, Kellogg 2000 An economic model for evaluating factors affecting biomass reduction and forest restoration
Matzka, Kellogg 1999 Thinning with prescribed fire and timber harvesting mechanization for forest restoration: a review of past and present research
McIver, Weatherspoon 2010 On conducting a multisite, multidisciplinary forestry research project: lessons from the national fire and fire surrogate study
McIver, Boerner, Hart 2008 The national fire and fire surrogate study: ecological consequences of alternative fuel reduction methods in seasonally dry forests
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood 2012 Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study
McIver, Weatherspoon, Edminster 2001 Alternative ponderosa pine restoration treatments in the western United States
McIver, Youngblood, Niwa, Ottmar, Smith 2000 Hypotheses on the ecological effects of alternative fuel reduction methods
McIver, Youngblood, Niwa, Smith, Ottmar, Matzka 2000 Alternative fuel reduction methods in Blue Mountain dry forests: an introduction to the Hungry Bob project
Metlen, Fiedler, Youngblood 2004 Understory response to fuel reduction treatments in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon
Metlen 2002 Undergrowth vegetation response to fuel reduction treatments in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon
Rothenbach 2007 Response of nuthatches to restorative treatments in ponderosa pine ecosystems
Schwilk, Keeley, Knapp, McIver, Bailey, Fettig, Fiedler, Harrod, Moghaddas, Outcalt, Skinner, Stephens, Waldrop, Yaussy, Youngblood 2009 The national Fire and Fire Surrogate study: effects of fuel reduction methods on forest vegetation structure and fuels
Smith, McKay, Brenner, McIver, Spatafora 2005 Early impacts of forest restoration treatments on the ectomycorrhizal fungal community and fine root biomass in a mixed conifer forest
Stephens, Moghaddas, Edminster, Fiedler, Haase, Harrington, Keeley, Knapp, McIver, Metlen, Skinner, Youngblood 2009 Fire treatment effects on vegetation structure, fuels, and potential fire severity in western U.S. forests
Weatherspoon 2000 A proposed long-term national study of the consequences of fire and fire surrogate treatments
Youngblood 2010 Thinning and burning in dry coniferous forests of the western United States: effectiveness in altering diameter distributions
Youngblood, Grace, McIver 2009 Delayed conifer mortality after fuel reduction treatments: interactive effects of fuel, fire intensity, and bark beetles
Youngblood, Bigler-Cole, Fettig, Fiedler, Knapp, Lehmkuhl, Outcalt, Skinner, Stephens, Waldrop 2007 Making fire and fire surrogate science available: a summary of regional workshops with clients
Youngblood, Metlen, Coe 2006 Changes in stand structure and composition after restoration treatments in low elevation dry forests of northeastern Oregon
Youngblood, Metlen, Knapp, Outcalt, Stephens, Waldrop, Yaussy 2005 Implementation of the fire and fire surrogate study: a national research effort to evaluate the consequences of fuel reduction treatments
Youngblood, Wright, Ottmar, McIver 2008 Changes in fuelbed characteristics and resulting fire potentials after fuel reduction treatments in dry forests of the Blue Mountains, northeastern Oregon
Fire and Fire Surrogates Study Blue Mountains (Hungry Bob) Site Map (Thumbnail)

Site Manager

Andy Youngblood
USFS, PNW Research Station

Site Data Manager

Kent Coe
USFS, PNW Research Station

Site Discipline Leaders

Economics

Jamie Barbour
USFS, PNW Research Station

Entomology

Andy Youngblood
USFS, PNW Research Station

Fuels

Roger Ottmar
USFS, PNW Research Station

Pathology

Andy Youngblood
USFS, PNW Research Station

Soils

James McIver
Oregon State University

Vegetation

Andy Youngblood
USFS, PNW Research Station

Wildlife

Kerry Farri
Wildlife Conservation Society

Steve Zack
Wildlife Conservation Society