- Ohio Division of Forestry, Mead Paper Company
- Oak-Hickory forest: oak, maple, tulip, black gum
- Fire return interval: 3-15 years
- Represents several million hectares of forest in the Ohio River Valley
The Central Appalachian Plateau site of the FFS project is located on the Raccoon Ecological Management Area (REMA), and the Tar Hollow (TAR) and Zaleski (ZAL) State Forests in southeastern Ohio. The study consists of four treatments on the three study areas (REMA, TAR, and ZAL), resulting in 12 experimental units.
The four treatments implemented at each study area are: (1) untreated control (2) prescribed fire only (3) thinning from below (4) thinning from below followed by prescribed fire
Treatment units (about 20 ha (50 acres)) are forest stands or portions of larger stands all having irregular boundaries. Ten 20x 50 m plots were located within each treatment area to measure the effects on different portions of the ecosystem. A 50x50 m grid of points was established on the ground with a Global Positioning System (GPS) to study landscape changes.
Measuring both the effects of fire and/or thinning on oak regeneration and on components of biodiversity may help to identify thresholds that would be useful for fine-tuning management to achieve more holistic objectives. Measuring the economics and effects of fire and/or thinning on soils, forest plants, trees, forest pathogens, and wildlife should help identify ecological tradeoffs inherent in the application of management activities. Since the Ohio Hills project will collect both ecological and economic data on common sites under similar conditions, managers will be able to assess tradeoffs between these two classes of information.
Publications
Site Manager
Dan Yaussy
USFS, Northern Research Station
Site Data Manager
Dan Yaussy
USFS, Northern Research Station
Site Discipline Leaders
Economics
Roger Williams
The Ohio State University
Fuels
Brian McCarthy
Ohio University
Pathology
Bob Long
USFS, Northern Research Station
Soils
Ralph Boerner
The Ohio State University
Vegetation
Todd Hutchinson
USFS, Northern Research Station
todd.hutchinson@usda.gov
740-368-0064
Wildlife
Don Miles
Ohio University
Additional Information
Download a poster about the Central Appalachian Plateau study site.
Download an animation of a prescribed fire at Zaleski State Forest, Ohio.
Download a video of a prescribed fire in a burn only plot within the Raccoon Ecological Management Area of the Ohio Hills FFS site, spring 2005. The tree in the center of the image was instrumented with temperature sensors as part of a study on heat transfer through bark by Matt Dickinson and Tony Bova. Notice the examples of leeward vortices and flames "sticking" to the bole.