Central Appalachian Plateau | Study Sites | Fire and Fire Surrogates Study

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 20x50 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.

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Link to FFS Poster [pdf, 374 KB] from the Central Appalachian Plateau Study Site.

Animation of a prescribed fire at Zaleski state forest, Ohio.
Click the link below to download and view an animated representation of a prescribed fire at Zaleski State Forest at Ohio site.
Animation of prescribed fire in Ohio [mpeg, 882 KB]

Video of prescribed burn on the Raccoon Ecological Management Area, Spring 2005.
Click the link below to view 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.
Video of prescribed fire in Ohio, 2005 [wmv, 1.6 MB]

Site Manager

Dan Yaussy, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station

Site Data Manager

Dan Yaussy, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station

Site Discipline Leaders

Economics Roger Williams, The Ohio State University	Fuels Brian McCarthy, Ohio University	*Pathology* Bob Long, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station
*Soils* Ralph Boerner, The Ohio State University	*Vegetation* Todd Hutchinson, USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station todd.hutchinson@usda.gov 740-368-0064	*Wildlife* Don Miles, Ohio University

Person	Year	Title
Neuenschwander, Ryan, Weatherspoon	2000	A proposed long-term national study of the consequences of fire and fire surrogate treatments
Peterson, Maguire, 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
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood	2012	Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study
Edminster, Weatherspoon, Neary	2000	The Fire and Fire Surrogates Study: providing guidelines for fire in future forest watershed management decisions

Person	Year	Title
Neuenschwander, Ryan, Weatherspoon	2000	A proposed long-term national study of the consequences of fire and fire surrogate treatments
Hutchinson, Yaussy, Waldrop	2009	Fire and Fire Surrogate study: annotated highlights from oak-dominated sites
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
McIver, Weatherspoon	2010	On conducting a multisite, multidisciplinary forestry research project: lessons from the national fire and fire surrogate study
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood	2012	Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study
Edminster, Weatherspoon, Neary	2000	The Fire and Fire Surrogates Study: providing guidelines for fire in future forest watershed management decisions
McIver, Boerner, Hart	2008	The national fire and fire surrogate study: ecological consequences of alternative fuel reduction methods in seasonally dry forests
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

Person	Year	Title
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood	2012	Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study
Chalmers, Hartsough	2001	Thinning and prescribed fire as methods to reduce fuel loading - a cost analysis

Person	Year	Title
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood	2012	Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study

Person	Year	Title
Iverson, Yaussy, Rebbeck, Hutchinson, Long, Prasad	2004	A comparison of thermocouples and temperature paints to monitor spatial and temporal characteristics of landscape-scale prescribed fires
Van Sambeek, Dawson, Ponder, Loewenstein, Fralish, Yaussy, Rebbeck, Iverson, Hutchinson, Long	2003	Comparison of a low-tech vs. a high-tech method to evaluate surface fire temperatures
Spetich, Iverson, Prasad, Hutchinson, Rebbeck, Yaussy	2004	Fire and thinning in an Ohio oak forest: grid-based analyses of fire behavior, environmental conditions, and tree regeneration across a topographic moisture gradient
Graham, McCarthy	2006	Forest floor fuel dynamics in mixed-oak forests of south-eastern Ohio
Yaussy, Hix, Long, Goebel, Riccardi, McCarthy, Long	2004	Oak seed production, weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) populations, and predation rates in mixed-oak forests of southeast Ohio
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood	2012	Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study
Van Sambeek, Dawson, Ponder, Loewenstein, Fralish, Iverson, Yaussy, Rebbeck, Hutchinson, Long, McCarthy, Riccardi, Prasad	2003	Spatial and temporal distribution of fire temperatures from prescribed fires in the mixed oak forests of southern Ohio
Iverson, Hutchinson, Prasad, Peters	2008	Thinning, fire, and oak regeneration across a heterogeneous landscape in the eastern U.S.: 7-year results

Person	Year	Title
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood	2012	Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study

Person	Year	Title
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
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood	2012	Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study

Person	Year	Title
Boerner, Coates, Yaussy, Waldrop	2008	Assessing ecosystem restoration alternatives in eastern deciduous forests: the view from belowground
Yaussy, Hix, Long, Goebel, Boerner, Waldrop, Skinner, Callaham, Brinkman, Smith	2004	Ecosystem restoration and wildfire management treatments affect soil organic matter and microbial activity in four contrasting forests
Boerner, Brinkman, Yaussy	2007	Ecosystem restoration treatments affect soil physical and chemical properties in Appalachian mixed oak forests
Giai, Boerner	2007	Effects of ecological restoration on microbial activity, microbial functional diversity, and soil organic matter in mixed-oak forests of southern Ohio, USA
Huang, Boerner	2007	Effects of fire alone or combined with thinning on tissue nutrient concentrations and nutrient resorption in Desmodium nudiflorum
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, Huang, Hart	2009	Impacts of Fire and Fire Surrogate treatments on forest soil properties: a meta-analytical approach
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
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood	2012	Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study
Boerner, Brinkman, Smith	2005	Seasonal variations in enzyme activity and organic carbon in soil of a burned and unburned hardwood forest
Coates, Boerner, Waldrop, Yaussy	2008	Soil nitrogen transformations under alternative management strategies in Appalachian forests
Dickinson, Boerner	2006	Soil, fire, water, and wind: how the elements conspire in the forest context
Yaussy, Hix, Long, Goebel, Boerner, Brinkman	2004	Spatial, temporal, and restoration treatment effects on soil resources in mixed-oak forests of southeastern Ohio

Person	Year	Title
Huang	2007	Ecological responses of two forest understory herbs to changes in resources caused by prescribed fire alone on in combination with restoration thinning
Huang, Boerner, Rebbeck	2007	Ecophysiological responses of two herbaceous species to prescribed burning, alone or in combination with overstory thinning
Huang, Boerner	2007	Effects of fire alone or combined with thinning on tissue nutrient concentrations and nutrient resorption in Desmodium nudiflorum
Yaussy, Hix, Long, Goebel, McQuattie, Rebbeck, Yaussy	2004	Effects of fire and thinning on growth, mycorrhizal colonization, and leaf anatomy of black oak and red maple seedlings
Albrecht, McCarthy	2006	Effects of prescribed fire and thinning on tree recruitment patterns in central hardwood forests
Butler, Cook, Phillips, Hutchinson, Brudnak, Waldrop	2007	Fire and fire surrogate treatments in mixed-oak forests: effects on herbaceous layer vegetation
Hutchinson, Long, Ford, Sutherland	2008	Fire history and the establishment of oaks and maples in second-growth forests
Lombardo, McCarthy	2008	Forest management and curculionid weevil diversity in mixed oak forests of southeastern Ohio
Waldrop, Yaussy, Phillips, Hutchinson, Brudnak, Boerner	2008	Fuel reduction treatments affect stand structure of hardwood forests in western North Carolina and southern Ohio, USA
Peterson, Maguire, 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
Chiang, Brown	2007	Improving the budburst phenology subroutine in the forest carbon model PnET
Yaussy, Hix, Long, Goebel, Yaussy, Dickinson, Bova	2004	Prescribed surface-fire tree mortality in southern Ohio: equations based on thermocouple probe temperatures
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood	2012	Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study
Huang, Boerner	2008	Shifts in morphological traits, seed production, and early establishment of Desmodium nudiflorum following prescribed fire, alone or in combination with forest canopy thinning
Spetich, Rebbeck, Long, Yaussy	2004	Survival of hardwood seedlings and saplings following overstory thinning and prescribed fires in mixed-oak forests of southern Ohio
Chiang, McEwan, Yaussy, Brown	2008	The effects of prescribed fire and silvicultural thinning on the aboveground carbon stocks and net primary production of overstory trees in an oak-hickory ecosystem in southern Ohio
Joesting, McCarthy, Brown	2007	The photosynthetic response of American chestnut seedlings to differing light conditions
Giuliani, Brown	2008	Within-canopy sampling of global irradiance to describe downwelling light distribution and infer canopy stratification in a broadleaf forest

Person	Year	Title
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood	2012	Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study
Converse, White, Farris, Zack	2006	Small mammals and forest fuel reduction: national-scale responses to fire and fire surrogates
Kennedy, Fontaine	2009	Synthesis of knowledge on the effects of fire and fire surrogates on wildlife in U.S. dry forests
Bartuszevige, Kennedy	2009	Synthesis of knowledge on the effects of fire and thinning treatments on understory vegetation in U.S. dry forests

Person	Year	Title
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood	2012	Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study

Central Appalachian Plateau (Ohio Hills, OH)

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Site Manager

Site Data Manager

Site Discipline Leaders