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  • Clemson University Experimental Forest
  • Piedmont pine and pine-hardwood forest
  • Fire return interval: annual to 30 years
  • Represents 15 million hectares in the southeastern Piedmont
  • Dominant species include loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) and shortleaf pine (P. echinata) with mixtures of oak and other hardwoods in the canopy and subcanopy.
  • The region is largely forested with second- or third-growth timber resulting from reforestation of abandoned farmland and harvesting since the Great Depression.
  • South Carolina suppresses 4500 wildfires each year.
  • At least one catastrophic wildfire (over 400 hectares) has occurred in South Carolina each year since 1970.

For more information visit the Southeastern Piedmont FFS Site Location web site.

Photographs

Publications

People Year Title Sort descending
Weatherspoon 2000 A proposed long-term national study of the consequences of fire and fire surrogate treatments
Mohr, Waldrop 2006 A simulation of wildfire behavior in Piedmont forests
Waldrop, Glass, Rideout-Hanzak, Shelburne, Mohr, Phillips 2004 An evaluation of fuel-reduction treatments across a landscape gradient in Piedmont forests: preliminary results of the national fire and fire surrogate study
Zebehazy 2002 Avian and arthropod responses to fuel reduction treatments in the upper Piedmont of South Carolina
Loeb, Waldrop 2008 Bat activity in relation to fire and fire surrogate treatments in southern pine stands
Phillips, Waldrop 2008 Changes in vegetation structure and composition in response to fuel reduction treatments in the South Carolina Piedmont
Leput 2004 Eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) and eastern pipistrelle (Pipistrellus subflavus) maternal roost selection: implications for forest management
Boerner, Waldrop, Skinner, Callaham, Brinkman, Smith 2004 Ecosystem restoration and wildfire management treatments affect soil organic matter and microbial activity in four contrasting forests
Mohr, Waldrop, Rideout-Hanzak, Phillips, Flint 2004 Effectiveness of fire and fire surrogate treatments for controlling wildfire behavior in Piedmont forests: a simulation study
Kubacz 2003 Effects of fire and fire surrogate treatments on small mammals in the South Carolina Piedmont
McLaughlin 2007 Effects of fuel reduction treatments on species of Phytophthora and Leptographium in forest ecosystems
Zwart 2004 Effects of fuel reduction treatments on the incidence of two root pathogens of forest trees
Phillips, Waldrop, Chapman, Mohr, Callaham, Flint 2004 Effects of fuel-reduction techniques on vegetative composition of Piedmont loblolly-shortleaf pine communities: preliminary results of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study
Lione 2002 Effects of prescribed burning and thinning as fuel reduction treatments on the soils of the Clemson Experimental Forest
Boyle, Hedden, Waldrop 2004 Impact of prescribed fire and thinning on host resistance to the southern pine beetle: preliminary results of the national Fire and Fire Surrogate Study
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
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
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
Callaham, Anderson, Waldrop, Lione, Shelburne 2004 Litter decomposition and soil respiration responses to fuel-reduction treatments in Piedmont loblolly pine forests
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
Shelburne, Boyle, Lione, Waldrop 2004 Preliminary effects of prescribed burning and thinning as fuel reduction treatments on the Piedmont soils of the Clemson Experimental Forest
McIver, Erickson, Youngblood 2012 Principal short-term findings of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study
Zebehazy, Lanham, Waldrop 2004 Seasonal avifauna responses to fuel reduction treatments in the Upper Piedmont of South Carolina: results from phase 1 of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study
Kilpatrick, Waldrop, Lanham, Greenberg, Contreras 2010 Short-term effects of fuel reduction treatments on herpetofauna from the southeastern United States
Boyle 2002 Short-term response of bark beetles to fuel reduction treatments in the upper Piedmont
Converse, White, Farris, Zack 2006 Small mammals and forest fuel reduction: national-scale responses to fire and fire surrogates
Vickers 2003 Spider (Araneae) responses to fuel reduction in a Piedmont forest in upstate South Carolina
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
Staeben 2003 The effects of fire and fire surrogate forest management practices on Coleopterans in the Clemson Experimental Forest
Kilpatrick 2002 The effects of prescribed burning and thinning as fuel reduction treatments on herpetofauna in the Upper Piedmont of South Carolina
Kilpatrick, Kubacz, Guynn, Lanham, Waldrop 2004 The effects of prescribed burning and thinning on herpetofauna and small mammals in Piedmont pine-hardwood forests: preliminary results 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
Waldrop, McIver 2006 The National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study: early results and future challenges
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
Boerner, Waldrop, Shelburne 2006 Wildfire mitigation strategies affect soil enzyme activity and soil organic carbon in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) forests
Fire and Fire Surrogates Study Southeastern Piedmont (Clemson, SC) Site Map thumbnail
Fire and Fire Surrogates Study  Southeastern Piedmont (Clemson, SC) Site Location
Soil stabilization and reforestation at the Clemson Forest by the Work Projects Administration (WPA), circa 1940.

Soil stabilization and reforestation at the Clemson Forest by the Work Projects Administration (WPA), circa 1940.

Site Manager

Thomas A. Waldrop
USFS, Southern Research Station

Site Data Manager

Ross Phillips
USFS, Southern Research Station

Site Discipline Leaders

Economics

Jamie Barbour
USFS, PNW Research Station

Entomology

Roy Hedden
Clemson University

Fuels

Thomas A. Waldrop
USFS, Southern Research Station

Pathology

Steve Jeffers
Clemson University

Soils

Vic Shelburne
Clemson University

Vegetation

Thomas A. Waldrop
USFS, Southern Research Station

Wildlife

Dave Guynn
Clemson University

Drew Lanham
Clemson University