The Northern Rockies Fire Science Network partnered with the 2018 Fire Continuum Conference to organize this half-day field tour to visit one of the National Fire-Fire Surrogate Study Sites at the University of Montana’s Lubrecht Experimental Forest. This study, initiated in 1999, evaluates the effects of thinning and burning treatments in fire-adapted ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir forests. A unique aspect of the study is that it was heavily impacted by a mountain pine beetle outbreak approximately 5 years after treatment implementation. Presenters discussed short and mid-term treatment effects, including stand dynamics, fuel treatment longevity, potential fire behavior, bark beetle activity, and soil productivity.

The field tour started with a brief background of the Lubrecht Experimental Forest and the National Fire-Fire Surrogate study. Then participants walked through the treatment units to see and discuss the effects of the four fuel treatments (control, burn-only, thinning-only, and thinning+burn) on a variety of forest characteristics.

Field trip lead: Chris Keyes, Research Professor of Silviculture, University of Montana, W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation.