Ecological effects of prescribed fire on a sagebrush-steppe rangeland

Metadata:

Data_Quality_Information:

Attribute_Accuracy:

Attribute_Accuracy_Report:

Data from this study was collected by trained technicians and professionals. Upon analysis outliers that were deemed inaccurate have been culled from the data. The exception to this is the weather data - the precipitation gauge data are inaccurate after 04/01/2007 attributed to equipment failure and was not maintained thereafter due to lack of funding. All instrumentation was calibrated by the manufacturer or in our lab within a +/- 3% accuracy.

Completeness_Report:

Not all data were collected each year and data are typically denoted with a "." if not measured.

Soil loss samples were not collected and/or processed in 2008 and 2009 due to lack of funding. The 2010 data represent sediment for 2 years of data for the gutter samples and 3 years for trap samples. There is no way to distinguish how much sediment for each year.

Lineage:

Methodology:

Methodology_Type: Field

Methodology_Description:

In 2003, the Bear River Fire Management division of the Montpelier Ranger district developed a fire plan near the Red Mountain area located in the Caribou-Targhee Nation Forest (\Supplements\RedMt_site-location.jpg). Ninety percent of the target area to be treated was shrub and grass, classified as rangeland, while the other 10% was aspen and conifers, classified as forest. The main objective of the burn was to reduce the canopy coverage of late successional stage sagebrush. Pre-burn sage brush cover for this project ranged between 27-40% (Fire Plan 2003 [\Supplements\2003_FirePlan_BearRiverZoneFireMgmt_caribou-targheeNF.pdf] and Dylan Johnson 2003 personal communication). The desired coverage was to generate a mid seral coverage of 10-15% leaving 30% of the combined 19 units, 183 hectares (451 acres) unburned.

The prescribed Red Mountain site burn was performed October 3, 2003 and by October 18, 2003 our team installed four prescribed burn hillside runoff plots on a southern facing slopes (TB 11, 12, 13, and 14). Snow prevented the installation of the three control plots (TB 15, 16, and 17) until August of 2004. Each plot was 10 x 5 meters and separated from the surrounding hillslope by sheet metal borders (\Supplements\Rangeland_RedMt_border_share_plots_TB11-12.jpg; \Supplements\TippingBucket_design_setup_schmatic_photos.pdf). Gutters were placed to divert hillside runoff and sediment into a sediment trap and then through a tipping bucket device which held 1 liter/tip (plus or minus 3%).

Five different field methods were used to collect data: bulk density samples, weather station, ground cover, soil loss and flow data from hillside runoff plots.

BULK DENSITY
Three soil samples were randomly collected from each plot on both the prescribed burn area and control. AMS bulk density samplers were used to collect undisturbed soil cores around each plot at the 10 cm and 20 cm depths. Soil particle size distribution of soil cores was determined by wet and dry sieving and pipette analysis.

WEATHER DATA
Daily weather station data were collected with Campbell Scientific data logger and programs. Connected to the data logger were the following peripherals: wind speed and direction, solar radiation, ambient temperature and humidity, precipitation monitors.

GROUND COVER
Ground cover was collected yearly by a point intercept method. This was determined with a 1 meter square PVC frame fitted with a grid of string with 100 intersection points. Fractions of charcoal, ash, mineral soil, organic material or branch were logged.

SOIL LOSS
All plots were outfitted with a sediment trap to collect sediment eroded from the hillslope plot. From 2003-2006 the sediment was collected from the gutters and trap. A grab suspended sample was also collected from the trap container. During this time all soil loss samples were dried and analyzed for particle size. From 2007-2010 data collection for soil loss and analysis was sporadic due to lack of funding.

HILLSLOPE PLOT RUNOFF
Flow data were collected through the hillslope runoff tipping buckets. Each hillslope runoff tipping bucket had a capacity of approximately 1 liter per tip and was equipped with a data logger recording the timestamp to determine depth of runoff in millimeters.

Methodology_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: Kahn, Ahmed A. H.

Originator: Ong, Chin K.

Publication_Date: 1997

Title:

Design and calibration of tipping bucket system for field runoff and sediment quantification

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: journal article

Series_Information:

Series_Name: J. Soil and Water Cons.

Issue_Identification: 52(6): 437-443

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

See methodology section for details.

Process_Date: Unknown

Entity_and_Attribute_Information:

Overview_Description:

Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:

Below you will find a list and description of the data and supplemental files available in this data publication.

DATA FILES (5)

1. \Data\2003-2004 Rangeland RedMt PSA BD.csv: Comma-delimited ASCII text file containing Red Mountain Bulk Density (BD) and Particle Size Analysis (PSA) Samples-2003-2004. All weights are provided in grams (g). The first 21 rows contain header information, and the last 4 rows of data contain summary data.

Variables include:
Particle Size = size of particle (millimeters [mm])
TB XX/YY DIRECTION ##-##cm (Columns B-S) = bulk density for the specified plots (XX/YY), direction (DIRECTION), and sampling depths (##-##).

Additional Info:
Treated = Rx (prescribed burn) = TB's 11, 12, 13, 14
Control = TB's 15, 16, 17
Treated samples collected in 2003
Control samples collected in 2004
Sampling: north, east, west, or south of plot
Two sampling depths were taken: 0-10 centimeters (cm) and 10-20 cm
Plots 11/12, 13/14 and 15/16 shared a border (see photo: \Supplements\Rangeland_RedMt_border_share_plots TB11-12.jpg and \Supplements\TippingBucket_design_setup_schmatic_photos.pdf))

Summary Data include:
Row 40: Total Organics = Total organic component of the soil sample
Row 41: Total Sample Wt = Total weight of sample before processing
Row 43: BD = bulk density calculation – grams per cubic centimeter


2. \Data\2003-2010 Rangeland RedMt 24hr Weather.csv: Comma-delimited ASCII text file containing 2003-2010 24 hour weather data. The first 24 rows contain header information. (In this file "." denotes equipment malfunction.)

IMPORTANT: Precipitation gauge data are inaccurate after 04/01/2007 and therefore set to missing.

Variables include:
Campbell Code = 24 (which represents 24 hour data)
Year = year
Julian Date = julian date
Date = date (mm/dd/yyyy, where mm=month, dd=day, yyyy=year)
hour:min = time (hours and minutes: 0000-2400)
battery voltage = battery voltage
AirTemp Avg (C) = air temperature (degrees Celsius)
RelHumid-Avg (%) = relative humidity (percent)
RelHumid-Max (%) = maximum daily relative humidity (percent)
RelHumid-Min (%) = minimum daily relative humidity (percent)
SolarRad-Avg (watts/m^2) = average daily solar radiation (watts per square meter)
WindSpeed-S-WVT (Avg) (m/s) = mean wind speed for the 24 hour (hr) period (meters per second [m/s])
WindDirec-D1-WVT = unit vector mean direction for the 24 hr period
WindDirec-Sd1-WVT = standard deviation of the direction for the 24 hr period
WindSpeed-Max (m/s) = maximum wind speed for the 24 hr period (m/s)
WindSpeed-Min (m/s) = minimum wind speed for the 24 hr period (m/s)
Precip_TipBu-Total (mm) = total precipitation measured in the gauge (millimeters)


3. \Data\2003-2010 Rangeland RedMt ground cover.csv: Comma-delimited ASCII text file containing 2003-2010 ground cover measurements. The first 15 rows contain header information. (In this file "." denotes data not collected that year.)

Variables include:
Year = year
Plot code % mineral = plot code (Treated = prescribed burn = Plots 11, 12, 13 and 14; Control plots = 15, 16 and 17)
Mineral fraction = fraction of plot that is mineral
Ash fraction = fraction of plot that is ash
Rock fraction = fraction of plot that is rock
Branch fraction = fraction of plot that contains branches
Other organic material fraction = fraction of plot that contains other organic materials
Charcoal fraction = fraction of plot that contains charcoal
Sum = sum of fraction (should be 1 plus or minus 0.01)


4. \Data\2003-2010 Rangeland RedMt soil loss.csv: Comma-delimited ASCII text file containing 2003-2007, 2010 soil loss data. The first 25 rows contain header information. (In this file "." denotes data not collected.) Unless otherwise noted, units are in grams.

IMPORTANT: Samples from 2010 represent sediment for 2 years of data for the gutter samples and 3 years for trap samples. There is no way to distinguish how much sediment for each year.

* = Muffle sample weight (wt.) is included in the total soil sample weight
** = Animal disturbance contributed to sample

Variables include:
Year = year
Particle Size (mm) or Summary Info = particle size (mm) or description of measurement (see explanation below). (Acronyms used: Kg = kilograms, ha = hectares, Mg = megagrams, m2 = square meters, wt. = weight, w/o = without)
TB XX S = suspended soil loss sample (grams) for the specified plot XX (XX = Treated = prescribed burn = Plots 11, 12, 13 and 14; or XX = Control plots = 15, 16 and 17)
TB XX T = trap soil loss sample (grams) for the specified plot XX
TB XX G = gutter soil loss sample (grams) for the specified plot XX

Explanation of Summary Info:
Total Organics = Total organic component of the soil sample
Split sample weight = sample weight after splitting for analysis
Total Sample Wt = Total weight of sample before processing
Plot area = the area of the plot in meters squared (m^2)
Sediment loss calculated in Kg units
Sediment loss calculated in Mg units


5. \Data\2003-2010 Rangeland RedMt_TB_Runoff.csv: Comma-delimited ASCII text file containing 2003-2010 hillslope runoff data. The first 9 rows contain header information. (In this file blank cells denote data not measured.)

Tipping bucket (Hillslope runoff plot's equipment) = TB
Runoff (from hillslope plot) = RO

Variables include:
TB-RO XX Date/time = date and time (mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm where mm=month, dd=day, yyyy=year, hh=hour, and mm=minute) of measurement for plot XX
TB-RO XX Runoff (mm) = runoff (mm) for plot XX (XX = Treated = prescribed burn = Plots 11, 12, 13 and 14; or XX = Control plots = 15, 16 and 17)


SUPPLEMENTAL FILES (4)

1. \Supplements\2003_FirePlan_BearRiverZoneFireMgmt_caribou-targheeNF.pdf: Portable Document Format file which outlines the fire plan for the site area.

2. \Supplements\Rangeland_RedMt_border_share_plots_TB11-12.jpg: JPEG image file containing a picture of the plots TB11 and TB12. Plots are 10 x 5 meters and separated from the surrounding hillslope by sheet metal borders. Gutters were placed to divert runoff and sediment into sediment trap and then through a tipping bucket device which held 1 liter/tip (plus or minus 3%).

3. \Supplements\RedMt_site-location.jpg: JPEG image file contains a picture of the location of the site within Idaho and a close up of the plot locations, weather station, sage grouse locations and buffers and burn units. The Burn units include the recent burn and an older prescribed burn known as the Leon burn.

4. \Supplements\TippingBucket_design_setup_schmatic_photos.pdf: Portable Document Format file containing a schematic of the tipping bucket runoff design, plus photos labeling all equipment parts.

Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:

none provided

Metadata_Reference_Information:

Metadata_Date: 20200131

Metadata_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: (Ina) Sue Miller

Contact_Organization: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station

Contact_Position: Hydrologist

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing and physical

Address: 1221 S. Main Street

City: Moscow

State_or_Province: ID

Postal_Code: 83843

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 208-883-2328

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: sue.miller3@usda.gov

Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Biological Data Profile of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata

Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001.1-1999