When is a Fire Likely to Start? Fires, Fire Ecology, and Education

By Jennifer L. Barnes and Jennifer L. Hrobak

The 2018 Dome Creek fire (#360) in Yukon-Charley burns within the 2004 Woodchopper Creek fire above Coal Creek Camp. BLM Alaska Fire Service/J. Budd

On a hot summer day in July, the regional fire ecologists and six teachers from the Wild Side of Education Teacher’s Workshop studied the effects of the 2004 Woodchopper Creek Fire near Coal Creek Camp in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. The teachers learned the basics of fire ecology in Alaska and re-measured fire monitoring plots established after the 2004 Woodchopper Creek Fire. One question asked by a teacher was: “When is a fire likely to start? Under what conditions?” The fire ecologist replied: “Well, right now would be ideal conditions for a fire to start…” The temperature was near 90 degrees, moss and duff were dry, lichens were crispy, and thunder cells were building. Within the next few days, five fires were ignited in the park.

Teaching in the field can provide a platform for new learning opportunities. Through the work of the park education program and funding by the NPS Fire Communication and Education grant, both teachers and students were able to learn about the effects and risks of fire in 2018.

Teacher from the education program measures the number of spruce seedlings in the 2004 fire. NPS/M. Brodsky

What can we learn from monitoring fire effects? The 2004 fire plots that were re-measured all had a story to tell. The high-severity burn in a birch forest turned into a pond, the spruce are recovering in the lowland black spruce, and the remaining duff and down trees from the 2004 fire were dry enough to sustain a second fire. A future integrated resource fire study is proposed for the Andrew Creek fire, where nine long-term vegetation monitoring plots burned and a repeat fire study is proposed for the Dome Creek fire that ignited and burned in the 2004 Woodchopper Creek fire.

Andrew Creek fire (#366) was detected Jul 24, 2018 in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve. The fire spread rapidly through black spruce towards the historic Sam Creek cabin. The photo shows fire personnel en route to save the cabin. NPS/R. Nilson

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• Yukon - Charley Rivers National Preserve

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