1. Cold Springs Fire Project
Fire restoration, disturbance and regeneration

2. Goal:
To achieve an understanding of both post-fire forest dynamics and how pre-burn stand structures influence the effects of wildfire.
Stand Structure:  Distribution of trees by species and size.
Cold Springs Fire, 2016

3. Background The Cold Springs Fire Fascinating to study! July 9, 2016
Anthropogenic
2 miles North of Nederlands
528 acres in size (USFS InciWeb)
Fascinating to study!
How have USFS restoration treatments
- Influenced the effects of fire on forest?
- Influenced regeneration and recovery?
USFS Collaborative Forest Restoration, CFLR 2010–2016 Progress
The USFS’s Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project
23 CFLR projects across the US
Focuses on community engagement
Aims to reduce risk of catastrophic wildfire
Prescribed fires, slash piles, rearrangement of heavy fuels
Cold Springs a part of the Front Range CFLR project
Though there were 100s of homes along the fire’s perimeter, the loss was limited to eight residences.
Possibly as a result of forest management through the CFLR!
Cold Springs Fire

4. Methodology In situ plot based measurements. Remotely sensed data.
Figure 1: Example of the 30m x 30 m plot layout that includes four nested permanent sub-plots (10m x 10 m) and four regeneration sampling transects (2m swaths).
In situ plot based measurements.
Remotely sensed data.
Aerial drone acquisition
Monitoring plots
Burned + CFLR
Burned + untreated
Not burned + CFLR
Not burned + Untreated

5. Locations of plots within and around Cold Springs burn perimeter.

6. Current Progress Plots established Field data collected
General census of:
- Tree/stem location, species
- Downed wood, cones
- Metrics of fire effects
How do these variables differ among the four disturbance types?
Helped with data collection and entry.
Right now I’m helping to convert the coordinates of the cones, downed wood and stems to map layers in ArcGIS.
Later we hope to integrate these layers with the remote sensing imagery produced by our aerial drones.

7. Long Term Project Goals
Integrate in situ and remote sensing data.
Develop models that describe post-disturbance changes in forest structure.
Evaluate the impact of the CFLR.

8. References
Harvey, B. J., D. C. Donato, and M. G. Turner High and dry: post-fire tree seedling establishment in subalpine forests decreases with post-fire drought and large stand-replacing burn patches. Global Ecology and Biogeography 25:
Thies, W. G., D. J. Westlind, M. Loewen, and G. Brenner Prediction of delayed mortality of fire-damaged ponderosa pine following prescribed fires in eastern Oregon, USA. International Journal of Wildland Fire 15:19-29.
Schultz, C. A., T. Jedd, and R. D. Beam The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program: a history and overview of the first projects. Journal of Forestry 110: