New fuel management test plot

A team made up of Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Millar Western Forest Products Ltd., and FERIC staff recently established a fuel management study site at the Meadowlands prescribed burn in Willmore Wilderness Park.  The site consists of a fuel management plot following FireSmart guidelines and contains one of the cabins.  The second cabin is a control located in untreated fuel.  Both cabins are on a bench (10 m from ridge) at 1700 m elevation, above a 50 – 60 % slope. 

The fuel management plot consists of a 10 m zone around the cabin that was cleared and raked.  A second zone, extending 20 m beyond the first zone was thinned to a 3 m inter-crown spacing.  The treatment also included understory conifer removal (approximately 50%) and pruning to 2 m.  This zone was extended a further 10 m at the bottom of the slope.  A dense willow shrub layer was left intact.  Felled trees and woody debris were removed from the plot by hand.  The site had few excess overstory trees and a five person crew was able to complete the falling and most of the clearing in two days.

The cabins are standard FERIC test structures (see related article).  They were flown, unassembled, to the site in three loads using an intermediate helicopter.  Assembly by three people took five hours.  The cabins will not be protected by sprinkler of fire retardants during the burn.

It is anticipated that a crown fire will hit the fuel management plot and the untreated cabin.  The forest surrounding the cabins consists of Englemann spruce, Subalpine fir, and some Lodgepole pine.  Understory is Subalpine fir and most overstory trees have ladder fuels to the ground.  The combination of fuel, steep slopes, and prevailing winds should result in a very intense fire given suitable weather.

Untreated site with cabin

Fuel management plot with cabin (clearing behind cabin is a helipad)

Work crew

FERIC thanks the crew for their hard work. We also acknowledge the assistance of Alberta SRD, in particular Edson Wildfire Management Area staff, for providing logistics support, including transportation to and from the site.