Nenana Ridge Experimental Burn

What we did

The Nenana Ridge Experimental Fuels Treatment Research Project was designed to quantify the effects of fuels reduction treatments on fire behavior and post-fire vegetation dynamics in Alaska black spruce forests.

The Nenana Ridge project began in 2006 with preparation of four 1-acre treatment blocks, and a prescribed burn was conducted in June 2009. The primary objective of the project was to characterize the effectiveness of the treatments in reducing fire intensity. Fire-proof digital sensors and video cameras were used to document the burn, which allowed scientists to compare fire behavior between control plots and fuel treatment plots.

What we found

All three treatments that burned resulted in significant reductions in fire intensity. See a photo collection from pre-burn, burning, and post-burn activities.

For questions about this project and its outputs, please contact the SNAP Data Tools team.

A summary report was submitted to the Joint Fire Science Program in 2011. A summary paper “Quantifying the Effects of Fuel reduction Treatments on Fire Behavior in Boreal Forests” was published in the Canadian Journal of Forestry Research.