Forest Structure and Composition Monitoring: A Collaborative
Approach Evaluating Long-Term Changes on Prescribed Burn Units in Virginia
Lindsey Curtin, L. Nikole Swaney, Beth Buchanan
Poster presented at the Association for Fire Ecology’s 6th
International Fire Ecology and Management Congress (San Antonio, TX)
November 2015
The George Washington and Jefferson National Forests and The
Nature Conservancy’s Warm Springs Preserve collaboratively adopted the Forest
Structure and Composition Monitoring Protocol in 2009. The monitoring program
focuses on collecting long-term canopy, overstory, mid-story, and understory
data on plots installed across prescribed burn units. Monitoring data is an
essential element of the adaptive management process. Fire management officers use
summaries to evaluate fire effects after burns, influencing future burn frequencies
and techniques to achieve desire landscape conditions.