Data to support evaluation of fuel treatment effectiveness in the 2006 Tripod Complex fires

The 2006 Tripod Complex fires burned over 70,000 hectares of dry mixed conifer forests in north-central Washington state. Recent fuel treatments burned in the wildfire offered an opportunity to quantitatively evaluate if fuel treatment effectively mitigated fire severity. We quantified the relative effect of two common fuel treatments: mechanical thinning only and mechanical thinning followed by prescribed burning. Data collected included standard fuels transect and tree parameters, including tree height, crown and bole scorch, species, and diameter.
We conducted an opportunistic study to determine the relative success of recent fuel treatments in mitigating wildland fire severity, as represented by tree mortality and damage (i.e., bole char and crown scorch). The 2006 Tripod complex fires involved numerous fuel treatments, including units that had been thinned and prescribed burned within 10 years prior to the wildfire event. Our main objective was to evaluate differences in wildfire severity in stands with thin treatments (thin), thin and prescribed burning treatments (thinRx), and no treatment (control) within the Tripod Complex fires.
Original metadata date was 06/02/2015. Minor metadata updates on 12/15/2016.

2006年三脚架综合体火灾（2006 Tripod Complex fires）焚毁了华盛顿州中北部逾7万公顷的干燥混交针叶林。此次野火区域内近期实施的燃料处理（fuel treatment）为定量评估燃料处理能否有效缓解火灾烈度提供了研究契机。本研究量化了两种常见燃料处理方式的相对效果：仅机械疏伐，以及机械疏伐后辅以计划火烧（prescribed burning）。采集的数据涵盖标准燃料样带及林木参数，包括树高、树冠与树干灼痕、树种及胸径。
本研究采用机会性研究方法，旨在通过林木死亡率与损伤程度（即树干炭化与树冠灼痕）表征近期燃料处理缓解野火烈度的相对成效。2006年三脚架综合体火灾涉及多处燃料处理区域，其中包括野火发生前10年内已完成疏伐及计划火烧的地块。本研究的核心目标为评估三脚架综合体火灾区域内，实施机械疏伐处理（简记为thin）、机械疏伐结合计划火烧处理（简记为thinRx）以及未处理对照组（简记为control）的林分野火烈度差异。
原始元数据日期为2015年6月2日，元数据于2016年12月15日进行小幅更新。