1994 Thunder Fire Research

Wetland Workshop.

Final Reports (PDF) Thunder Fire Report, by G. Wooten, M. Poss, and M. Larsen (3 MB PDF file). Thunder Fire Project Appendices Links: Introduction Background and Highlights Ecology Wildlife Birds Amphibians Vegetation Threats Related pages: Boreal research Boreal Okanogan

Investigating aquatic macroinvertebrates.

In 1994, the Thunder Mountain fire burned 8,000 acres of high-elevation forests in the boreal zone of the Okanogan Range. The fire occurred in the Long Swamp Roadless area of the Okanogan National Forest, one of the state's largest roadless areas. The Thunder Mountain fire was neither a devastating nor catastrophic event. It was a tremendous opportunity to learn about natural recovery from fire in the boreal environment. Our journey began with a hike up Thirtymile Creek into the still-smoldering forests and meadows, during the second Artists in the Forest event, organized by Trust for Habitat Conservation, the predecessor to Methow Field Institute.

Project Highlights

With financial assistance from the Mountaineers Foundation, Bullitt Foundation, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and US EPA, a large number of studies and events were initiated by numerous teams of researchers and workshop attendants including:

• Development of the Thunder Mountain Fire Page, with links to Thunder Mountain area ecology.
• Completion of a study of amphibian occurrence following the first years.
• Sponsored workshops on Boreal Ecology, Stream Ecology, Bird Inventory, Wetlands, Fire, and Microflora, 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999.
• Established 75 photo stations which were photographed yearly for long-term ecological research.
• By the end of 1997, a total of 25 plots and 6900 fixed sample points were established, partitioned into 78 habitat types.
• Developed a floristic inventory.
• Located and mapped new sightings of Sensitive plants, including two new taxa.
• Analyzed the trends in vegetation recovery in the years 1994-2000.
• Analyzed the difference between hot-burned areas, logged areas and wetland burns.
• Completed wildlife winter tracking surveys from 1992-1999.

Research questions were asked by our research teams during this study.

The followinng questions were investigated:

• Does biodiversity increase or decrease in a fire?
• How does biodiversity change after a fire?
• What measures of biodiversity are useful for measuring in changes after a fire?
• Which species become dominant after fire?
• What is the progression of species after a fire?
• Does logging change the progression of species?

The following questions were answered by our research:

• 218 taxa in 41 families were identified, 86% as forbs.
• Of the total species in the area, 117 species (including non-vascular and genera) were found in the plots, beginning with 70 in 1996, 23 new ones in 1997, 16 new ones in 1998 and 8 new ones in 2000.
• The primary species occurring in 1995, the first year after the fire, in hot-dry burned areas was morel mushrooms.
• The primary species occurring in 1996, in hot-dry burned areas was the liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha.
• The commonest species appearing in 1997 were fireweed, pinegrass, Ross sedge and Scouler willow.
• Wet areas revegetated their forb layer almost completely the first year after a fire, presumably because sprouting was a major feature of their recovery.
• Logged areas showed a slower rate of recovery, apparently because of deeper slash inhibiting germination.
• Many plants operate under a dual survival system, sprouting from roots as well as initiating seed release.