Monday, 17 November 2003
Stereo photo series for quantifying natural fuels in the Americas
Photo series are useful tools for quickly and inexpensively evaluating vegetation and fuel conditions in the field. The natural fuels photo series is a collection of data and photographs that collectively display a range of natural conditions and fuel loadings in a wide variety of ecosystem types throughout the Americas from central Alaska to central Brazil. Fire managers are the primary target audience of the natural fuels photo series, although the data presented will also prove useful for scientists and managers in other natural resource fields. Phase I included 18 ecosystem types in the United States organized geographically into six volumes. Phases II and III have added volumes for ecosystem types in Hawaii (grassland, shrubland, woodland, and forest), Alaska (hardwoods with spruce understory), the Lake States (jack pine), the southeast United States (sand hill, sand pine scrub, and hardwoods with white pine), and the western United States (California deciduous oak, Oregon white oak, and mixed-conifer with manzanita/ceanothus). Phase III will conclude with a volume for the northeastern United States (pitch pine, balsam fir/red spruce, and mixed hardwoods) to be published in 2005. Potential future work will supplement already published volumes with new series in new ecosystems or additional sites in already published series. A volume has also been produced for savannah (cerrado) ecosystem types in central Brazil and a volume is under development for pine forests in Mexico.
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