Developing FCCS Fuelbeds for Mexico
Project Description
Develop FCCS fuelbeds for Mexico.
Purpose and Scope
- A tool for fire management planning and implementing new fire policies.
- A comprehensive fuel and fire characteristics database and GIS layer, specific to Mexico's ecosystems, to improve the current fire risk system.
- To improved accounting of carbon fluxes from forest practices and forest fires
- For ecological assessment of Mexico's natural protected areas.
- To assist local fire managers in designing fire management plans.
Methods
- Vegetation data for initial development of FCCS fuelbeds across Mexico will come from LANDSAT data, forest inventory data, and ground data collection.
- Over 100 fuelbeds will be built from using the natural fuels photo series (Mexico, Borderlands, California, Brazil, and others) by the University of Guadalajara in cooperation with others.
- Fifteen new photo sites are being developed for tropical forests
- Additional data will be culled from a variety of studies of fuels conducted in or near Mexico.
Implementation
A companion project, Development of Decision Products for Spatial Quantification of Carbon Emissions from Wildfire for North America, will take these fuelbeds and map them across Mexico.
Key Personnel
Project Contact/Investigator
-
Person
Roger D. Ottmar
Research Forester-Emeritus Scientist
Collaborators
Co-Investigator:
- Ernesto Alvarado
Partner:
- University of Washington, School of Environment and Forest Sciences