Optimal fire management for maintaining community diversity

Disturbance events strongly influence the dynamics of plant and animal populations within nature reserves. Although many models predict the patterns of succession following a disturbance event, it is often unclear how these models can be used to help make management decisions about disturbances. In this paper we consider the problem of managing fire in Ngarkat Conservation park (CP), South Australia, Australia. We present a methematical model of community succession following a fire disturbance event. Ngarkat CP is a key habitat for several nationally rare and threatened species of birds, and because these species prefer different successional communities, we assume that the primary management objective is to maintain community diversity within the park. More specifically, the aim of management is to keep at least a certain fraction of the park, (e.g. 20%) in each of three successional stages. We assume that each year a manager may do one of the following: let wildfires burn unhindered, fight wildfires, or perform controlled burns. We apply stochastic dynamic programming to identify which of these three strategies is optimal, i.e. the one most likely to promote community diversity. Model results indicate that the optimal management strategy depends on the current state of the park, the cost associated with each strategy, and the time frame over which the manager has set his/her goal

Natural Resources Research Institute Technical Report

Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth; Prepared for: St. Louis County.The goal of this project is to organize and analyze the Wood5 data set to aid in the formulation of forest management recommendations in St Louis County. Collection of Wood5 data has been ongoing since the start of the soil survey. The purpose of the Wood5 project is to collect detailed soil and forest growth data on a variety of soil and forest cover types to develop relationships between soil characteristics and forest growth

Appendix B. Methods used for and results of bulk density measurements and changes due to treatment effects.

Methods used for and results of bulk density measurements and changes due to treatment effects

Appendix C. A table showing ANOVA results for bog and fen mesocosms for carbon gain or loss and water-table level relative to the mean peat surface.

A table showing ANOVA results for bog and fen mesocosms for carbon gain or loss and water-table level relative to the mean peat surface

C-LOCK (PATENT PENDING): A SYSTEM FOR ESTIMATING AND CERTIFYING CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION CREDITS FOR THE SEQUESTRATION OF SOIL CARBON ON AGRICULTURAL LAND

Abstract. The C-Lock system was developed to address the need for an improved method of quantifying and certifying project-level carbon emission reduction credits (CERC). It was designed to enable individual landowners to efficiently quantify, certify, pool, market and trade CERCs generated by agricultural management practices. We provide a general overview of the C-Lock system as it has been implemented for the USA State of South Dakota. C-Lock is comprised of four linked components: a web interface, a client database, a Geographic Information System (GIS) database of soil, climate and generalized land use history parameters, and the CENTURY soil carbon model. The user-friendly interface elicits generalized land-use and crop history information from the client from 1900 through 1989, then explicit annual information from 1990 onward. A climate-zone level landuse and crop management database is used to fill in gaps in the client-provided data. These data are used to drive the CENTURY model, which estimates annual changes in soil carbon stocks. Monte Carlo simulation is used to estimate uncertainty bounds, and these are applied to the CENTURY outputs in order to provide probabilistic estimates of accrued CERCs in a manner that is transparent and verifiable. In a demonstration application, CERCs are estimated for three different land-use scenarios on a representative field in eastern South Dakota: reduced tillage or conservation (no-till

Appendix B. Methods for estimation of ANPP in mesocosm plots.

Methods for estimation of ANPP in mesocosm plots

C-Lock (Patent Pending): A System for Estimating and Certifying Carbon Emission Reduction Credits for the Sequestration of Soil Carbon on Agricultural Land

C-Lock, carbon sequestration, CERC, soil carbon,