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The Biscuit Fire of 2002
sparked controversy in the way that public forests are
managed after large fires. There are two arguments
about postfire logging. The first one is that postfire
logging diminishes fire risk via fuel reduction and that
these forests can not adequately regenerate without
intervention. On the flip side, people say that
postfire logging is detrimental to long-term forest
development, wildlife habitat, and other ecosystem
function. There have been many studies done on the
effects of postfire logging. The University of
Washington did one of these studies. They studied
areas across the fire area that had been sampled before
the 2004 and after the 2005 logging. To read more
about this study click here:
Biscuit Fire |
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| 2002 Biscuit Wildfire |
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Source:
http://www.wildlandfire.com/pics/wall/wildfire_biscuit.jpg |
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Oregon has many different forest types. Douglas fir and
Siskiyou mixed conifer dominate the western coast of
Oregon by the Cascade Mountain range. The Biscuit fire
of 2002 occurred in the Siskiyou mixed conifer forests.
Siskiyou mixed conifer has a 45-80 year return interval
and moderate burn severity.
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| Map of Oregon's forest
type |
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This image was taken by
the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer(MISR).
The images show
the fire and the burn scars it left afer on the
landscape. The red in these false-color images
show vegetation. Data from the near-infrared,
red and blue bands, are displayed as red, green
and blue, respectively. This technique allows us
to see the contrast between burnt and unburnt
areas. The left hand image is from July 29,2002
and the right hand image shows the same region
about 7 weeks after the Biscuit Fire.
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