Fire history and age structure analysis in the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge: Establishing reference conditions in a remnant oak savanna woodland Investigator: Kurt Kipfmueller The Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge (http://www.fws.gov/midwest/sherburne/) is situated just west of the Twin Cities on the ecotone between closed forest and grassland. The refuge has an active fire management program that has been implemented to restore the ecosystem to a more open oak savanna. A small remnant (~500 acres) oak savanna is being investigated to determine the age structure, regeneration patterns, and fire history in an effort to help guide fire management on the refuge. We are collecting age structure information using increment cores and also documenting species composition using a relatively dense network of grid points. Fire scars will be sampled in the Spring of 2007 to establish the remnant's fire history. Although much of the area is closed-canopy forest with relatively young trees (<100 years) there are remnant oaks with inner ring-dates from the early 1800s. This research is being supported by a grant from the US Fish and Wildlife Service. |
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