Fire Ecology and Recovery in the Pacific Northwest: A Case Study of West-Side Forests in the Opal Creek Scenic Recreation and Wilderness Areas, Oregon

<p><span style="font-size:11pt; font-variant:normal; white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-family:Aptos"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-weight:400"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="text-decoration:none">This resource is intended to allow students to investigate a case study in post-fire recovery in a PNW westside evergreen forest by mimicking the data collection protocols in a local setting and comparing the data they collect to data provided from the study site in the Opal Creek Wilderness and Scenic Recreation Area in the Willamette National Forest in Oregon.  It has long been thought that forests on the westside of the Cascade Mountains in the PNW burned infrequently and intensely through stand replacing fires.  Recent work, however, indicates more frequent and patchy fires were the historic fire regime (Merschel, et al. 2024; Laughlin et al. 2023; Dunn et al. 2020, Templey, 2014; Templey et al. 2013). Depending on the course using this project, the content covered could begin with (a review of) ecological principles of population and/or life cycle dynamics, community ecology, and succession.  If students already have this knowledge base, then the unit could begin with an exploration of fire ecology and review standard understanding about the successional process, comparing the concepts of relay floristics with initial floristics. Students could then either read recent papers about forest fires in the western Cascades or be presented with information in a lecture or discovery format.  Fortified with this knowledge, students are next exposed to specific information about the establishment of the Opal Creek Scenic Recreation and Wilderness Areas, the Opal Creek Ancient Forest Center, and the more recent (2020) Beachie Creek Fire through a series of websites and videos.  At this point our research that is documenting the recovery of six forested areas within the Opal Creek SRA and Wilderness should be introduced to students, mostly to convey the methods of data collection.  Students are then taken on a field trip to a nearby forest or other natural area where they gather data using the same methodology employed at Opal Creek.  The subsequent week, students explore 360 videos and photos of the research plots at Opal Creek and generate a question that they can compare to the data they collected at their local site.  (Data from the Opal Creek site is available upon request from Dr. Jennifer Johns, </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="mailto:[email protected]" style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-size:11pt; font-variant:normal; white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-family:Aptos"><span style="color:#1155cc"><span style="font-weight:400"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="text-decoration:underline"><span style="-webkit-text-decoration-skip:none"><span style="text-decoration-skip-ink:none">[email protected]</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-size:11pt; font-variant:normal; white-space:pre-wrap"><span style="font-family:Aptos"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-weight:400"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="text-decoration:none">.) Results from both locations (your local site and Opal Creek) are then compiled into a poster format and students present their findings during the final day (lecture or lab) of this module.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>