California Prescribed Fire Monitoring Program: dataset 2019-2024

TL;DR

This paper introduces a dataset from California's prescribed fire monitoring program, tracking ecological effects of controlled burns from 2019 to 2024.

Contribution

The paper presents a standardized, comprehensive dataset from over 36 sites to evaluate prescribed fire impacts on forest ecosystems.

Findings

The dataset includes forest structure, fuel loads, and post-fire recovery metrics from 1,838 surveys.

It captures ecological indicators like tree mortality and species regeneration across multiple time points.

The data supports fire management decisions and model validation for fire-prone landscapes.

Abstract

The California Prescribed Fire Monitoring Program dataset (2019–2024) provides comprehensive ecological monitoring data from prescribed fire treatments across California’s diverse forest ecosystems. This dataset encompasses forest structure and cover, fuel loads, and post-fire recovery metrics, collected using a standardized protocol, from over 36 disparate sites (114 burn units, 972 plots, and 1,838 total surveys). Data collected during pre-fire, immediate, and multi-year post-fire sampling episodes allow for robust analysis of prescribed fire effects across variable environmental conditions. The monitoring framework captures key ecological indicators, including tree mortality, fuel consumption, understory vegetation response, species composition, and regeneration. This dataset can address critical knowledge gaps regarding prescribed fire effectiveness for ecological restoration, hazardous fuel reduction, and ecosystem resilience objectives. These data can support evidence-based fire management decisions, validate fire effects models, and establish baseline reference conditions for future prescribed fire implementation throughout California’s fire-prone landscapes.

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