Stand Level. Stand level fire severity is used to refer to the amount and pattern of fine scale residual trees and patches that remain within individual polygons comprising individual fire patches. It can describe residuals trees or patches (Xxxxxxx et al., 2002, pg 35). Essentially, stand level fire severity captures residual structure that is too small to be caught at a landscape level. Stand level fire severity was considered by establishing eleven severity classes based on the amount of stand burned in a fire event. Xxxxxxx et al. (2002) groups these eleven classes into high, moderate and low (pg 92). It can be assumed that the high severity classes represent stand replacing fires consistent with the common understanding of NDT3 processes. It should be noted that about 12 % of the area considered to be in the high severity class will still have 5-15% residual structure. Fire severity was found to be considerably different for the two major ecosystems in the Chilcotin. For the SBPSxc fire severity, approximately 45% of the study area was burned under high severity fires that left less than 15% of residual forest. The SBPSdc was noted to have a higher proportion (56%) of the study area to be in the high fire severity class. (Xxxxxxx et al. 2002 pg 92). Landscape position and landscape type had no significant effect on fire severity, although there is some weak evidence indicating that lowland areas experienced less moderate severity fire, but higher amounts of high and low severity fire than the upland position (Figure 5.18 p93). These general results are presented in Table 4.16. Fire severity mapping was based on a small subset of the study area (7%). Due to this, the results have to be viewed with caution when interpreting the results at the stand level. Not withstanding this, it appears that low severity fire affected a substantial portion of the Chilcotin. Guideline # SBS/SBPS 10 Management Guideline Title: Remnant retention. Type: Stand
