BLM OR/WA Central Oregon Live Fuels Moisture Monitoring Project, Prineville District

In 2008 Central Oregon Fire Management Service (COFMS) began exploring the need for collecting data for live fuel moisture as a result of extreme fire behavior and high mortality in live fuels. A 3 year pilot program to study and collect this data was conducted by Oregon State University. The program collected data for live fuel moisture in order to examine how live fuels affect fire behavior and plant mortality. This study confirmed that live fuel moisture data helps with determining land management decisions for fire management practices across multiple jurisdictions including Cities, Counties, States, Non-Profit and for Profit organizations, and private land owners. The objective of this program is to track moisture patterns of live fuel from the wet season through the dry season in order to provide information to land managers from multiple jurisdictions, including Cities, Counties, States, Non-Profit and for Profit organizations, and private land owners, about live fuel conditions and how this may influence fire behavior. The program will include, but not be limited to, sampling soil moisture to further define the relationship between soil moisture and live-fuel moisture, providing educational and project experience to youth, and updating the National Fuel Moisture Database.