| | Accession Number | 5004984 |
| | Title | Response of Delmarva fox squirrels to prescribed fires in Mid-Atlantic coastal plain |
| | forests |
| | Project Description | Prescribed fire is being implemented in mid-Atlantic coastal plain forests to reduce hazardous fuel |
| | loads. No studies on the effectiveness of these treatments in reducing fuels have been conducted |
| | in the mid-Atlantic. Basic information on the ecological effects of hazard reduction fires in the |
| | mid-Atlantic is also wholly absent from the literature. Our objective is to provide forest managers in |
| | the region with information on the physical effects of hazard reduction prescribed fire, focusing on |
| | fuel loads, and the biological effects, focusing on changes in subcanopy plant community |
| | structure, density of the endangered Delmarva Fox Squirrel, and invasive plant cover. We will |
| | conduct burn treatments in four replicate sites across the mid-Atlantic coastal plain. We will |
| | investigate the hypotheses that hazard fuel reduction fires during the growing season will (1) |
| | significantly reduce hazardous fuels, (2) cause significant mortality in the ground- and shrub |
| | vegetative layers, (3) enhance Delmarva Fox Squirrel habitat, and (4) change cover of certain |
| | invasive woodland plants. |
| | Keywords | delmarva fox squirrel, fire ecology, fire effects monitoring, habitat enhancement, hazard fuel |
| | reduction, joint fire science program, sciurus niger cinereus, |
| | Principal | Oliver H Pattee, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: hank_pattee@usgs.gov; Carol I |
| | Investigators | Bocetti, USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: carol_bocetti@usgs.gov; Dixie L Bounds, |
| | USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center: dlbounds@mail.umes.edu; John M Morton, Blackwater |
| | Unit - Chesapeake Marshlands National Wildlife Refuge Complex: john_m_morton@fws.gov; |
| | Laura R Mitchell, Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge: laura_mitchell@fws.gov; |
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