Modeling Herbaceous Biomass for Grazing and Fire Risk Management

Edward C. Rhodes (), Douglas R. Tolleson and Jay P. Angerer
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Edward C. Rhodes: Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas Water Resources Institute, 1001 Holleman Drive East, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Douglas R. Tolleson: Texas A&M AgriLife Research, P.O. Box 918, Sonora, TX 76950, USA
Jay P. Angerer: USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory, 243 Fort Keogh Road, Miles City, MT 59301, USA

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: Both grazing and fine fuels management are dependent on the temporal and spatial distribution of herbaceous biomass production. Rangeland and wildland fire managers can both benefit from knowing when and where there is excessive herbaceous biomass buildup. In this study, we compared modeled herbaceous biomass outputs from the Phytomass Growth Simulator (Phygrow) to observe and predict herbaceous production on desert, juniper, and pine sites on the Coconino National Forest in Arizona. Models were validated with: (a) 2 years of quarterly data, and (b) fire season-only data. The Phygrow model showed strong agreement between observed and predicted values year-round on the desert (r 2 = 0.73) and pine sites (r 2 = 0.69), and a lower, but positive agreement in the juniper sites (r 2 = 0.54). Fire season predictions were strong for all ecosystem types (desert r 2 = 0.89; juniper r 2 = 0.62; pine r 2 = 0.94), suggesting that the Phygrow model is well suited to provide valuable decision support information with which to address both rangeland and fire management objectives.

Keywords: Coconino National Forest; decision support system; fine fuel; herbivory; Phygrow; understory; fire; southwest (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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