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Sponsors:
CAL FIRE Joint Fire Science Program |
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History
The Teakettle Experimental Area was established in 1938 to explore how the water supply for California’s Central Valley might be increased through the management of Sierra Nevada watersheds. The 1,300-ha experimental forest encompasses Teakettle Creek and stream flow was monitored through the 1970’s. |
Site Location & Description
The Teakettle Experimental Area is located 80 km east of Fresno, California, between Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks. The site ranges from 2,000 to 2,800 meters in elevation and is old-growth forest consisting primarily of mixed-conifer and red fir forest. This forest type is common on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. The dominant species include white fir, red fir, sugar pine, Jeffery pine, incense cedar and California black oak. The mixed-conifer forests of the southern Sierra Nevada are frequent-fire forests. Historically, these forests experienced frequent low and mixed severity fires. A survey of fire scars at Teakettle found that the mean historic fire return interval for the site was 12 to 17 years. Prior to the first prescribed burn in the fall of 2001, the forest had last experienced fire in 1865.
The climate here is typical of the Sierra Nevada region, with hot, dry summers and mild, moist winters. Most of the annual precipitation falls as snow between November and May. From 2012-2016, the state of California experienced a severe drought, resulting in widespread mortality across the Sierra Nevada.
The Teakettle Experimental Area is located 80 km east of Fresno, California, between Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks. The site ranges from 2,000 to 2,800 meters in elevation and is old-growth forest consisting primarily of mixed-conifer and red fir forest. This forest type is common on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. The dominant species include white fir, red fir, sugar pine, Jeffery pine, incense cedar and California black oak. The mixed-conifer forests of the southern Sierra Nevada are frequent-fire forests. Historically, these forests experienced frequent low and mixed severity fires. A survey of fire scars at Teakettle found that the mean historic fire return interval for the site was 12 to 17 years. Prior to the first prescribed burn in the fall of 2001, the forest had last experienced fire in 1865.
The climate here is typical of the Sierra Nevada region, with hot, dry summers and mild, moist winters. Most of the annual precipitation falls as snow between November and May. From 2012-2016, the state of California experienced a severe drought, resulting in widespread mortality across the Sierra Nevada.
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Experiment
The Teakettle Experiment was implemented in 1997 to quantify the effects of fire and thinning on the ecosystem. Since the project’s inception, more than two dozen researchers have collaborated to quantify the effects of these treatments on a variety of ecological variables. The experimental design includes six treatment types consisting of two levels of burning (unburned and burned) crossed with three levels of thinning (Overstory Thin, Understory Thin and No Thin). Each treatment was replicated three times for a total of 18 treatment units. The treatment units are 4 hectares in size for a total of 72 hectares. The overstory thin removed all trees greater than 75 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) with the exception of 22 of the largest trees per hectare. The Understory Thin removed all trees between 25 and 75 cm DBH. The first-entry fire at Teakettle was implemented during fall 2001 and the second-entry burn was implemented during fall 2017. 
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We are building on the original Teakettle Experiment with a CALFIRE FHRP research project to quantify the effects of catchment-scale prescribed burning on carbon dynamics and ecosystem processes. The prescribed burn follows the 2012-2016 California drought allowing the project to assess whether prescribed fire following widespread tree mortality can still achieve desired management outcomes. This research focuses on a 180-hectare catchment of old-growth, mixed-conifer forest adjacent to the long-term Teakettle Experiment within the boundary of the Experimental Forest. Pre- and post-treatment monitoring of overstory trees, surface fuels, understory vegetation, and tree regeneration occurs at 200 plots on an 80-meter georeferenced grid. Pre-treatment data was collected during the summers of 2019 and 2021 and will continue during the summer of 2022.
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