Archiving Data for the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study (FFS)

Authors

James Mclver, Oregon State University

Date of this Version

2013

Document Type

Article

Citation

Joint Fire Science Program ID Number: 12-04-01-7

Comments

US government work.

Abstract

This final report describes the results of the project ‘Archiving Data for the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study (FFS)’, which was funded by the Joint Fire Science Program ($9,982; Project 12-­‐04-­‐ 01-­‐7) under Task Statement RFA 2012-­‐4 (Dataset Archival Task). To complete this project, we gathered, documented, and archived the complete dataset for the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study, including pre-­‐treatment data, and post-­‐treatment data collected through four years after treatment. The FFS was originally funded by the JFSP in spring 2000 and was completed in spring 2006, at which time a final report was submitted. The study was designed to evaluate how alternative fuel reduction treatments, including prescribed fire and its principle mechanical surrogates, influenced a number of ecological variables at 12 seasonally dry forests nationwide. We studied the response of the fuel bed, vegetation (understory and overstory), bark beetles, soils and the forest floor, and avifauna. Data on these components of the ecosystem were originally collected, entered and cleaned under the direction of scientists working at each of the 12 sites, and were then sent to a database manager working at the network level, where they were organized into a national database in ‘Oracle’, and then extracted into a more user-­‐friendly database in Microsoft Access. The current work began with the existing Access Database, and thoroughly documented its components, following general guidelines in the meta-­‐data program ‘MetaVist’. After the database was fully documented, on 26 September 2013 we submitted a draft to the Forest Service Research Data Archive (http://www.fs.usda.gov/rds/archive/), for review and ultimate publication. At the time of publication, a link to the database will be provided on the FFS project website, which is held and administered on the website of FRAMES (Fire Research and Management Exchange System; www.frames.gov). In this final report, we will briefly introduce the FFS project, including its principle data components, and then describe the database within which it has been submitted for publication. In its current form, FFS data reside in a number of relational tables in Microsoft Access, and the data themselves are supplemented by meta-­‐data compiled in MetaVist, contained in an FFS Study Plan, and summarized in a number of figures and tables, all of which can be accessed from within the Database itself. In addition, because many potential users may not be familiar with databases in general, or Access in particular, we have also provided the data in a set of fully-­‐documented queries, in spreadsheet format, which can be accessed directly from the opening menu-­‐bar within Microsoft Access. Finally, in order to provide the user with information on the analyses that have already been published with the dataset, principle FFS findings and publications are also available as supplemental information within the Access Database. We recognize that at some point in the future, as better open-­‐source database options become more readily available and easier to use, FFS data may ultimately be transferred out of the proprietary database Access into such an open-­‐ source option, at the discretion of the Forest Service archive administrators.