As part of the 2026 North American Forest Ecology Workshop held in Missoula, MT, NRFSN sponsored a field tour of the Fire & Fire Surrogate study site at Lubrecht Experimental Forest.

The study, initiated in 1999, evaluates the effects of thinning and burning treatments in fire-adapted ponderosa pine-Douglas-fir forests.  A unique aspect of the study is that it was heavily impacted by a mountain pine beetle outbreak approximately 5 years after treatment implementation. A second thinning was completed in 2023, followed by mastication in the thin-only treatment. Second-entry prescribed burns were completed in 2024.  The tour discussed treatment effects over time, including stand dynamics, fuel treatment longevity, potential fire behavior, bark beetle activity, invasive species, and soil productivity.  

The field tour will started with a brief background of the Lubrecht Experimental Forest and the National Fire-Fire Surrogate study. Then participants walked through one of the study blocks to visit each of the four treatment units for a more detailed discussion of the effects of the different treatments.

The tour was led by Sharon Hood and Justin Crotteau from the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station.