The National Science Foundation awarded the Andrews Forest LTER program with supplemental funds to support recovery from the wildfires of September 2020. The funds will be used to reestablish and remeasure vegetation plots that were burned in the fire, re-instrument and recalibrate under-canopy temperature sensors and soil moisture sensors in the burn zone, and increase the frequency of storm sampling and stream chemistry measurements to capture watershed responses to the fire. The supported infrastructure and studies are central to our ability to study long-term trends and to detect responses to the fire.
We have been working closely with our partners with the USFS PNW Research Station and the Willamette National Forest during the wildfire recovery. We are grateful for the ongoing support for the long-term research program.