Rocky Mountain Research Station, Research Work Unit 4151:
Ecology and Management of Northern Rocky Mountain Forests
FACT SHEET: SIMPPLLE
L A N DS C A P E DYNAM I C S I M UL A T I O N SY S TE M
C U R R E N T A P P L I C AT I O N S
The information for this
fact sheet was provided by
Jim Chew, Forester
jchew@fs.fed.us
406-542-4171
Project Leader
Elaine Kennedy Sutherland
From thousands of acres to millions of
acres, for both strategic and tactical planning, SIMPPLLE quantifies change in
vegetation attributes, levels of disturbance processes, and the probability of
their occurrence. It is used to recreate a
representation of historic conditions and
a range of variability that can be compared to current conditions. It is used to
design and evaluate management alternatives.
FOREST PLAN REVISION - MANAGEMENT PLAN REVISION:
We are providing technical support to all planning zones in Region One, Forest
Service in Forest Plan Revision and all Montana BLM field offices for their Management Plan Revisions. Our support includes helping them build SIMPPLLE
data sets from their current inventories and providing assistance in “fine-tuning”
knowledge components of vegetation pathways, logic for disturbance process
probabilities and process spread. We are often asked to expand components of
the system and add report and analysis capabilities to help them address specific
management issues.
esutherland@fs.fed.us
406-542-4169
March 2005
WATERSHED ASSESSMENT—PROJECT PLANNING:
We are also providing assistance to Forests like the Gallatin NF that is developing
a prototype watershed assessment procedure using SIMPPLLE. We provide assistance to Forest Districts and BLM field offices for project support. The use of
SIMPPLLE for designing an ecosystem restoration and fuel reduction project on
the Lolo National Forest was presented at the 2003 National Silviculture Workshop.
EVALUATION OF FUEL TREATMENTS AT LANDSCAPE SCALES:
Funding from PSW—RWU 4402, Wildland Fire Management Research, Development, and Application, was provided for our participation in a Joint Fire Sciences
project for evaluating various models for planning and evaluating fuel treatments
at landscape scales. Since 2000 we have developed versions of SIMPPLLE for the following geographic
areas: Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevadas, San Gabriel NF in Southern California, BLM and
Fishlake NF in Utah, Gila NF in New Mexico, Kenai Peninsula in South Central Alaska, HuronManistee NF in the Lake States, and the Conecuh NF and Blackwater State Forest in the South East.
The use of SIMPPLLE in this study links to the optimization and scheduling model, MAGIS. Numerous papers have been presented at symposiums for this project.
BITTERROOT ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH PROJECT (BEMRP):
SIMPPLLE has been used with the scheduling model, MAGIS, to identify project plans for ecosystem
restoration and fuel treatments. Research Joint Venture Agreements with the University of Montana
have been funded for evaluating the use of FRAGSTATS with SIMPPLLE, exporting simulations results
to similar watersheds, and testing the use of SIMPPLLE vegetation changes with hydrologic response
models. A current study is in progress to identify how different modeling tools, including SIMPPLLE,
MAGIS, and MTT, can be used together to identify locations in need of hazardous fuel treatments and
to then prioritize fuel treatments.
COLORADO FRONT RANGE:
In a Joint Fire Sciences project directed by Merrill Kaufmann, RWU-4852, Natural Resource Assessment, Ecology, and Management Science, SIMPPLLE and MAGIS are being used together to prioritize
fuel treatments in a study area in the South Platte watershed. In additional the Front Range Fuel Partnership provided funding to for development of a version of SIMPPLLE that can be used along the entire
Colorado Front Range.
FIRE PLAN FUNDING — DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT:
A joint study with RWU– 4802, Economic Aspects of Forest Management on Public Lands, has been
developing a “ Decision Support System for Spatial Analysis of Fuel Treatment Options and Effects at
Landscape Scales” (NFP Project 01.RMS.A.1). Development in both SIMPPLLE and MAGIS has progressed to make it easier for the user to use the two modeling systems (together or separately) as a decision support system.