A wood stake study will be established at BAER (Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation) sites located on the Gallatin and Bitterroot National Forests (Montana) and the Boise National Forest (Idaho) in 2002. The BAER fire study has located plots on sites that were severely burned in 2001, and paired controls in nearby unburned stands. Two microplots will be established around soil moisture and temperature data collectors on both burned and unburned plots.

Mineral soil – twenty-five stakes (2.5 x 2.5 x 30 cm) of both loblolly pine and aspen will be installed at each microplot - for a total of 600 stakes (25 stakes x 2 species x 2 fire intensities x 2 microplots x 3 site locations). Five stakes of each species will be removed from each microplot every 6 months starting in 2003. Soil moisture and temperature will be measured at a 30 cm depth, and gas samples will be taken at 10, 20, and 30 cm soil depths in each plot for CO₂/O₂ determination.

Litter layer (forest floor) – fifty wood stakes (2.5 x 2.5 x 15 cm) of both tree species will be installed in the litter layer of the unburned control stands: 25 stakes at the litter layer/mineral soil interface, and 25 stakes on the litter layer surface - for a total of 600 stakes (25 stakes x 2 species x 1 fire treatment x 2 litter layer locations x 3 site locations x 2 microplots). Since the severely burned plots have very little litter layer remaining, twenty-five stakes of both tree species will be placed on the mineral soil surface on these microplots - for a total of 300 stakes (25 stakes x 2 species x 1 fire treatment x 1 litter layer location x 3 site locations x 2 microplots). Temperature will be measured in the litter layer/mineral soil interface, and if possible, on the litter layer surface.

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