Survey data for chaparral vegetation in masticated fuel treatments on the four southern California national forests (2011-2012)

Physical site characteristics including aspect, elevation, and slope were recorded for each study plot and spatial coordinates were obtained from a global positioning system. Stand height was determined by averaging the heights of the first live woody individual encountered along each 10 m subplot in mechanically masticated plots as well as in the adjacent controls. Unfortunately height data was not collected from postfire plots in the prior study. The age of the stand prior to each mechanical disturbance was obtained from stem samples collected from the first two obligate seeding individuals encountered within controls and ranged from seven to sixty-four years across all mechanically masticated fuel treatments. The stand ages of postfire plots, on the other hand, were obtained from stem samples collected from nearby unburned vegetation or estimated from burned skeletons of obligate seeding species collected within the burn area. These sites ranged in age from twenty-four to fifty-one years old at the time of the 2003 wildfires. All data from mechanically treated study sites, including both treatment and control, were collected in the spring and summer of 2011 and 2012. The postfire data from the local case study were also collected in the spring and summer of 2011 and 2012 whereas the postfire data used in the regional comparison were collected in the spring and summer of 2005. The age of each plot at the time of sampling was determined by subtracting the year of the disturbance from the year of data collection.