Assessing fuel structure in old-growth eastern hemlock dominated stands of Nova Scotia, Canada

We present a dataset of measurements and observations of combustible live and dead vegetation (also known as fuel structure) in 15 old-growth stands dominated by eastern hemlock from southern to central Nova Scotia, Canada. The 15 stands were selected along a gradient of a recorded hemlock woolly adelgid infestation in Nova Scotia. We collected fuel structure data by applying the Next-Generation Fuels sampling protocol associated with the Next-Generation Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System. The principle application for this database is to permit the comparison of fuel structure across the different stands. Additional applications include informing local to national fuel type mapping when combined with remote sensing products, estimating potential fire behaviour under specific fire-weather conditions, predicting stand successional pathways, and assessing fuel complex changes over time with future sampling at the same locations.