Photoload Tool
Release Date
The Photoload method provides quick, accurate assessments of surface fuel loading. It can be used as an alternative to the planar intersect, or Brown's transect, method. The Photoload method involves using a series of photographs to estimate fuel loads for downed dead woody (1 hour, 10 hour, 100 hour, 1000 hour, masticated particles), cones, shrub, and herbaceous fuels.
Please visit the Photoload Project page for training resources and more information.
Principal Investigators: Sharon Hood and Robert Keane
Key Uses
Forest Management
Photo Sequences
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General Technical Report
https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/26755 -
General
https://research.fs.usda.gov/firelab/understory/photoload-1-hour-fuel-sequence -
General
https://research.fs.usda.gov/firelab/understory/photoload-10-hour-fuel-sequence -
General
https://research.fs.usda.gov/firelab/understory/photoload-100-hour-fuel-sequence -
General
https://research.fs.usda.gov/firelab/understory/photoload-masticated-fuel-sequence -
General
https://research.fs.usda.gov/firelab/understory/photoload-cone-fuel-sequence
Overview Video
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Videohttps://research.fs.usda.gov/firelab/products/multimedia/videos/photoloading-surface-fuel-loading-sampling-methods
Principal Investigators
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Person
Sharon M. Hood, PhD
Research Ecologisthttps://research.fs.usda.gov/about/people/sharon.hood -
Person
Robert E. Keane, PhD
Emeritus Scientisthttps://research.fs.usda.gov/about/people/robert.e.keane
Related Project
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Project
https://research.fs.usda.gov/firelab/projects/photoload
Publications for Photoload Users
- Robert E. Keane, Laura J. Dickinson. 2007. The photoload sampling technique: estimating surface fuel loadings from downward-looking photographs of synthetic fuelbeds
- Violet Holley, Robert E. Keane. 2010. A visual training tool for the Photoload sampling technique
- Chris M. Stalling, Robert E. Keane. 2020. Creating photographic loading sequences in the field for the photoload sampling technique
- Sharon M. Hood, Sarah Flanary, Chris M. Stalling. 2024. Estimating masticated and cone fuel loads using the Photoload method
Last updated December 3, 2025