Download or read book Spatial and Temporal Validation of Fire Scar Fire Histories written by and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accurate information about historical fire regimes is needed to understand the long-term effects of fire and climate on ecosystem dynamics and guide ecosystem restoration. Fire scars are used widely to reconstruct historical fire regimes around the world but few empirical validation studies have been conducted. This dissertation consists of three integrated studies aimed at addressing the following questions: (1) how accurate are fire-scar fire histories compared to known patterns of fire occurrence; (2) how do these relationships vary spatially and temporally; (3) how representative statistically are search-based ("targeted) fire-scar sampling techniques? I utilized an empirical corroboration approach to validate fire-scar reconstructions against documentary fire perimeters for a 2,780 hectare ponderosa pine landscape in Saguaro National Park, Arizona (USA). Resampling statistics and spatial modeling were used to quantify interactions between spatial scale, sample size, and fire size. Statistical properties of targeted sampling were assessed by analyzing three case studies containing paired examples of targeted and non-targeted sampling (i.e., systematic and census). I found strong linear relationships between fire-scar synchrony (samples scarred in a given year) and annual area burned. Fire-scar derived estimates of fire frequency metrics, such as Mean Fire Return Interval and Natural Fire Rotation, did not differ significantly from the documentary record, and there was strong spatial coherence between fire frequency maps interpolated from fire-scar data and documentary maps. Scale and sample size dependence of fire-scar detection probabilities were variable for small fire years but relatively weak for widespread fires. This resulted in consistent and predictable influences on fire frequency reconstructions: statistical measures dependent on area burned were relatively stable and robust across a range of scale, sample size, and fire size. Targeted sampling did not differ statistically from non-targeted datasets, but targeted fire-scar data contained proportionately greater sample depth and longer temporal records with fewer samples. These results demonstrate collectively that key temporal and spatial fire frequency parameters can be reconstructed accurately from point-based fire-scar data. They also reaffirm general interpretations and management implications from past fire history research indicating that frequent, widespread burning was an important component of pre-settlement fire regimes in Southwestern ponderosa pine.
Download or read book Emulating Natural Forest Landscape Disturbances written by Ajith H. Perera and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2008-01-11 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is a natural forest disturbance? How well do we understand natural forest disturbances and how might we emulate them in forest management? What role does emulation play in forest management? Representing a range of geographic perspectives from across Canada and the United States, this book looks at the escalating public debate on the viability of natural disturbance emulation for sustaining forest landscapes from the perspective of policymakers, forestry professionals, academics, and conservationists. This book provides a scientific foundation for justifying the use of and a solid framework for examining the ambiguities inherent in emulating natural forest landscape disturbance. It acknowledges the divergent expectations that practitioners face and offers a balanced view of the promises and challenges associated with applying this emerging forest management paradigm. The first section examines foundational concepts, addressing questions of what emulation involves and what ecological reasoning substantiates it. These include a broad overview, a detailed review of emerging forest management paradigms and their global context, and an examination of the ecological premise for emulating natural disturbance. This section also explores the current understanding of natural disturbance regimes, including the two most prevalent in North America: fire and insects. The second section uses case studies from a wide geographical range to address the characterization of natural disturbances and the development of applied templates for their emulation through forest management. The emphasis on fire regimes in this section reflects the greater focus that has traditionally been placed on understanding and managing fire, compared with other forms of disturbance, and utilizes several viewpoints to address the lessons learned from historical disturbance patterns. Reflecting on current thinking in the field, immediate challenges, and potential directions, the final section moves deeper into the issues of practical applications by exploring the expectations for and feasibility of emulating natural disturbance through forest management.
Download or read book Fire History and Fire Climate Relationships in Upper Elevation Forests of the Southwestern United States written by Ellis Margolis and published by . This book was released on with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fire history and fire-climate relationships of upper elevation forests of the southwestern United States are imperative for informing management decisions in the face of increased crown fire occurrence and climate change. I used dendroecological techniques to reconstruct fires and stand-replacing fire patch size in the Madrean Sky Islands and Mogollon Plateau. Reconstructed patch size (1685-1904) was compared with contemporary patch size (1996-2004). Reconstructed fires at three sites had stand-replacing patches totaling>500 ha. No historical stand-replacing fire patches were evident in the mixed conifer/aspen forests of the Sky Islands. Maximum stand-replacing fire patch size of modern fires (1129 ha) was greater than that reconstructed from aspen (286 ha) and spruce-fir (521 ha). Undated spruce-fir patches may be evidence of larger (>2000ha) stand-replacing fire patches. To provide climatological context for fire history I used correlation and regionalization analyses to document spatial and temporal variability in climate regions, and El-Nił̧o Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) teleconnections using 273 tree-ring chronologies (1732 - 1979). Four regions were determined by common variability in annual ring width. The component score time series replicate spatial variability in 20th century droughts (e.g., 1950's) and pluvials (e.g., 1910's). Two regions were significantly correlated with instrumental SOI and AMO, and three with PDO. Sub-regions within the southwestern U.S. varied geographically between the instrumental (1900-1979) and the pre-instrumental periods (1732-1899). Mapped correlations between ENSO, PDO and AMO, and tree-ring indices illustrate detailed sub-regional variability in the teleconnections. I analyzed climate teleconnections, and fire-climate relationships of historical upper elevation fires from 16 sites in 8 mountain ranges. I tested for links between Palmer Drought Severity Index and tree-ring reconstructed ENSO, PDO and AMO phases (1905-1978 and 1700-1904). Upper elevation fires (115 fires, 84 fire years, 1623-1904) were compared with climate indices. ENSO, PDO, and AMO affected regional PDSI, but AMO and PDO teleconnections changed between periods. Fire occurrence was significantly related to inter-annual variability in PDSI, precipitation, ENSO, and phase combinations of ENSO and PDO, but not AMO (1700-1904). Reduced upper elevation fire (1785-1840) was coincident with a cool AMO phase.
Download or read book The Influence of Sampling Intensity on the Fire History of the Teakettle Experimental Forest Sierra Nevada California written by Robert Paul Fiegener and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Great Plains written by Stephen J. Pyne and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2017-05-09 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Provides a wide look at plains wildland fire in the 21st century and how it is interconnected with other themes of life and culture in the Midwest"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book Landscape Fire History and Age Structure Patterns in the Sky Islands of Southeastern Aizona written by Jose M. Iniguez and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At regional scales climate patterns (e.g., interannual wet-dry cycles) result in high spatial fire synchrony among Southwest forests. However, in the"Sky Island"forests of southeastern Arizona spatial and temporal patterns of fire history and tree age structure at landscape levels (i.e., within mountain ranges) are relatively unknown and therefore the focus of this study. In the Santa Catalina Mountains we reconstructed the fire history on a 2,900-hectare study area with two distinct landscapes, Butterfly Peak (BP) and Rose Canyon (RC) using 2-hectare"points"(i.e., collection areas). The RC landscape was dominated by shallow south-facing aspects and BP was dominated by steep north-facing aspects. Within each landscape, point mean fire intervals (PMFIs) were not significantly different between aspect classes. However, pooled PMFIs were significantly shorter in RC compared to BP. These results show that the fire history at any given point (i.e., 2 hectares or less) was primarily controlled by the broad-scale topography of the encompassing landscape, rather than by the fine-scale topography at that point. Using similar methods we also reconstructed the fire history on Rincon Peak, which is a small isolated mountain range with very step topography. The fire history of the 310-hectare forest area was a mixture of frequent low severity surface fires (from AD 1648 to 1763) and infrequent mixed-severity fires (from AD 1763 to 1867). This mixed-fire regime was probably due to a combination of climatic variability, the small area and rugged topography of this mountain range, and complex fuel arrangements. The distinct fire histories from these two study areas provided natural age structure experiments that indicated tree age cohorts (i.e., higher than expected tree establishment pulses) occurred during periods of reduced fire frequencies. In some instances these periods were likely caused by climatic variability (e.g., a wet and/or cool early 1800s) creating synchronous age cohorts across the region. At other times, extended fire intervals were a function of local topography (e.g., 1763-1819 in the northern half of Rincon Peak). Overall, these studies demonstrated that landscape and climatic variations combine to produce complex spatial and temporal variations in fire history and tree age structures.
Download or read book Using Fire Return Interval Departure Analysis to Map Spatial and Temporal Changes in Fire Frequency on National Forest Lnads in California written by United States Department of Agriculture and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-06-26 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the state of California, fire regimes and related ecosystem processes have been altered by land use practices associated with Euro-American settlement, and climate warming is exacerbating the magnitude and effects of those changes.
Download or read book Proceedings of the Fire History Workshop October 20 24 1980 Tucson Arizona written by and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of the workshop was to exchange information on sampling procedures, research methodologies, preparation and interpretation of specimen material, terminology, and the application and significance of findings, emphasizing the relationship of dendrochronology procedures to fire history interpretations.
Download or read book Between Two Fires written by Stephen J. Pyne and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2015-10-15 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a fire policy of prevention at all costs to today's restored burning, Between Two Fires is America's history channeled through the story of wildland fire management. Stephen J. Pyne tells of a fire revolution that began in the 1960s as a reaction to simple suppression and single-agency hegemony, and then matured into more enlightened programs of fire management. It describes the counterrevolution of the 1980s that stalled the movement, the revival of reform after 1994, and the fire scene that has evolved since then. Pyne is uniquely qualified to tell America’s fire story. The author of more than a score of books, he has told fire’s history in the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, and the Earth overall. In his earlier life, he spent fifteen seasons with the North Rim Longshots at Grand Canyon National Park. In Between Two Fires, Pyne recounts how, after the Great Fires of 1910, a policy of fire suppression spread from America’s founding corps of foresters into a national policy that manifested itself as a costly all-out war on fire. After fifty years of attempted fire suppression, a revolution in thinking led to a more pluralistic strategy for fire’s restoration. The revolution succeeded in displacing suppression as a sole strategy, but it has failed to fully integrate fire and land management and has fallen short of its goals. Today, the nation’s backcountry and increasingly its exurban fringe are threatened by larger and more damaging burns, fire agencies are scrambling for funds, firefighters continue to die, and the country seems unable to come to grips with the fundamentals behind a rising tide of megafires. Pyne has once again constructed a history of record that will shape our next century of fire management. Between Two Fires is a story of ideas, institutions, and fires. It’s America’s story told through the nation’s flames.
Download or read book Remote Sensing and Hydrological Modeling of Burn Scars written by Mary Ellen Miller and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contributions stemming from these studies include improved burn scar maps for studying historical fire extent and demonstration of the feasibility of using thermal satellite data to predict burn scar extent when clouds and smoke obscure visible bands. The incorporation of Landsat derived burn severity maps was shown to improve post-fire erosion modeling results. Finally the potential post-fire burn severity and erosion risk maps generated for western US forests will be used for planning pre-fire fuel reduction treatments.
Download or read book Hujpu St written by Linn Gassaway and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Comparison of Charcoal and Tree ring Records of Recent Fires in the Northern Rocky Mountains Kalispell MT USA written by Ian Hyp and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Northern Rocky Mountains, climate and vegetation histories have been developed using charcoal and pollen deposits in the sediment of lakes to determine the effect of changing climate on species distribution and disturbance regimes through time. However, few studies have been done on the spatial and temporal accuracy of these charcoal and pollen sediment strata analyses. In this study we created a dendrochronological fire history using fire-scarred trees in the watershed of Foy Lake in the Flathead Valley, MT, to determine the synchronicity between two fire proxies: the watershed's tree fire scar chronology and the dated charcoal in the sediment lake strata. I also compared Foy Lake's charcoal profile to six other tree-ring based fire histories that were developed within 120 kilometers of Foy Lake to evaluate the registry of regional fires in Foy Lake's charcoal sediment fire history. I found that of the 31 fire years shared among tree-ring fire history sites in the region, 12 registered as significant charcoal peaks in Foy Lake. Of those 12 fire years, eight of them took place in the Foy Lake watershed. Also, of the 19 filtered fire years with two or more scars found in the Foy Lake watershed, only seven corresponded with charcoal peaks in the lake with little or no lag time, but fire years with only one scar found matched most and left few charcoal peaks unaccounted for. This study will enable paleoecologists to better interpret charcoal sediment results, assured that local charcoal deposition is likely the primary contributor to a lake's sediment charcoal record. Large fire years that did not occur in the local watershed may not register in the lake strata, and climate inferences from charcoal particle presence in a single lake may be skewed.
Download or read book Fire written by Stephen J. Pyne and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2019-08-12 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over vast expanses of time, fire and humanity have interacted to expand the domain of each, transforming the earth and what it means to be human. In this concise yet wide-ranging book, Stephen J. Pyne—named by Science magazine as “the world’s leading authority on the history of fire”—explores the surprising dynamics of fire before humans, fire and human origins, aboriginal economies of hunting and foraging, agricultural and pastoral uses of fire, fire ceremonies, fire as an idea and a technology, and industrial fire. In this revised and expanded edition, Pyne looks to the future of fire as a constant, defining presence on Earth. A new chapter explores the importance of fire in the twenty-first century, with special attention to its role in the Anthropocene, or what he posits might equally be called the Pyrocene.
Download or read book Fire in America written by Stephen J. Pyne and published by University of Washington Press. This book was released on 2017-01-27 with total page 681 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From prehistory to the present-day conservation movement, Pyne explores the efforts of successive American cultures to master wildfire and to use it to shape the landscape.
Download or read book Fire Episodes in the Inland Northwest 1540 1940 Based on Fire History Data written by Stephen W. Barrett and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 20 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book General Technical Report RMRS written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 842 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
