A 9000-year fire history from the Oregon Coast Range, based on a high-resolution charcoal study

Long, Colin J.; Whitlock, Cathy; Bartlein, Patrick J.; Millspaugh, Sarah H.

doi:10.1139/cjfr-28-5-774

Cited by 117 publications

(152 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

149

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Although the youngest age appears older than other records (e.g. Pierce et al 2004;Sanborn et al 2006), late-Holocene fire frequencies at Bear Flat are similar or lower than those inferred at other locations (Long et al 1998;Hallett et al 2003a;Millspaugh et al 2000;Lertzman et al 2002;Hallett and Walker 2000). It is possible that the youngest records have been removed by 20th century agricultural ploughing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 46%

“…in Yellowstone (Meyer et al 1995;Millspaugh et al 2000), Idaho (Meyer et al 2001), Oregon (Long et al 1998), southwestern BC (Gavin et al 2003b;Hallett et al 2003a;Lertzman et al 2002), and southeastern BC (Hallett and Walker 2000;Hallett et al 2003b). This signal appears less marked in the tropics (Horn and Sanford 1992;Turcq et al 1998) and in other mid-latitude regimes, such as in eastern Canada (Carcaillet et al 2001) and New Zealand (Molloy et al 1963).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Records of forest fires at Yellowstone National Park indicated an increase in fire frequency at 9000 to 8200 BP (Millspaugh et al 1998), followed by an abrupt reduction during the global cold event around 8200 cal BP (Barber et al 1999). Millspaugh et al (1998) suggested a trend related primarily to solar insolation, though more detailed dating suggests a link to millennial-scale phenomena (see also Meyer et al 1995).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The long-term record of forest-fire history has been studied in a number of regions (Meyer et al 1995(Meyer et al , 2001Cwynar 1987;Long et al 1998;Hallett et al 2003a,b;Millspaugh et al 2000;Horn and Sanford 1992;Turcq et al 1998;Lertzman et al 2002;Hallett and Walker 2000;Pierce et al 2004) of the world, but there is little information on fire history in more northerly regions of Canada. There are basically 2 kinds of studies: 1) direct measurement of charcoal found in alluvial and colluvial deposits (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meyer et al 1995Meyer et al , 2001Lertzman et al 2002;Pierce et al 2004); and 2) studies of the charcoal record found in lake sediments (e.g. Long et al 1998;Millspaugh et al 2000). In southern British Columbia (BC), there have been several studies (Hallett et al 2003a,b;Lertzman et al 2002) of fire histories in hemlock rainforests of the Fraser Valley, southwestern BC.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Over 16,000 Years of Fire Frequency Determined from AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Soil Charcoal in an Alluvial Fan at Bear Flat, Northeastern British Columbia

Jull

Geertsema²

2006

Radiocarbon

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT. We present results of radiocarbon dating of charcoal from paleosols and buried charcoal horizons in a unique sequence, which potentially records the last 36,000 yr, from a fan at Bear Flat, British Columbia (BC) (56°16′51″N, 121°13′39″W). Evidence for forest-fire charcoal is found over the last 13,500 ± 110 14 C yr before present (BP) or 16,250 ± 700 cal BP. The study area is located east of the Rocky Mountains in an area that was ice-free at least 13,970 ± 170 14 C yr BP (17,150 cal BP) ago. The latest evidence of fire is during the Medieval Warm Period (MWP). The charcoal ages show a periodicity in large fires on a millennial scale through the Holocene-an average of 4 fires per thousand years. Higher fire frequencies are observed between 2200 to 2800 cal BP, ~5500 and ~6000 cal BP, ~7500 to 8200 cal BP, and 9000 to 10,000 cal BP. These intervals also appear to be times of above-average aggradation of the fan. We conclude that fire frequency is related to large-scale climatic events on a millennial time scale.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 46%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Over 16,000 Years of Fire Frequency Determined from AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Soil Charcoal in an Alluvial Fan at Bear Flat, Northeastern British Columbia

Jull

Geertsema²

2006

Radiocarbon

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Forest management scenarios in a changing climate: trade‐offs between carbon, timber, and old forest

Creutzburg

Scheller

Lucash

et al. 2017

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Balancing economic, ecological, and social values has long been a challenge in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, where conflict over timber harvest and old-growth habitat on public lands has been contentious for the past several decades. The Northwest Forest Plan, adopted two decades ago to guide management on federal lands, is currently being revised as the region searches for a balance between sustainable timber yields and habitat for sensitive species. In addition, climate change imposes a high degree of uncertainty on future forest productivity, sustainability of timber harvest, wildfire risk, and species habitat. We evaluated the long-term, landscape-scale trade-offs among carbon (C) storage, timber yield, and old forest habitat given projected climate change and shifts in forest management policy across 2.1 million hectares of forests in the Oregon Coast Range. Projections highlight the divergence between private and public lands under business-as-usual forest management, where private industrial forests are heavily harvested and many public (especially federal) lands increase C and old forest over time but provide little timber. Three alternative management scenarios altering the amount and type of timber harvest show widely varying levels of ecosystem C and old-forest habitat. On federal lands, ecological forestry practices also allowed a simultaneous increase in old forest and natural early-seral habitat. The ecosystem C implications of shifts away from current practices were large, with current practices retaining up to 105 Tg more C than the alternative scenarios by the end of the century. Our results suggest climate change is likely to increase forest productivity by 30-41% and total ecosystem C storage by 11-15% over the next century as warmer winter temperatures allow greater forest productivity in cooler months. These gains in C storage are unlikely to be offset by wildfire under climate change, due to the legacy of management and effective fire suppression. Our scenarios of future conditions can inform policy makers, land managers, and the public about the potential effects of land management alternatives, climate change, and the trade-offs that are inherent to management and policy in the region.

show abstract

Fire catalyzed rapid ecological change in lowland coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest over the past 14,000 years

Crausbay

Higuera

Sprugel

et al. 2017

Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Disturbance can catalyze rapid ecological change by causing widespread mortality and initiating successional pathways, and during times of climate change, disturbance may contribute to ecosystem state changes by initiating a new successional pathway. In the Pacific Northwest of North America (PNW), disturbance by wildfires strongly shapes the composition and structure of lowland forests, but understanding the role of fire over periods of climate change is challenging, because fire-return intervals are long (e.g., millennia) and the coniferous trees dominating these forests can live for many centuries. We developed stand-scale paleorecords of vegetation and fire that span nearly the past 14,000 yr to study how fire was associated with state changes and rapid dynamics in forest vegetation at the stand scale (1-3 ha). We studied forest history with sediment cores from small hollow sites in the Marckworth State Forest, located ~1 km apart in the Tsuga heterophylla Zone in the Puget Lowland ecoregion of western Washington, USA. The median rate of change in pollen/spore assemblages was similar between sites (0.12 and 0.14% per year), but at both sites, rates of change increased significantly following fire events (ranging up to 1% per year, with a median of 0.28 and 0.38%, P < 0.003). During times of low climate velocity, forest composition was resilient to fires, which initiated successional pathways leading back to the dominant vegetation type. In contrast, during times of high climate variability and velocity (e.g., the early Holocene) forests were not resilient to fires, which triggered large-scale state changes. These records provide clear evidence that disturbance, in the form of an individual fire event, can be an important catalyst for rapid state changes, accelerating vegetation shifts in response to large-scale climate change.

show abstract

A 9000-year fire history from the Oregon Coast Range, based on a high-resolution charcoal study

Cited by 117 publications

References 0 publications

Over 16,000 Years of Fire Frequency Determined from AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Soil Charcoal in an Alluvial Fan at Bear Flat, Northeastern British Columbia

Over 16,000 Years of Fire Frequency Determined from AMS Radiocarbon Dating of Soil Charcoal in an Alluvial Fan at Bear Flat, Northeastern British Columbia

Forest management scenarios in a changing climate: trade‐offs between carbon, timber, and old forest

Fire catalyzed rapid ecological change in lowland coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest over the past 14,000 years

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About