Interactions Among Wildland Fires in a Long-Established Sierra Nevada Natural Fire Area

Collins, Brandon M.; Miller, Jay D.; Thode, Andrea E.; Kelly, Maggi; Wagtendonk, Jan W. van; Stephens, Scott L.

doi:10.1007/s10021-008-9211-7

Cited by 256 publications

(245 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Fire severity in our study fires was driven primarily by burning conditions and slope position, with almost all measures of fire severity increasing under extreme burning conditions (Table S7) and nearly half increasing on higher slope positions (Table S8)-effects that are common in forests unaffected by beetle outbreaks (32)(33)(34)(35). In red-stage stands, measures of fire severity were unrelated to prefire outbreak severity under moderate burning conditions ( Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Recent mountain pine beetle outbreaks, wildfire severity, and postfire tree regeneration in the US Northern Rockies

Harvey

Donato

Turner

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

122

123

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Widespread tree mortality caused by outbreaks of native bark beetles (Circulionidae: Scolytinae) in recent decades has raised concern among scientists and forest managers about whether beetle outbreaks fuel more ecologically severe forest fires and impair postfire resilience. To investigate this question, we collected extensive field data following multiple fires that burned subalpine forests in 2011 throughout the Northern Rocky Mountains across a spectrum of prefire beetle outbreak severity, primarily from mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae). We found that recent (2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010) beetle outbreak severity was unrelated to most field measures of subsequent fire severity, which was instead driven primarily by extreme burning conditions (weather) and topography. In the red stage (0-2 y following beetle outbreak), fire severity was largely unaffected by prefire outbreak severity with few effects detected only under extreme burning conditions. In the gray stage (3-10 y following beetle outbreak), fire severity was largely unaffected by prefire outbreak severity under moderate conditions, but several measures related to surface fire severity increased with outbreak severity under extreme conditions. Initial postfire tree regeneration of the primary beetle host tree [lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia)] was not directly affected by prefire outbreak severity but was instead driven by the presence of a canopy seedbank and by fire severity. Recent beetle outbreaks in subalpine forests affected few measures of wildfire severity and did not hinder the ability of lodgepole pine forests to regenerate after fire, suggesting that resilience in subalpine forests is not necessarily impaired by recent mountain pine beetle outbreaks. disturbance interactions | forest resilience | fire ecology | serotiny | conifer forest

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Recent mountain pine beetle outbreaks, wildfire severity, and postfire tree regeneration in the US Northern Rockies

Harvey

Donato

Turner

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

122

123

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“…3). A policy of suppressing fire was implemented on federal forest lands in the early 20th century (4), which reduced fire activity and increased fuels except in areas designated for "natural" fire management in recent decades (15). The fire index, on average, was four to eightfold lower (P < 0.05) under fire suppression than under any other SES, and the human population of California increased to more than 39 × 10 6 by the end of 2015 (19) (Fig.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The scale of the effects of Sierra Nevada Native American burning is disputed (17,34), but augmented ignitions would reduce fuels and fuel continuity across forest landscapes. Fire in Sierra Nevada lower montane forests is regulated by the dynamics of the burn-patch mosaic (15,35). Burn patches constrain fire spread until sufficient fuels build up in a burned patch so it can burn again.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Socioecological transitions trigger fire regime shifts and modulate fire–climate interactions in the Sierra Nevada, USA, 1600–2015 CE

Taylor

Trouet

Skinner³

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

181

158

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Large wildfires in California cause significant socioecological impacts, and half of the federal funds for fire suppression are spent each year in California. Future fire activity is projected to increase with climate change, but predictions are uncertain because humans can modulate or even override climatic effects on fire activity. Here we test the hypothesis that changes in socioecological systems from the Native American to the current period drove shifts in fire activity and modulated fire-climate relationships in the Sierra Nevada. We developed a 415-y record (1600-2015 CE) of fire activity by merging a treering-based record of Sierra Nevada fire history with a 20th-century record based on annual area burned. Large shifts in the fire record corresponded with socioecological change, and not climate change, and socioecological conditions amplified and buffered fire response to climate. Fire activity was highest and fire-climate relationships were strongest after Native American depopulation-following mission establishment (ca. 1775 CE)-reduced the self-limiting effect of Native American burns on fire spread. With the Gold Rush and EuroAmerican settlement (ca. 1865 CE), fire activity declined, and the strong multidecadal relationship between temperature and fire decayed and then disappeared after implementation of fire suppression (ca. 1904 CE). The amplification and buffering of fire-climate relationships by humans underscores the need for parameterizing thresholds of human-vs. climate-driven fire activity to improve the skill and value of fire-climate models for addressing the increasing fire risk in California.anthropogenic landscapes | fire ecology | land use | regime shifts | climate variability A n increase in the extent of forest fires in the American West since the mid-1980s (1) has enhanced risks to lives, property, water quality, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and other ecosystem services (2). This increasing wildfire trend has become even steeper during the past decade, with a higher number of large wildfires (>100 km 2 ) each year in each Western state compared with the annual average from 1980 to 2000 (3). The fire problem is particularly acute in California, where a history of fire suppression (4), climate change (1, 5), more extreme fire weather (6), expanding development (7), and massive wildfires (e.g., 2013 Rim Fire, 1,042 km 2 ) have caused significant socioecological impacts. Future area burned in California is projected to further increase with anthropogenic warming (8). With more than half of the annual federal firefighting budget already being spent suppressing fires in California (4), a sustainable system of fire management requires approaches beyond active fire suppression (9). Predicting future fire activity is challenging because humans can alter fire regimes and fire-climate relationships even if climate becomes more conducive to fire (10). Changes in socioecological systems (SESs) can modulate or even override climatic effects on fire regimes through changing land use, igniti...

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“…More might be done to examine historical vegetation structure and pattern in modern mega fires such as the Rim fire. Conditions influencing fire overlap, fire severity and fire regimes might be explored through synthesis with contemporary fire data (Collins et al 2007(Collins et al , 2009.…”

Section: New Developments In Data Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Rescuing and Sharing Historical Vegetation Data for Ecological Analysis: The California Vegetation Type Mapping Project

Kelly¹

2016

Biodiv. Inf.

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Abstract.-Research efforts that synthesize historical and contemporary ecological data with modeling approaches improve our understanding of the complex response of species, communities, and landscapes to changing biophysical conditions through time and in space. Historical ecological data are particularly important in this respect. There are remaining barriers that limit such data synthesis, and technological improvements that make multiple diverse datasets more readily available for integration and synthesis are needed. This paper presents one case study of the Wieslander Vegetation Type Mapping project in California and highlights the importance of rescuing, digitizing and sharing historical datasets. We review the varied ecological uses of the historical collection: the vegetation maps have been used to understand legacies of land use change and plan for the future; the plot data have been used to examine changes to chaparral and forest communities around the state and to predict community structure and shifts under a changing climate; the photographs have been used to understand changing vegetation structure; and the voucher specimens in combination with other specimen collections have been used for large scale distribution modeling efforts. The digitization and sharing of the data via the web has broadened the scope and scale of the types of analysis performed. Yet, additional research avenues can be pursued using multiple types of VTM data, and by linking VTM data with contemporary data. The digital VTM collection is an example of a data infrastructure that expands the potential of large scale research through the integration and synthesis of data drawn from numerous data sources; its journey from analog to digital is a cautionary tale of the importance of finding historical data, digitizing it with best practices, linking it with other datasets, and sharing it with the research community.

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Interactions Among Wildland Fires in a Long-Established Sierra Nevada Natural Fire Area

Cited by 256 publications

References 69 publications

Recent mountain pine beetle outbreaks, wildfire severity, and postfire tree regeneration in the US Northern Rockies

Recent mountain pine beetle outbreaks, wildfire severity, and postfire tree regeneration in the US Northern Rockies

Socioecological transitions trigger fire regime shifts and modulate fire–climate interactions in the Sierra Nevada, USA, 1600–2015 CE

Rescuing and Sharing Historical Vegetation Data for Ecological Analysis: The California Vegetation Type Mapping Project

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