Spatiotemporal variability of fire regimes in adjacent Native American and public forests, New Mexico, USA

Abstract

Statistical descriptions of reconstructed fire regimes are often extrapolated from a composite of small forest stands to represent extensive geographical areas. However, statistical properties of fire regimes are scale‐dependent, thus causing some extrapolations from fine scale to coarse scale and comparisons between fire‐scar‐based reconstructions to be inappropriate. We assessed landscape fire regimes of the Sacramento Mountains, in southern New Mexico, using dendrochronological methods and a variety of fire statistics and analysis filters. We reconstructed historical and recent fire regimes for the Mescalero Apache Tribal Lands (MATL) at tree and site scale (25 ha). We then estimated the Sacramento Mountains historical and recent fire regimes by combining paleo fire data from this study with published data from the adjacent Lincoln National Forest (LNF). We applied filters to provide fire statistics that are relatively unbiased to the different spatial measurement extent of the studies. This is the first study to assess fire regime in the MATL over multiple spatial and temporal scales. The results show that frequent surface fires occurred at all scales in the Sacramento Mountains until fire was excluded from the landscape in the early 1900s. Historical fires were found to be synchronous with drought years, typically La Niña events, and often preceded by wet years. We did not find evidence supporting differences in fire regimes between the MATL and the LNF, suggesting that fire cessation following intensive Euro‐American settlement was widespread. The interruption of frequent surface fires, together with other changes in forest structure and climate, pose a significant threat to sustainability of forest ecosystems on Native American tribal lands.

Trends of forest and ecosystem services changes in the Mescalero Apache Tribal Lands

“…(1998) described mixed‐conifer forests in the Sacramento Mountains as being dominated by ponderosa pine and Azpeleta Tarancón et al. (2018) found a higher amount of ponderosa pine remnants than any other coniferous tree within many sites in the MATL. Forest treatments in the MATL such as fire exclusion in the early 1900s (Azpeleta Tarancón et al.…”

“…Forest treatments in the MATL such as fire exclusion in the early 1900s (Azpeleta Tarancón et al. 2018), the selective logging of LT conducted by the Mescalero Forest Products sawmill with a preference for ponderosa pine, and the bark beetle and dwarf mistletoe outbreaks on commercial stands followed by salvage and sanitation cuttings (HRA 1981, Hoyt et al. 2017), are the most probable drivers of this change, affecting negatively ponderosa pine trees with the unintended effect of favoring Douglas fir tree encroachment in the gaps historically dominated by ponderosa pine.…”

“…From a previous fire reconstruction study, Azpeleta Tarancón et al. (2018) found that low‐severity fires were historically frequent throughout ponderosa and dry mixed‐conifer forests, but fire was excluded from the Mescalero Apache Tribal Lands (MATL) early in the 1900s. As in other forests in the southwest United States, the MATL were subjected to intense forest management.…”

Historial de incendios basado en técnicas dendrocronológicas para un bosque de coníferas en la región sureste de Jalisco, México

“…Sampling was selective in an area of about 20 ha (Figure 1) including remote areas, where forest roads and trails are used for access. Sampling was designed in this way to collect the greatest number of fire occurrence dates on trees with evidence of fire damage (Azpeleta Tarancón, Fulé, Sánchez Meador, Kim, & Padilla, 2018;Meunier & Shea, 2020). Part sections of dead (standing or felled) and live trees with well-preserved scars and as long-lived as possible were removed using a chainsaw (Sthil MS 361) (Yocom Kent, 2014).…”

Joint Analysis of Lightning-Induced Forest Fire and Surface Influence Factors in the Great Xing’an Range

“…Using a geographical interpolation and model combined with fire scars to modernize the historical fire areas is meaningful for spatially explicit fire frequency reconstruction [18,19]. Azpeleta Tarancón, et al [20] used dendrochronological methods and various fire statistics to reconstruct and assess landscape fire regimes. Their results showed that historical fires were synchronous with drought years and were often preceded by wet years.…”