Landscape-scale effects of fire severity on mixed-conifer and red fir forest structure in Yosemite National Park

2013 ◽  
Vol 287 ◽  
pp. 17-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Van R. Kane ◽  
James A. Lutz ◽  
Susan L. Roberts ◽  
Douglas F. Smith ◽  
Robert J. McGaughey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Structure ◽  
National Park ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Yosemite National Park ◽  
Mixed Conifer

scholarly journals Modeling the Effects of Fire Severity and Spatial Complexity on Small Mammals in Yosemite National Park, California

Fire Ecology ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan L. Roberts ◽  
Jan W. van Wagtendonk ◽  
A. Keith Miles ◽  
Douglas A. Kelt ◽  
James A. Lutz
Keyword(s):  
Small Mammals ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Yosemite National Park ◽  
Spatial Complexity

Quantifying the fire regime distributions for severity in Yosemite National Park, California, USA

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea E. Thode ◽  
Jan W. van Wagtendonk ◽  
Jay D. Miller ◽  
James F. Quinn
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Montane Forest ◽  
Subalpine Forest ◽  
Yosemite National Park ◽  
Forest Zone ◽  
Frequency Distributions

This paper quantifies current fire severity distributions for 19 different fire-regime types in Yosemite National Park, California, USA. Landsat Thematic Mapper remote sensing data are used to map burn severity for 99 fires (cumulatively over 97 000 ha) that burned in Yosemite over a 20-year period. These maps are used to quantify the frequency distributions of fire severity by fire-regime type. A classification is created for the resultant distributions and they are discussed within the context of four vegetation zones: the foothill shrub and woodland zone; the lower montane forest zone; the upper montane forest zone and the subalpine forest zone. The severity distributions can form a building block from which to discuss current fire regimes across the Sierra Nevada in California. This work establishes a framework for comparing the effects of current fires on our landscapes with our notions of how fires historically burned, and how current fire severity distributions differ from our desired future conditions. As this process is refined, a new set of information will be available to researchers and land managers to help understand how fire regimes have changed from the past and how we might attempt to manage them in the future.

scholarly journals Historical and current landscape-scale ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forest structure in the Southern Sierra Nevada

Ecosphere ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. art79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott L. Stephens ◽  
Jamie M. Lydersen ◽  
Brandon M. Collins ◽  
Danny L. Fry ◽  
Marc D. Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Nevada ◽  
Forest Structure ◽  
Ponderosa Pine ◽  
Landscape Scale ◽  
Conifer Forest ◽  
Mixed Conifer ◽  
Mixed Conifer Forest

Climate, lightning ignitions, and fire severity in Yosemite National Park, California, USA

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 765 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Lutz ◽  
Jan W. van Wagtendonk ◽  
Andrea E. Thode ◽  
Jay D. Miller ◽  
Jerry F. Franklin
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Yosemite National Park ◽  
Large Area ◽  
Lightning Strikes ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
In Fire

Continental-scale studies of western North America have attributed recent increases in annual area burned and fire size to a warming climate, but these studies have focussed on large fires and have left the issues of fire severity and ignition frequency unaddressed. Lightning ignitions, any of which could burn a large area given appropriate conditions for fire spread, could be the first indication of more frequent fire. We examined the relationship between snowpack and the ignition and size of fires that occurred in Yosemite National Park, California (area 3027 km2), between 1984 and 2005. During this period, 1870 fires burned 77 718 ha. Decreased spring snowpack exponentially increased the number of lightning-ignited fires. Snowpack mediated lightning-ignited fires by decreasing the proportion of lightning strikes that caused lightning-ignited fires and through fewer lightning strikes in years with deep snowpack. We also quantified fire severity for the 103 fires >40 ha with satellite fire-severity indices using 23 years of Landsat Thematic Mapper data. The proportion of the landscape that burned at higher severities and the complexity of higher-severity burn patches increased with the log10 of annual area burned. Using one snowpack forecast, we project that the number of lightning-ignited fires will increase 19.1% by 2020 to 2049 and the annual area burned at high severity will increase 21.9%. Climate-induced decreases in snowpack and the concomitant increase in fire severity suggest that existing assumptions may be understated – fires may become more frequent and more severe.

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