scholarly journals Fire History of the Lamar River Drainage Yellowstone National Park

Author(s):  
Stephen Barrett ◽  
Stephen Arno

In this paper we discuss the first phase of a 3-year effort to document the fire history of Yellowstone National Park's (YNP) Lamar River drainage southeast of Soda Butte Creek. The overall goal of the study was to provide managers with a more complete understanding of YNP natural fire regimes. Specific objectives were: 1. Determine natural (pre-1900) fire periodicities, severities, burning patterns, and post-fire succession within the study area's major forest types (Douglas fir/ grassland, lodgepole pine/subalpine fir/ spruce, whitebark pine/lodgepole pine/ subalpine fir, and whitebark pine/subalpine fir timberline habitats); 2. document and map the pre-1988 forest age-class mosaic; and 3. digitize the age-class mosaic map for the YNP's GIS data base. This study is considered especially timely because the 1988 fires destroyed much evidence of area fire history. Our sampling in 1989 focused on a 24,000 ha area encompassing the Cache Creek drainage, which was severely burned in 1988. The forest age-class mosaic was sampled by increment boring and sawing fire scar samples from old trees (Arno and Sneck 1977, Barrett and Arno 1988). Aerial photographs were used to map the pre-1988 forest age-class mosaic; Data was digitized for the park's GIS data base. Information from the YNP fire atlas also was useful in interpreting fire patterns during the post-1900 period.

Author(s):  
Stephen Barrett ◽  
Stephen Arno

This study's goal is to document the fire history of the Lamar River drainage, southeast of Soda Butte Creek in the Absaroka Mountains of northeastern Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Elsewhere in YNP investigators have documented very long-interval fire regimes for lodgepole pine forests occurring on rhyolitic derived soils (Romme 1982, Romme and Despain 1989) and short-interval fire regimes for the Douglas-fir/grassland types (Houston 1973). No fire regime information was available for lodgepole pine forests on andesitic derived soils, such as in the Lamar drainage. This study will provide managers with a more complete understanding of YNP natural fire history, and the data will supplement the park's Geographic Information System (GIS) data base. Moreover, most of the study area was severely burned in 1988 and historical tree ring data soon will be lost to attrition of potential sample trees.


1973 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lloyd L. Loope ◽  
George E. Gruell

AbstractFire-history investigations in the Jackson Hole area of northwestern Wyoming reveal that most current stands of aspen and lodgepole pine regenerated following extensive fires between 1840 and 1890 and that widespread fires occurred in the 1600s and 1700s. White man's major effect on the fire incidence has been the successful suppression during the past 30–80 yr. Successional changes in the absence of fire include the deterioration of aspen stands, massive invasions of subalpine fir in lodgepole pine stands, great increase in conifer cover, heavy fuel buildups in lodgepole pine and Douglas fir stands, and increase in sagebrush and other shrubs. Steps are being taken, starting in 1972, to allow fire to play a more natural role in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. Teton National Forest plans experimental prescribed burning to determine whether fire can stimulate successful aspen regeneration in the presence of large numbers of wintering elk.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 232-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Li ◽  
Hugh J. Barclay ◽  
Brad C. Hawkes ◽  
S.W. Taylor

1981 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 81 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Lamont

Kingia australis, common in the heaths and forests of south-western Australia, is distinguished from all other grass trees in Australia by the presence of a mantle of concealed aerial roots. A ring of up to 50 root primordia is initiated in winter from the stem apex. In plants more than 1 m high, initiation and commencement of elongation of the primary roots are no longer annual but dependent on the fire history of the plant. These roots descend between the stem and persistent leaf bases at about 2 cm per growing month, sending many lateral branches among the leaf bases. Aerial roots gradually replace the space occupied by the leaf bases until they may account for 45% of the dry weight of the aerial caudex. The caudex of one 6-m-high specimen bore up to 27 roots per cm2 transection of the root mantle, with about 3000 primary roots entering the soil. All underground primary roots (except the initial contractile roots) have an aerial origin and are concentrated vertically under the canopy. After 300-400 years the stem starts to die back from the base, and the aerial roots attached to that portion disintegrate. By propping up the stem and bridging the dead zone of the stem, the living aerial roots greatly extend the potential height and longevity of the plant. In addition, the hairy laterals are ideally located to absorb water and nutrients directly from the leaf bases. Protective and aerating functions are also indicated.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 731-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Clear ◽  
Heikki Seppä ◽  
Niina Kuosmanen ◽  
Richard H. W. Bradshaw

1986 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 1013-1018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Fins ◽  
Lisa W. Seeb

Seed samples from 19 stands of Larixoccidentalis Nutt. were analyzed for electrophoretic variation at 23 loci. Because sample sizes consisted of only 9 or 10 trees per stand (18–20 alleles per locus per stand), samples were grouped by geographic proximity into four larger samples. For all measures of variation, this species scored lower than most, but within the range observed for other western conifers. Most of the variation was found within rather than between the population groups. The single southern sample appeared to be genetically distinct from the others. Although some variation was observed between individual stand samples in expected heterozygosity, the consistently low values for all samples suggest that genetic drift has played a major role in the genetic history of the species in the Inland Empire, both through its glacial history in postulated refugia and through fire history in recent times.


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