scholarly journals Fire Effects and Fire History of Mesa Verde National Park

1992 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 159-163
Author(s):  
Lisa Floyd-Hanna ◽  
Bill Romme
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Perennial Grasses ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
The North ◽  
Mesa Verde ◽  
History Of

Mesa Verde consists of a series of mesas in a north to south trend. The mesa tops are narrow strips, cut by numerous canyons of varying depth. Mesa Verde sandstones, particularly the Cliff House Formation, form the canyon slopes. Long Mesa, an area of focus in this study, has an elevation 2180 m at the south to 2517 m at the north end. Long Canyon cuts down to an elevation of 2133 m. The vegetation on Long Mesa is a mosaic of mature pinon-juniper woodlands and mountain shrub associations. Shrub associations range from Gambels oak, (Quercus gambelii), and serviceberry, (Amelancheir utahensis), to Black Sagebrush, Artemesia nova), and Bitterbrush, (Purshia tridentata). Although there is a body of information concerned with the effect of fire on pinon-juniper woodlands, there are no adequate studies of the shrub-rich pinon-juniper ecosystem of Colorado. Succession following fire was documented by Erdman (1970) in Mesa Verde National Park. He reported that annuals dominate initially, then perennial grasses and forbs, followed by shrub invasion. The open shrub stage becomes a "thicket" approximately 100 years after the fire. The shrubs, he suggests, are outcompeted by pinon and juniper trees, which dominate by about 300 years. Fire and its relationship to resource management in Mesa Verde Park has been outlined by Omi and Emrick (1980). Focus was given to succession (cover and frequency of grass and shrub elements) following the 1873, 1934, and 1972 fires, and models predict the possibilities of control over moderate and severe fires in various vegetation classes within the Park. The study was concerned primarily with the nature of fire behavior and various fire-related management tools for use by Resource Management personnel.

scholarly journals Fire Effects and Fire History of Mesa Verde National Park

1991 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 199-202
Author(s):  
Lisa Floyd-Hanna ◽  
Ken Heil ◽  
Bill Romme
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Perennial Grasses ◽  
Pinus Edulis ◽  
Juniperus Osteosperma ◽  
The North ◽  
Mesa Verde ◽  
History Of ◽  
Quercus Gambelii

Mesa Verde consists of a series of mesas in a north to south trend. The mesa tops are narrow strips, cut by numerous canyons of varying depth. Mesa Verde sandstones, particularly the Cliff House Formation, form the canyon slopes. Long Mesa, an area of focus in this study, has an elevation 2180 m at the south to 2517 m at the north end. Long Canyon cuts down to an elevation of 2133 m. The vegetation on Long Mesa is a mosaic of mature pinon-juniper woodlands and mountain shrub associations. Shrub associations range from Gambels oak, (Quercus gambelii), and serviceberry, (Amelancheir utahensis), to Black Sagebrush, (Artemesia nova), and Bitterbrush, (Purshia tridentata). Although there is a body of information concerned with the effect of fire on pinon-juniper woodlands, there are no adequate studies of the shrub-rich pinon­juniper ecosystem of Colorado. Succession following fire was documented by Erdman (1970) in Mesa Verde National Park. He reported that annuals dominate initially, then perennial grasses and forbs, followed by shrub invasion. The open shrub stage becomes a "thicket" approximately 100 years after the fire. The shrubs, he suggests, are outcompeted by pinon (Pinus edulis) and juniper trees (Juniperus osteosperma), which dominate by about 300 years.

scholarly journals Multi-Millennial Fire History of the Giant Forest, Sequoia National Park, California, USA

Fire Ecology ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 120-150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Swetnam ◽  
Christopher H. Baisan ◽  
Anthony C. Caprio ◽  
Peter M. Brown ◽  
Ramzi Touchan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Sequoia National Park ◽  
History Of

Fire history and age structure in red fir forests of Sequoia National Park, California

1987 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 582-587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald C. Pitcher
Keyword(s):  
Age Structure ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
White Pine ◽  
Sequoia National Park ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
Forest Age Structure ◽  
Negative Exponential ◽  
In Fire

The relationship between historical fires and age structure was examined on three plots in red fir (Abiesmagnifica var. shastensis Lemm.) forests within Sequoia National Park, California, U.S.A. All trees greater than 0.1 m in height were mapped and aged. Fire history was determined from 16 fire-scar sections. Red fir trees are more shade tolerant, longer lived, larger, and slower growing than western white pine (Pinusmonticola Dougl.) on the plots. No fires have occurred since 1886, but prior to that time the average fire-free interval was 65 years. Most of the trees on two of the plots originated after fires, but on the third plot red fir regeneration was delayed for at least 60 years following the last fire. Structural differences between the plots were linked to variations in fire behavior. The decrease in fire frequencies in this century may have led to a decrease in red fir establishment. Excluding the most recent period, the forest age structure is in something of a steady state that approximates a negative exponential age-class distribution.

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

1989 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 169-173
Author(s):  
Stephen Barrett ◽  
Stephen Arno
Keyword(s):  
Yellowstone National Park ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
River Drainage ◽  
Tree Ring Data ◽  
History Of

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.

scholarly journals Vegetation dynamics and Fire History in Färnebofjärden National Park, Central Sweden

The Holocene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-37
Author(s):  
Gina E Hannon ◽  
Karen Halsall ◽  
Chiara Molinari ◽  
Erin Stoll ◽  
Diana Lilley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Plant Macrofossils ◽  
Natural Fire ◽  
Disturbance Factor ◽  
Long Time ◽  
History Of ◽  
Flooding Events

Palaeoecological studies can identify past trends in vegetation communities and processes over long time scales. Pollen, plant macrofossils and charcoal analyses are used to reconstruct vegetation over the last 6400 years and provide information about former human impact and disturbance regimes in Färnebofjärden National Park, Central Sweden. Three specific conservation planning topics were addressed: (1) the changing ratio of conifers to broadleaved trees; (2) the origin and history of the river meadows and the biodiverse Populus tremula meadows; (3) the role of fire in the maintenance of biological values. Early diverse mixed broadleaved forest assemblages with pine were followed by significant declines of the more thermophilic forest elements prior to the expansion of spruce in the Iron Age. The rise to dominance of spruce was a ‘natural’ process that has been exaggerated by anthropogenic disturbance to artificially high levels today. The initial river meadow communities were facilitated by fire and frequent flooding events, but subsequent dynamics have more definitely been supported by human activities. Rural abandonment during the last 100 years has led to woody successions. Fire has been a continual disturbance factor with an influence on conservation issues such as Picea abies dominance and the maintenance of diverse, non-forest communities. Present occurrence of fire is unusually low, but natural fire frequencies are increasing in the region.

Fire history of Araucaria-Nothofagus forests in Villarrica National Park, Chile

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 1187-1202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro E. González ◽  
Thomas T. Veblen ◽  
Jason S. Sibold
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Nothofagus Forests ◽  
History Of

Miki Crespi and the Origin of the National Park Service Ethnography Program

2004 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-11
Author(s):  
Jerry Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
National Park ◽  
National Park Service ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Cultural Resource Management ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Cultural Resource ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Park Service ◽  
History Of

Dr. Muriel (Miki) Crespi made extraordinary contributions to the development of the field of cultural resource management, especially in conceiving, launching, and developing an Ethnography Program in the National Park Service. As Associate Director for Cultural Resources of the Service, I had the pleasure of sharing part of that experience with her. This paper is not a researched history of that experience, but is rather my personal recollection, containing all of the advantages and disadvantages of that perspective. The Ethnography Program has now been around long enough and made enough demonstrable differences in the field of cultural resource management that it ought to be the subject of a thorough administrative history. To the scholar who undertakes that history, I especially recommend a detailed examination of the planning, execution, and follow-up of the First World Conference on Cultural Parks, which I would describe as the seminal event behind the Ethnography Program.

Effects of Forest Fires on Archaeological Resources at Grand Canyon National Park

1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Trinkle Jones ◽  
Robert C. Euler
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Grand Canyon ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
The North ◽  
Before And After ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fire Area

For a number of years archaeologists have discussed the effects of forest fires on archaeological resources. Studies under experimental conditions and of sites after they were burned form the bulk of this effort but, for the most part, they have not been published. This article examines the fire history of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and the effects of the Dutton Point wildfire on prehistoric architecture and artifacts—particularly ceramics. Armed with those data, a modest experiment useful in any proposed prescribed fire area containing cultural resources, was designed. This involved “before and after” studies of a ruin that was to be subjected to prescribed burning and included buried temperature controls and the varying effects upon the resource. Finally, a hypothesis regarding the effect of wildfires on archaeological sites is presented.

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