Report Number: 35203
Permit Number: CRLA-2003-SCI-0001
Principal Investigator: Michael Murray,
Crater Lake, OR
Date Received:
Mar 02, 2006
Reporting Year:
2005
Park-assigned Study Id. #:
CRLA-03014
Permit Expiration
Date:
May 20, 2005
Permit Start Date:
May 20, 2003
Study Starting
Date:
May 20, 2003
Study Ending Date:
May 20, 2005
Study
Status:
Completed
Activity Type:
Research
Subject/Discipline:
Fire (Behavior, Ecology, Effects)
Objectives:
The Cascade Range features prominent
timberline forests which are valued by
tourists, recreationists, and wildlife.
These ecosystems are characterized by
whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis). This tree
is considered a keystone species in several
forest communities because of its influence
on wildlife, flora, and ecological processes
(Tomback and others 2001). Whitebark pine is
also known to be fire dependent based on
studies in other regions where it is
declining largely due to decades of
suppression and an introduced disease ?
blister rust. However, knowledge of fire
regimes in the markedly different Cascadian
whitebark pine forests is absent. No
published fire studies of these forests
exist. This proposal pertains to two
objectives:
-
Gain an understanding of fire regimes
associated with whitebark pine forests in
the Cascade Range.
-
Describe historic and current stand
conditions and estimate potential ecological
effects of fire exclusion policies.
Understanding of fire regimes and current
conditions is the first step towards
re-introducing fire. Currently, managers
cannot confidently determine if
management-ignited fire is warranted because
knowledge of forest conditions and
historical fire regimes is lacking.
Re-introducing fire may risk accelerating
the decline of whitebark pine in the region.
It is imperative that managers possess
knowledge of historic and predicted fire
characteristics for these forests in order
to prescribe fire. It is the goal of this
project to take a comprehensive step in
filling this information gap for the
Cascades, thus providing an important and
essential baseline resource for fire
planning in the region.
A significant information gap in fire
management planning in the Cascades will be
addressed by this project. Our objectives
will answer many of the immediate questions
that managers have and provide a baseline of
information for long-term fire management
planning. Our findings will enable
science-based re-introduction of fire into
these important forests. Specifically, this
project will:
-
Prioritize the need for re-introducing
fire according to fuel type.
-
Define appropriate severity and frequency
goals for different fuel types.
-
Identify fuel types where mechanical
pre-treatments may be warranted to protect
mature whitebark pine from lethal fire.
-
Discern whether management-ignited or
lightning fires are more appropriate for
different fuel types.
-
Provide managers with fuels data to
predict spread rate and intensity ?
especially important near visitor
facilities.
Findings and Status: By
applying standard field techniques (scar and
core sampling) we compiled a dataset that
describes fire’s role in these timberline
forests. We report on 55 fire history sites
located in the Cascade Range. Incidence of
fire was documented throughout the whitebark
pine ecosystem in the Cascades, indicating
that fire is a significant disturbance
agent. Whitebark pine ecosystems appear to
burn in a broad spectrum of severity and
frequency. Fire return intervals ranged from
9 to 314 years. This broad range indicates
that fire regimes in whitebark pine forests
are site-specific more than
species-specific. From stand reconstruction
techniques, we estimate that since the
1920s, volume for all tree species including
whitebark pine began to increase
dramatically. Late-seral species have
increased at greater rates, indicating fire
exclusion as a causal agent facilitating and
possibly driving changing forest conditions.
For
this study, were one or more specimens collected and
removed from the park but not destroyed during
analyses?
Yes
Funding provided
this reporting year by NPS:
3000
Funding provided
this reporting year by other sources:
45260
Full name of
college or university: n/a
Annual funding
provided by NPS to university or college this
reporting year: 0
