Fire-climate-human interactions during the postglacial period at Sunrise Ridge, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington (USA)

Walsh, Megan; Lukens, Michael L.; McCutcheon, Patrick; Burtchard, Greg C.

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2017.10.032

Cited by 12 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Charcoal peaks with <5% chance of coming from the same Poisson distribution within 75 years were eliminated from the analysis. CharAnalysis results were summarized using time periods designated in Walsh et al (2017) for ease of comparison.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Past trends in fire activity in high-elevation forests in the Cascades dominated by fir and other subalpine species are also fairly well understood (Agee, 1994;Little et al, 1994;Hemstrom and Franklin, 1982;Walsh et al, 2015Walsh et al, , 2017. Fires here tend to be stand-replacing and much less frequent with MFRIs of 300-500 years (Hemstrom and Franklin, 1982;Walsh et al, 2017). However, less research has focused on the longterm role of fire in mid-elevation mixed-conifer (MEMC) forests in the eastern Cascades (Long et al, 2011;Hagmann et al, 2014;Odion et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fires in these forests were historically of low severity and high frequency (Everett et al, 2000; Swetnam and Dieterich, 1985) with mean fire return intervals (MFRIs) ranging from 3 to 38 years (Agee, 1994, 2003). Past trends in fire activity in high-elevation forests in the Cascades dominated by fir and other subalpine species are also fairly well understood (Agee, 1994; Little et al, 1994; Hemstrom and Franklin, 1982; Walsh et al, 2015, 2017). Fires here tend to be stand-replacing and much less frequent with MFRIs of 300–500 years (Hemstrom and Franklin, 1982; Walsh et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Holocene fire history reconstruction of a mid-elevation mixed-conifer forest in the Eastern Cascades, Washington, USA

Rushton

Walsh

2021

The Holocene

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Fire histories of mid-elevation mixed-conifer forests are uncommon in the eastern Cascades, limiting our understanding of long-term fire dynamics in these environments. The purpose of this study was to reconstruct the fire and vegetation history for a moist mid-elevation mixed-conifer site, and to determine whether Holocene fire activity in this watershed was intermediate to fire regimes observed at higher and lower elevations in the eastern Cascades. Fire activity and vegetation change was reconstructed using macroscopic charcoal and pollen analysis of sediment core from Long Lake. This site is located ~45 km west of Yakima, WA, and exists in a grand fir-dominated, mixed-conifer forest. Results show low fire activity from ca. 9870 to 6000 cal yr BP, after which time fire increased and remained frequent until ca. 500 cal yr BP. A woodland environment existed at the site in the early Holocene, with the modern coniferous forest establishing ca. 6000–5500 cal yr BP. A mixed-severity fire regime has existed at the site for the past ~6000 years, with both higher- and lower-severity fire episodes occurring on average every ~80–100 years. However, only one fire episode occurred in the Long Lake watershed during the past 500 years, and none within the past ~150 years. Based on a comparison with other eastern Cascade sites, Holocene fire regimes at Long Lake, particularly during the late Holocene, appear to be intermediate between those observed at higher- and lower elevation sites, both in terms of fire severity and frequency.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Holocene fire history reconstruction of a mid-elevation mixed-conifer forest in the Eastern Cascades, Washington, USA

Rushton

Walsh

2021

The Holocene

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“…Lake-sediment evidence has also been used to reconstruct fire histories that span similar time scales (Gavin et al, 2007; Long et al, 2007; Walsh et al, 2015). The majority of records that examine millennial-scale change in vegetation and/or fire in the PNW have focused on sites in the coastal mountains (Worona and Whitlock, 1995; Long et al, 2007), western lowlands (Walsh et al, 2008, 2015), or Cascade Range (Sea and Whitlock, 1995; Grigg et al, 2001; Long et al, 2011; Walsh et al, 2017). There has also been work done to examine the environmental history of the intermountain West, including the western Rocky Mountain ranges in Idaho (Brunelle, et al, 2005; Whitlock et al, 2011; Herring and Gavin, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 7600 yr vegetation and fire history from Anthony Lake, northeastern Oregon, USA, with linkages to modern synoptic climate patterns

et al. 2019

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We used pollen and high-resolution charcoal analysis of lake sediment to reconstruct a 7600 yr vegetation and fire history from Anthony Lake, located in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon. From 7300 to 6300 cal yr BP, the forest was composed primarily of Populus, and fire was common, indicating warm, dry conditions. From 6300 to 3000 cal yr BP, Populus declined as Pinus and Picea increased in abundance and fire became less frequent, suggesting a shift to cooler, wetter conditions. From 3000 cal yr BP to present, modern-day forests composed of Pinus and Abies developed, and from 1650 cal yr BP to present, fires increased. We utilized the modern climate-analogue approach to explain the potential synoptic climatological processes associated with regional fire. The results indicate that years with high fire occurrence experience positive 500 mb height anomalies centered over the Great Basin, with anomalous southerly component of flow delivering dry air into the region and with associated sinking motions to further suppress precipitation. It is possible that such conditions became more common over the last 1650 cal yr BP, supporting an increase in fire despite the shift to more mesic conditions.

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“…One way to do this is through the use of macroscopic charcoal analysis of lake and wetland sediments, which can be used to reconstruct high-resolution, long-term, continuous, watershed-scale fire histories (Conedera et al, 2009; Long et al, 1998; Whitlock and Larsen, 2001). In the PNW this method has mostly been used to study higher-elevation sites in the Cascade and Coast ranges of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia (Canada) (Gavin et al, 2006, 2013; Hallett et al, 2003; Long et al, 1998, 2011; Prichard et al, 2009; Sugimura et al, 2008; Walsh et al, 2017) where mid- to high-severity burns typically occur every 100–400 years during periods of extended drought (Gavin et al, 2007). Fewer studies have looked at past fire regimes in lower-elevation forests and grasslands in the PNW (Brown and Hebda, 2002a, 2002b; Long et al, 2007; Scharf, 2010; Walsh et al, 2008, 2010a, 2010b) where pre-settlement fires are thought to have been frequent ground-clearing events of low- to mid-severity (Agee, 1998; Everett et al, 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a better understanding of climate and human impacts on late Holocene fire regimes in the Pacific Northwest, USA

Walsh

Duke

Haydon

2018

Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment

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In order to fully appreciate the role that fire, both natural and anthropogenic, had in shaping pre-Euro-American settlement landscapes in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), it is necessary to develop a more robust method of evaluating paleofire reconstructions. Here we demonstrate an approach that includes the identification of charcoal morphotypes (i.e. visually distinct charcoal particles), and incorporates both paleoecological and archaeological data sets, to more specifically determine both the nature of past fire regimes (i.e. fuel type and fire severity) and the likely ignition source of those fires. We demonstrate the usefulness of this approach by reconstructing the late Holocene fire and vegetation histories of Lake Oswego (Clackamas County), Oregon, and Fish Lake (Okanogan County), Washington, using macroscopic charcoal and pollen analysis of sediment cores. The histories were compared with climatic records from the PNW as well as archaeological, ethnographic, and historical records from the Lower Columbia River Valley and Southern Columbia Plateau cultural regions. Our results indicate that while centennial-to-millennial-scale climate change had limited influence on the fire regimes at the study sites during the past ∼3800 years, the use of fire by Native Americans for a variety of reasons, particularly after ca. 1200 calendar years before present (AD 750), had a far greater impact. Charcoal morphotype ratios also indicate that fires in the two watersheds were fundamentally different in their severity and impact, and led to major shifts in the forests and woodlands surrounding Lake Oswego, but helped maintain the ponderosa pine-dominated forest at Fish Lake. The elimination of fire from the two study sites during the past 100–300 years is likely the combined result of Euro-American contact and the arrival of disease in the PNW, as well as 20th-century fire suppression and grazing effects on fuel continuity, which has implications for future forest management and restoration efforts in the PNW.

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Fire-climate-human interactions during the postglacial period at Sunrise Ridge, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington (USA)

Cited by 12 publications

References 68 publications

Holocene fire history reconstruction of a mid-elevation mixed-conifer forest in the Eastern Cascades, Washington, USA

Holocene fire history reconstruction of a mid-elevation mixed-conifer forest in the Eastern Cascades, Washington, USA

A 7600 yr vegetation and fire history from Anthony Lake, northeastern Oregon, USA, with linkages to modern synoptic climate patterns

Toward a better understanding of climate and human impacts on late Holocene fire regimes in the Pacific Northwest, USA

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