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Document

Type: Journal Article
Author(s): James K. Agee
Publication Date: 1991

Fire history was investigated at two sites in the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon. Kinney Creek in the eastern Siskiyous and Oregon Caves National Monument in the central Siskiyous span an elevational gradient from the mixed evergreen zone through the White Fir (Abies concolor) zone. The fire frequency of the forest around Kinney Creek, based on fire scars, was about 16 years between 1760 and 1860. Photographic evidence in 1916 of fires from 1854 to 1915 was difficult to corroborate in 1988 based on vegetation evidence. Oregon Caves fire history, reconstructed using a conservative natural fire rotation technique, was 37 years during 1650-1930 for the lower elevation Douglas-fir/oak (Pseudotsuga menziesii/Lithocarpus-Quercus spp.) community and 64 years for the highest elevation white fir/herb community, with substantial variation by century. The fire-free interval since 1921 is the longest in more than 300 years. These old-growth forests developed with a much more frequent disturbance history than the wetter, cooler Douglas-fir forests of the Olympic and Cascade Mountains of Washington.

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Citation: Agee, James K. 1991. Fire history along an elevational gradient in the Siskiyou Mountains, Oregon. Northwest Science 65(4):188-199.

Cataloging Information

Regions:
Keywords:
  • Abies concolor
  • Abies magnifica
  • Abies spp.
  • Berberis nervosa
  • Calocedrus decurrens
  • chaparral
  • community ecology
  • coniferous forests
  • disturbance
  • Douglas-fir
  • elevation
  • evergreenness
  • fire frequency
  • fire injuries (plants)
  • fire management
  • fire regimes
  • fire scar analysis
  • fire-free intervals
  • forest management
  • habitat types
  • hunting
  • Kinney Creek
  • Lithocarpus densiflorus
  • livestock
  • mixed evergreen zone
  • montane forests
  • mosaic
  • mountains
  • national parks
  • Native Americans
  • natural fire rotation
  • natural resource legislation
  • oak
  • old-growth forests
  • Oregon
  • Oregon Caves National Monument
  • Pinus attenuata
  • Pinus lambertiana
  • precipitation
  • Pseudotsuga menziesii
  • Pseudotsuga spp.
  • public information
  • Quercus spp.
  • Siskiyou Mountains
  • succession
  • tanoak
  • white fir
  • white fir zone
  • wildfires
  • wildlife openings
Tall Timbers Record Number: 8731Location Status: In-fileCall Number: Fire FileAbstract Status: Okay, Fair use, Reproduced by permission
Record Last Modified:
Record Maintained By: FRAMES Staff (https://www.frames.gov/contact)
FRAMES Record Number: 19762

This bibliographic record was either created or modified by Tall Timbers and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of Tall Timbers.