Resource Catalog
Document
Fire history and forest structural characteristics of adjacent Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi) and upper montane forests was investigated in the eastern Sierra Nevada at the University of California Valentine Natural Reserve. Jeffrey pine forests had lower canopy cover, higher amounts of fine fuels, and higher shrub cover when compared to upper montane forest that were dominated by red fir (Abies magnifica). Fire dates were determined using standard dendrochronolgy techniques from fire-scarred Jeffrey pine, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. murrayana), red f ir, and western white pine (Pinus monticola) trees, snags, stumps, and downed logs. Fires were recorded from 1745 to 1889 and mean fire return intervals were 9 and 24.7 years for the Jeffrey pine and upper montane forest types, respectively. The median fire return interval was 9.0 years for Jeffrey pine and 24.0 years for upper montane forests. Significant differences were found in mean fire intervals and fire history distributions between the two similarly sized fire history plots even though they were only separated by approximately 100 m. This study suggests that fire regimes can vary over very fine spatial scales. Differences in fire regimes are likely due to differences in fuel beds and fire behavior.
Cataloging Information
- Abies magnifica
- Abies spp.
- Arctostaphylos patula
- Artemisia tridentata
- California red fir
- Ceanothus cordulatus
- Corallorhiza spp.
- cover
- distribution
- eastern Sierra Nevada
- ecosystem dynamics
- fine fuels
- fire frequency
- fire injuries (plants)
- fire management
- fire regimes
- flammability
- forest management
- forest types
- fuel loading
- fuel management
- histories
- lodgepole pine
- Lupinus spp.
- montane forests
- overstory
- pine forests
- Pinus contorta
- Pinus jeffreyi
- Pinus monticola
- Pinus spp.
- Purshia tridentata
- rate of spread
- Sierra Nevada
- snags
- Symphoricarpos rotundifolius
- tree canopy cover
- Tsuga mertensiana
- wildfires
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.