Early 19th-century fire decline following sheep pasturing in a navajo ponderosa pine forest
The authors documented the fire history of a ponderosa pine forest stand to understand the effects of land use change on fire frequency, and the subsequent effects of fire decline on the forest structure.
The authors related the increase in sheep herding and livestock grazing, beginning in approximately 1830, to a significant reduction in fire frequency across the Chuska Mountains. The current forest stand is dense with even-aged cohorts that established in the early 1900s, similar to other stand in the Southwest. The authors suggest, however, fire suppression and land use change alone were not responsible for the drastic changes to the forest structure. Instead, anthropogenic disturbance concurrent with favorable climate conditions for ponderosa pine regeneration likely both influenced the major structural alteration of these forest stands.
Fire and Ecosystem Effects Linkages
The authors related the increase in sheep herding and livestock grazing, beginning in approximately 1830, to a significant reduction in fire frequency across the Chuska Mountains. The current forest stand is dense with even-aged cohorts that established in the early 1900s, similar to other stand in the Southwest. The authors suggest, however, fire suppression and land use change alone were not responsible for the drastic changes to the forest structure. Instead, anthropogenic disturbance concurrent with favorable climate conditions for ponderosa pine regeneration likely both influenced the major structural alteration of these forest stands.
The authors related the increase in sheep herding and livestock grazing, beginning in approximately 1830, to a significant reduction in fire frequency across the Chuska Mountains. The current forest stand is dense with even-aged cohorts that established in the early 1900s, similar to other stand in the Southwest. The authors suggest, however, fire suppression and land use change alone were not responsible for the drastic changes to the forest structure. Instead, anthropogenic disturbance concurrent with favorable climate conditions for ponderosa pine regeneration likely both influenced the major structural alteration of these forest stands.