Historical Fire Regimes in Ponderosa Pine and Mixed-Conifer Landscapes of the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, USA, from Multiple Sources
Abstract
:1. Introduction
Background on Sources for Reconstructing Montane Historical Fire Regimes in the San Juan Mountains
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Area
2.2. Moderate- to High-Severity Fires from Forest Atlases and Early Reports
“It is safe to say that 50 per cent of the area classified as woodland has been run over and seriously damaged by fire …. These burns are in all stages, from areas covered with dead standing trees and down timber with no re-growth what so ever on the ground, such as the area at the head of Burnt Timber Creek in the La Plata, to large areas covered by stands of aspen of varying ages with a few scattering groups of conifers in mixture, such as are found on the hills on each side of the main Dolores along which runs the railroad”.([16]; p. 21).
2.3. Low-Severity Fire Rotations and Fire Years from Tree-Ring Studies
2.4. Fire Information from Forest-Reserve Reports, the Michelsen Report and Other Early Sources
3. Results
3.1. Moderate- to High-Severity Fires from Tree-Rings, Early Records, and Forest Atlases
3.2. Low-Severity Fire Rotations from Tree-Ring Studies
4. Discussion
4.1. Low-Severity Fire Rotations and Population Mean Fire Intervals from Tree-Ring Data
4.2. Moderate to High-Severity Fires from Forest Atlases and Other Sources
4.3. Managing Low-, Moderate-, and High-Severity Fires in Montane Landscapes of the San Juan Mountains
Supplementary Materials
Funding
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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High Severity | Mod.-High Severity | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Modern Vegetation Types | Full Area (Figure 1a) | Atlas Area (Figure 1b) | Fire Area | 1/2 Woodland Area | Total Burn Area | Fraction Burned | Fire Rotation | Fraction Burned 1 | Fire Rotation | |
(ha) | (%) | (ha) | (ha) | (ha) | (ha) | (years) | (years) | |||
San Juan National Forest | ||||||||||
Grasslands | 73,509 | 13.6 | 48,847 | 277 | 9586 | 9863 | 0.20192 | 297 | 0.60008 | 100 |
Shrublands | 118,302 | 21.9 | 73,257 | 263 | 14,965 | 15,228 | 0.20787 | 289 | 0.41215 | 146 |
Ponderosa pine | 136,494 | 25.4 | 113,249 | 1201 | 17,785 | 18,986 | 0.16756 | 358 | 0.32469 | 185 |
Dry mixed conifer | 75,690 | 14.0 | 66,853 | 2637 | 12,477 | 15,114 | 0.22608 | 265 | 0.41271 | 145 |
Moist mixed conifer | 135,252 | 25.1 | 119,692 | 6714 | 21,568 | 28,282 | 0.23629 | 254 | 0.41649 | 144 |
Total-San Juan | 539,247 | 100.0 | 421,898 | 11,092 | 76,381 | 87,473 | 0.20733 | 289 | 0.38836 | 154 |
Rio Grande National Forest | ||||||||||
Grasslands | 87,908 | 47.4 | 60,626 | 2385 | 7512 | 9897 | 0.16325 | 368 | 0.45040 | 133 |
Shrublands | 907 | 0.5 | 414 | 20 | 52 | 72 | 0.17391 | 345 | 0.29952 | 200 |
Ponderosa pine | 20,188 | 10.9 | 7175 | 125 | 251 | 376 | 0.05240 | 1145 | 0.08725 | 688 |
Dry mixed conifer | 14,313 | 7.7 | 13,634 | 899 | 2170 | 3069 | 0.22510 | 267 | 0.38426 | 156 |
Moist mixed conifer | 62,113 | 33.5 | 58,846 | 4962 | 10,774 | 15,736 | 0.26741 | 224 | 0.45050 | 133 |
Total-Rio Grande | 185,429 | 100.0 | 140,695 | 8391 | 20,759 | 29,149 | 0.20718 | 289 | 0.35472 | 169 |
Total-both forests | 724,676 | 562,593 | 19,483 | 97,140 | 116,620 | 0.20729 | 289 | 0.37996 | 158 |
Author(s) | Site | Forest Zone | Best Source | Value | Regr. Coeff. | All-Severity FR (yrs) a | Low-Severity FR (yrs) b |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bigio et al. [31] | Haflin Creek North | Dry MC | CFI-All | 30.0 | 2.440 | 73.2 | 147.8 |
Bigio et al. [31] | Haflin Creek South | Ponderosa | CFI-25% | 26.0 | 1.715 | 44.6 | 58.8 |
Bigio et al. [31] | Marina East | Dry MC | CFI-25% | 29.0 | 1.715 | 49.7 | 75.6 |
Bigio et al. [31] | Marina West | Dry MC | CFI-25% | 19.0 | 1.715 | 32.6 | 42.1 |
Bigio et al. [31] | Steven’s Creek North | Dry MC | CFI-All | 46.0 | 2.440 | 112.2 | 496.0 |
Bigio et al. [31] | Steven’s Creek South | Ponderosa | CFI-25% | 24.0 | 1.715 | 41.2 | 53.0 |
Brown et al. [32] | Hot Creek | Ponderosa | CFI-All | 9.5 c | 2.450 | 23.3 | 24.1 |
Brown and Wu [27] | Archuleta Mesa | Ponderosa | CFI-All | 14.1 | 2.440 | 34.4 | 42.3 |
Fule et al. [28]; Korb et al. [29] | Lower Middle Mountain | Dry MC | CFI-25% | 32.3 | 1.715 | 55.4 | 89.7 |
Grissino-Mayer et al. [33] | Benson Creek | Ponderosa | CFI-All | 8.0 | 2.440 | 19.5 | 21.8 |
Grissino-Mayer et al. [33] | Burnette Canyon | Dry MC | CFI-All | 30.0 | 2.440 | 73.2 | 147.8 |
Grissino-Mayer et al. [33] | Five Pine Canyon | Ponderosa | CFI-All | 7.0 | 2.440 | 17.1 | 18.8 |
Grissino-Mayer et al. [33] | Hermosa Creek | Dry MC | CFI-All | 11.0 | 2.440 | 26.8 | 32.9 |
Grissino-Mayer et al. [33] | Monument | Dry MC | CFI-All | 21.0 | 2.440 | 51.2 | 79.1 |
Grissino-Mayer et al. [33] | Plateau Creek | Ponderosa | CFI-All | 6.0 | 2.440 | 14.6 | 15.9 |
Grissino-Mayer et al. [33] | Smoothing Iron | Ponderosa | CFI-All | 13.0 | 2.440 | 31.7 | 38.3 |
Grissino-Mayer et al. [33] | Taylor Creek | Dry MC | CFI-All | 19.0 | 2.440 | 46.4 | 68.2 |
Grissino-Mayer et al. [33] | Turkey Springs | Ponderosa | CFI-All | 11.0 | 2.440 | 26.8 | 31.3 |
Korb et al. [29] | Grassy Mountain | Dry MC | CFI-25% | 10.0 | 1.715 | 17.2 | 19.5 |
Tepley and Veblen [10] | Aspen | Moist MC | CFI-All d | 18.0 | 2.440 | 43.9 | 63.2 |
Tepley and Veblen [10] | Dry MC | Dry MC | CFI-All d | 20.8 | 2.440 | 50.8 | 78.2 |
Tepley and Veblen [10] | Moist mixed conifer | Moist MC | CFI-All d | 32.3 | 2.440 | 78.8 | 174.0 |
Wu [26] | Bear Park 1 | Dry MC | CFI-25% | 14.7 | 1.715 | 25.2 | 30.5 |
Wu [26] | Bear Park 2 | Moist MC | CFI-25% | 17.7 | 1.715 | 30.4 | 38.5 |
Wu [26] | Bear Park 3 | Moist MC | CFI-25% | 21.7 | 1.715 | 37.2 | 50.2 |
Wu [26] | Corral Mountain 1 | Moist MC | CFI-25% | 41.5 | 1.715 | 71.2 | 140.8 |
Wu [26] | Corral Mountain 2 | Dry MC | CFI-25% | 41.5 | 1.715 | 71.2 | 139.9 |
Wu [26] | Corral Mountain 3 | Moist MC | CFI-25% | 36.9 | 1.715 | 63.3 | 113.0 |
Wu [26] | Corral Mountain 4 | Moist MC | CFI-25% | 41.5 | 1.715 | 71.2 | 140.8 |
Wu [26] | Jackson Mountain 1, 2 | Moist MC | CFI-25% | 62.7 | 1.715 | 107.5 | 424.1 |
Wu [26] | Jackson Mountain 3 | Moist MC | CFI-25% | 20.9 | 1.715 | 35.8 | 47.6 |
Wu [26]; Korb et al. [29] | Jackson Mountain 4 | Dry MC | CFI-25% | 29.8 | 1.715 | 51.1 | 78.9 |
Wu [26]; Korb et al. [29] | Jackson Mountain 5 | Dry MC | CFI-25% | 23.5 | 1.715 | 40.3 | 55.8 |
Fire-History Evidence | Atlas Evidence | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fire Year | Fire No. 1 | Site | Author(s) | Fire Severity | Fire Size 2 | Fires | Wood-Lands | C/I 3 |
Sites with age-structure or stand-origin evidence of moderate- to high-severity fires | ||||||||
1902 | 1 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | Moderate 4 | M | No | No | I |
1899 | 1 | SQU | Tepley and Veblen [10] | High | M | No | Yes | C |
Moderate | L | Yes | Yes | C | ||||
1896/1891 | 2 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | High | S | No | No | I |
Moderate | M | No | No | I | ||||
1880–1860 | 1 | WSW | Romme et al. [2] 5 | High | L | No | Yes | C |
1879 | 1 | WES 6 | Aoki [3] (p. 16, 19, 21) 6 | High | L | No | Yes | C |
1879 | 1 | MAR2 | Bigio [30]; Bigio et al. [31] | High, mixed | M | No | No | I |
1879 | 3 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | High | M | No | Yes | C |
Moderate | L | No | Yes | C | ||||
1879/1878 | 2 | SQU | Tepley and Veblen [10] | High | L | Yes | Yes | C |
Moderate | L | Yes | Yes | C | ||||
1879 | 1 | BPK1 | Wu [26] (p. 101) | High | S | No | No | I |
1876 | 1 | SQW | Margolis et al. [22] | High | M | Yes | No | C |
1873 | 1 | JAK1 | Wu [26] (p. 101) | High | S | No | No | I |
1873 | 1 | JAK4 | Wu [26] (p. 101) | High | S | No | No | I |
1870 | 1 | SC4 | Bigio [30]; Bigio et al. [31] | High, mixed | S | No | No | I |
1861 | 1 | All | Brown and Wu [27] | Moderate 7 | M | No | Yes | C |
1861 | 1 | All | Fulé et al. [28] | Moderate 8 | M | No | No | I |
1861 | 4 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | High | M | No | Yes | C |
Moderate | M | No | Yes | C | ||||
1861/1860 | 3 | SQU | Tepley and Veblen [10] | High | M | Yes | Yes | C |
Moderate | M | Yes | Yes | C | ||||
1851 | 2 | MAR2 | Bigio [30]; Bigio et al. [31] | High, mixed | M | No | No | I |
1851 | 1 | CHA | Margolis et al. [22] | High 9 | L | No | Yes 9 | C |
1851 | 5 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | Moderate | S | No | No | I |
1851 | 1 | CRL1 | Wu [26] (p. 132) | High | M | No | No | I |
1851 | 1 | CRL2 | Wu [26] (p. 101) | High | M | No | Yes | C |
1847 | 4 | SQU | Tepley and Veblen [10] | High | S | Yes | Yes | C |
Moderate | M | Yes | Yes | C | ||||
1838 | 1 | HC3 | Bigio [30]; Bigio et al. [31] | Low, mixed | M | No | No | I |
1836 | 6 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | High | M | No | No | I |
Moderate | L | No | Yes | C | ||||
1834 | 5 | SQU | Tepley and Veblen [10] | Moderate | S | No | Yes | C |
1824 | 2 | All | Fulé et al. [28] | Moderate 8 | M | No | No | I |
1822/1820 | 7 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | Moderate | L | No | No | I |
1819 | 6 | SQU | Tepley and Veblen [10] | High | S | No | Yes | C |
Moderate | L | Yes | Yes | C | ||||
1818 | 2 | All | Brown and Wu [27] | Moderate 7 | M | No | Yes | I |
1818 | 1 | HC4–6 | Bigio [30]; Bigio et al. [31] | High, mixed | M | No | No | I |
1806/1797 | 8 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | Moderate | M | No | Yes | C |
1806 | 7 | SQU | Tepley and Veblen [10] | Moderate | S | Yes | Yes | C |
1795 | 1 | JAK3 | Wu [26] (pp. 100, 134) | High | M | No | No | I |
1786 | 2 | JAK3 | Wu [26] (pp. 100, 134) | High | M | No | No | I |
1786 | 9 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | High | L | No | No | I |
Moderate | M | Yes | Yes | C | ||||
1786 | 8 | SQU | Tepley and Veblen [10] | High | M | Yes | Yes | C |
Moderate | L | Yes | Yes | C | ||||
1778 | 1 | SC2 | Bigio [30]; Bigio et al. [31] | Mixed | S | No | No | I |
1778 | 2 | SC5–6 | Bigio [30]; Bigio et al. [31] | Low, mixed | S | No | No | I |
1774 | 9 | SQU | Tepley and Veblen [10] | Moderate | S | No | Yes | C |
1773 | 10 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | Moderate | M | No | No | I |
1748 | 11 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | High | M | No | Yes | C |
Moderate | M | No | Yes | C | ||||
1748 | 1 | BPK2 | Wu [26] (pp. 100, 132) | High | M | No | No | I |
1748 | 2 | CRL1 | Wu [26] (pp. 100, 132) | High | M | No | No | I |
1748 | 1 | JAK2 | Wu [26] (pp. 100, 132) | High | M | No | No | I |
1748 | 1 | JAK5 | Wu [26] (pp. 100, 132) | High | M | No | No | I |
1724 | 12 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | Moderate | M | No | Yes | C |
1707 | 13 | WIL | Tepley and Veblen [10] | Moderate | S | No | No | I |
Sites with age-structure evidence of no high-severity fires in the 1800s, only low- to moderate-severity fires | ||||||||
- | HC1–2 | Bigio [30]; Bigio et al. [31] | Low-4 10 | S | No | No | C | |
- | MAR1 | Bigio [30]; Bigio et al. [31] | Low-5 10 | S | No | No | C | |
- | SC1,3 | Bigio [30]; Bigio et al. [31] | Low-4 10 | S | No | No | C | |
- | GRA | Korb et al. [29] | Low-11 10 | S | No | No | C |
Fire No. | SJ or RG | Where | Poss. Years | Total Area (ha) | Ponderosa | Dry MC | Moist MC | Grasslands | Shrublands | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wood (ha) | Fire (ha) | Wood (ha) | Fire (ha) | Wood (ha) | Fire (ha) | Wood (ha) | Fire (ha) | Wood (ha) | Fire (ha) | |||||
1 | SJ | Dolores River | Unknown 1900, 1878 | 32,828 | 4787 | 0 | 5070 | 89 | 13,023 | 247 | 3727 | 15 | 5870 | 0 |
2 | SJ | N of Durango | 1900 | 66 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
3 | SJ | N of Durango | 1900 | 211 | 15 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 175 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
4 | SJ | Vallecito River | 1900 | 95 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 80 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
5 | SJ | Piedra River | 1900, 1898 1879, 1861 | 13,872 | 6148 | 311 | 4127 | 334 | 973 | 406 | 510 | 29 | 1012 | 22 |
6 | SJ | N of Pagosa Springs | 1900, 1898 | 13,088 | 1432 | 4 | 2665 | 80 | 5271 | 180 | 1952 | 10 | 1481 | 13 |
7 | SJ | San Juan River | 1900 | 845 | 99 | 0 | 92 | 0 | 493 | 121 | 40 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
8 | RG | S Fork Rio Grande | 1900 | 1145 | 91 | 0 | 55 | 41 | 145 | 298 | 116 | 399 | 0 | 0 |
9 | RG | Alamosa-Conejos | 1900, 1875, 1873 | 21,585 | 159 | 0 | 2441 | 149 | 12,879 | 812 | 5030 | 89 | 26 | 0 |
10 | SJ | NE of Mancos | 1898, 1892 1884–1850 | 18,167 | 2633 | 0 | 3374 | 0 | 6907 | 0 | 1776 | 0 | 3477 | 0 |
11 | RG | Platoro | 1898, 1875 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 0 |
12 | RG | E of Creede | 1893 | 136 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 40 | 6 | 76 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
13 | RG | W of Creede | 1893 | 2375 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1612 | 0 | 601 | 0 | 162 | 0 |
14 | RG | S of Creede | 1893 | 2635 | 0 | 11 | 19 | 5 | 752 | 908 | 598 | 342 | 0 | 0 |
15 | RG | S of Del Norte | 1893, 1892 | 6892 | 105 | 17 | 574 | 243 | 3343 | 583 | 1908 | 110 | 9 | 0 |
16 | RG | Cat Creek | 1887 | 234 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 209 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 |
17 | RG | Wagon Wheel Gap | 1900, 1881 | 4252 | 21 | 98 | 83 | 234 | 561 | 1967 | 496 | 772 | 0 | 20 |
18 | SJ | Lime Creek | 1879 | 1814 | 0 | 323 | 0 | 674 | 0 | 744 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 72 |
19 | SJ | Upper Pine River | 1879, 1860 | 1132 | 0 | 89 | 0 | 209 | 0 | 827 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 |
20 | RG | SW of Creede | 1879 | 373 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 282 | 16 | 0 | 0 |
21 | RG | La Garita Creek | 1872 | 507 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 400 | 0 | 97 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
22 | SJ | S of Pagosa Spr. | 1899 1879–1878 1861–1860 | 62,135 | 18,006 | 0 | 8011 | 16 | 11,118 | 441 | 9783 | 0 | 14,759 | 1 |
23 | RG | Squaw Creek | 1876 | 169 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 117 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 0 | 0 |
24 | RG | Chama River | 1851 | 89 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Total area burned in the 24 atlas fires and woodlands | 184,668 | 33,496 | 853 | 26,648 | 2225 | 57,696 | 7893 | 27,055 | 1875 | 26,796 | 131 | |||
Total area burned in all atlas fires and woodlands | 213,763 | 36,072 | 1326 | 29,294 | 3536 | 64,684 | 11,676 | 34,196 | 2662 | 30,034 | 283 |
Type of Fire Rotation/Statistic | Overall | Ponderosa Pine | Dry Mixed Conifer | Moist Mixed Conifer 1 |
---|---|---|---|---|
All-Severity Fire Rotations | ||||
n | 33 | 9 | 15 | 9 |
Mean | 47.5 | 28.1 | 51.8 | 59.9 |
Standard deviation | 24.4 | 10.6 | 23.9 | 25.3 |
Minimum | 14.6 | 14.6 | 17.2 | 30.4 |
1st quartile | 28.6 | 18.3 | 32.6 | 36.5 |
Median | 43.9 | 26.8 | 50.7 | 63.3 |
3rd quartile | 67.2 | 37.8 | 71.2 | 75.0 |
Maximum | 112.2 | 44.6 | 112.2 | 107.5 |
95% confidence interval for mean | 38.9–56.2 | 20.0–36.3 | 38.5–65.0 | 40.5–79.4 |
95% confidence interval for median | 33.5–51.2 | 17.6–39.6 | 35.5–65.3 | 36.2–77.1 |
Low-Severity Fire Rotations | ||||
n | 33 | 9 | 15 | 9 |
Mean | 93.3 | 33.8 | 105.5 | 132.5 |
Standard deviation | 104.8 | 15.3 | 115.5 | 119.8 |
Minimum | 15.9 | 15.9 | 19.5 | 38.5 |
1st quartile | 35.6 | 20.3 | 42.1 | 48.9 |
Median | 58.8 | 31.3 | 78.2 | 113.0 |
3rd quartile | 126.4 | 47.7 | 139.9 | 157.4 |
Maximum | 496.0 | 58.8 | 496.0 | 424.1 |
95% confidence interval for mean | 56.1–130.4 | 22.0–45.6 | 41.5–169.4 | 40.4–224.6 |
95% confidence interval for median | 42.2–79.0 | 19.5–50.6 | 47.2–121.1 | 48.2–166.5 |
© 2018 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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Baker, W.L. Historical Fire Regimes in Ponderosa Pine and Mixed-Conifer Landscapes of the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, USA, from Multiple Sources. Fire 2018, 1, 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire1020023
Baker WL. Historical Fire Regimes in Ponderosa Pine and Mixed-Conifer Landscapes of the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, USA, from Multiple Sources. Fire. 2018; 1(2):23. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire1020023
Chicago/Turabian StyleBaker, William L. 2018. "Historical Fire Regimes in Ponderosa Pine and Mixed-Conifer Landscapes of the San Juan Mountains, Colorado, USA, from Multiple Sources" Fire 1, no. 2: 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire1020023