Fire History of the City of Rocks National Reserve from 1926 to 2005

Morris, Lesley

Information regarding fire in City of Rocks National Reserve (CIRO) was obtained from a variety of sources. Previously digitized fire history records were obtained from the USDA Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management. Information was also gathered concerning fire from archival documents searches, emigrant diaries, oral histories and historical photographs. When historical fire reports or records contained maps of fires, they were digitized on screen. A digital map of all such fires was created in ArcView GIS 3.3 in Universal Transverse Mercator, Zone 12 North, in North American Datum of 1983. The resulting fire history map was provided as an overview figure in this report, as well as in digital format to CIRO. Copies of the historic fire reports used in this report from the Bureau of Land Management, USDA Forest Service, and the City of Rocks National Reserve were scanned at 300 dpi using a Canon CanoScan LiDE 60 into an Adobe Acrobat format and linked to a searchable database prepared in Microsoft Access and delivered to CIRO. Additional documentation (such as reports or photos) used in this report were also included in a separate database and delivered to CIRO.In total, the records search revealed 14 mapable fires within CIRO from 1926 to 2005. Other fires that could not be included on the map were documented and discussed in the report. Of the 14,320 acres within CIRO, an estimated 3,562 acres or 25% of the Reserve burned over the reporting period. If the acreage could be calculated from the other fires, this estimate may be slightly higher.This report has demonstrated several trends in fire for CIRO. First, there has been a pronounced increase in the number of acres burned in the Reserve since the 1950s. In the 1950s, only about 3% of the Reserve burned. Throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, less than 1% was burned. Then, from the 5% burned during the 1990s, there was a large jump when 14% of the Reserve blackened in just one fire in 2000. Second, fires not only got larger but also more difficult and time consuming to control. Finally, the majority of the reported fires in the Reserve occurred in the fall (September and October) and some in late summer (July and August). The resultant map and information regarding fire has provided an important baseline fire history data that will be useful to the City of Rocks National Reserve.

Fire History of the City of Rocks National Reserve from 1926 to 2005

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