Fire history across a landscape gradient in the Frijoles Canyon watershed, New Mexico
Allen CD. 1990. Fire history across a landscape gradient in the Frijoles Canyon watershed, New Mexico. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America. 71(2):74
A fire history was developed for the Rito de los Frijoles watershed in the Jemez Mts. from 1160 crossdated fire scars on 75 sampled snags, stumps, and trees. The samples were collected from 4 clustered groups between 2016 and 2934 m on upland landforms, and from 2172 to 2577 m in the adjacent canyon bottom. Sampled vegetation ranged from the ponderosa pine/pinion-juniper transition zone up to ponderosa pine-dominated mixed conifer forests, with riparian mixed conifer forest in the canyon. Scar dates extend back to 1480 A.D. Pre-1900 mean fire intervals (MFI's) ranged from 9 to 15 years across this landscape. Frijoles Canyon riparian forests burned surprisingly often (MFI = 10 years) and in synchrony with adjacent uplands. Watershed-wide fires occurred with a MFI = 16 years; comparison to tree-ring indices of past climate indicate that widespread fires occurred in dry years. Abrupt declines in fire frequency in the late 1800's support the hypothesis of overgrazing-induced suppression of presettlement fire regimes in the Southwest.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Allen, Craig
- Units
- BAND
- Keywords
- Ecology, Fire Ecology, Fire History, Frijoles Canyon Bandelier National Monument NM, Grazing, Pajarito Plateau NM