Fire knowledge for managing cascadian whitebark pine ecosystems: a final report to the Joint Fire Science Program
Siderius J and Murray MP. 2005. Fire knowledge for managing cascadian whitebark pine ecosystems: a final report to the Joint Fire Science Program. Final Report to the Joint Fire Sciences Program 01B-3-3-26. Crater Lake National Park
"Whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) is an ecologically significant component of high elevation forest and woodland ecosystems in the Cascade Mountain Range of Oregon and Washington. Its importance is noted as whitebark pine is recognized as a keystone species. The objectives of this study are to 1) gain an understanding of fire frequency and severity associated with whitebark pine forests, and 2) describe historic and current stand conditions and estimate potential ecological effects of fire exclusion policies. By applying standard field techniques (scar and core sampling) we compiled a dataset that describes fire’s role in these timberline forests. We report on 55 fire history sites located in the Cascade Range. Incidence of fire was documented throughout the whitebark pine ecosystem in the Cascades, indicating that fire is a significant disturbance agent. Whitebark pine ecosystems appear to burn in a broad spectrum of severity and frequency. Fire return intervals ranged from 9-314 years, with a mean of 67 years. This broad range indicates that fire regimes in whitebark pine forests are site specific more than species specific. From stand reconstruction techniques, we estimate that since the 1920s, volume for all tree species including, whitebark pine, began to increase dramatically. Late-seral [sic] species have increased at greater rates, indicating fire exclusion as a causal facilitating and possibly driving changing forest conditions."
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Siderius, Joel; Murray, Michael
- Date of Issue
- 2005-10
- Publisher
- Crater Lake National Park
- Units
- CRLA
- Keywords
- Abundance (Biodiversity), Distribution (Biodiversity), FIRE, Fire adaptation, Fire cycle, Fire dependent habitat, Fire Ecology, Fire Frequency, Fire History, Fire Management, Fire Regime, Fire resistance, fire scar, Fire scar analysis, fire studies, Observations, Pinaceae (Pines), Pinus albicaulis (Scrub Pine White Pine Whitebark Pine), Presence (Biodiversity), Vascular Plant