Fire Ecology

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Fire Ecology Pete Fulé Northern Arizona
University
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Overview

• Fire regimes
• Fire history methods
• Fire scars
• Comparison to records
• Fire and climate
• Effects of forest restoration on
• fire behavior
• Future fires drought beetles

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Fire Regimes
Frequency High frequency Low
frequency Intensity High intensity High
intensity (e.g., FL Everglades) (e.g., boreal,
subalpine, lodgepole) High
frequency Low frequency Low intensity Low
intensity (e.g., ponderosa pine) (some deserts?)
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Fire History Methods Fire scars common
technique in surface-fire ecosystems. Advantages
exact dates (even seasons of fires), locations
of scarred trees. Disadvantages cant map fire
perimeter, absence of scars ? absence of
fire. Stand age common technique in
stand-replacing ecosystems. Advantages map
perimeter/area of fire. Disadvantages imprecise
fire date, newer fires obliterate evidence of
older ones.
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How good are fire scar methods? Critiqued by
Baker Ehle (2001, Can. J. Forest Research
311205-1226)
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Comparison to Fire Records

• Across western North America, we usually find
  sites with good records but no fires (USA), or
  many fires but limited records (Mexico).

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Comparison to Fire Records

• Across western North America, we usually find
  sites with good records but no fires (USA), or
  many fires but limited records (Mexico).
• Grand Canyon has both earliest recorded fire is
  the 1924 Powell fire.

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Comparison to Fire Records

• Across western North America, we usually find
  sites with good records but no fires (USA), or
  many fires but limited records (Mexico).
• Grand Canyon has both earliest recorded fire is
  the 1924 Powell fire.
• Independent fire scar analysis found each of the
  13 recorded fires gt 20 acres since 1924 on the
  Powell, Rainbow, Fire Pt. study sites (total of
  1700 acres).

Fulé, P.Z., T.A. Heinlein, W.W. Covington, and
M.M. Moore. 2003. Assessing fire regimes on
Grand Canyon landscapes with fire scar and fire
record data. International Journal of Wildland
Fire 12(2)129-145.
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Emerald Prescribed Natural Fire
August 10-24, 1993 Final size 138 ha Stars
indicate six samples that recorded the fire Six
additional samples did not record the fire
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Powell Plateau, Grand Canyon National Park
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Mixed Conifer Mid elevation site (2500
m) Swamp Ridge Northwest III Fire
frequency 6-9 years Last fire 1879 Forest
mixed conifer, formerly ponderosa pine
Swamp Ridge, Grand Canyon N.P.
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High elevation sites (2550-2800 m) Little
Park Fire frequency complex patterns, MFI25
31 yr MFIPoint 32 yr Wt avg of fire-initiated
stands 22 yrs Last fire 1879 Forest aspen,
mixed conifer, spruce-fir
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Forest Simulation and Fire Behavior Modeling
Dendro
Current Forest Structure (circa 2000)
1880 Forest Structure
Site data
FVS
Tested procedures
Add regen
Simulate 1880-2040

• Intersecting evidence
• Lang Stewart survey (1910)
• Historical photos data
• Rasmussen (1941)

Compared to measured data in 2000, /- 20
Crown Biomass
Fire Plan
Smoke
Forest Plan
Biomass equations
Wildlife
Compared to observed fire behavior (NWIII fire
Outlet fire)
Crowning Index
Nexus
Landscape Maps 1880-2040
Fire weather
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Crown biomass changes in Grand Canyon forests,
1880-2040
Percent Mesic Species 1880 30 _at_ 2500 m 65 _at_
2650 m 86 _at_ 2700 m 2040 60 _at_ 2500 m 86 _at_
2650 m 96 _at_ 2700 m
Fulé, P.Z., J.E. Crouse, A.E. Cocke, M.M. Moore,
and W.W. Covington. 2003. Changes in canopy
fuels and potential fire behavior 1880-2040
Grand Canyon, Arizona. Final Report to the Joint
Fire Science Program, CA-1200-99-009-NAU 04 (Part
2).
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Kaibab Plateau, Arizona
Site Elev. Veg. MFI
1) Powell Plateau 2296 Pine 4.5
2) Fire Point 2338 Pine 4.9
3) Rainbow Plateau 2320 Pine 5.3
4) Galahad Point 2350 Pine 4.0
5) Swamp Ridge 2482 Mix Con 7.1
6) Big Spring 2650 Aspen, Spruce 31
7) Little Park 2724 Aspen, Spruce 31
Kaibab National Forest
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5
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1
7
3
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Grand Canyon National Park

• Mean Fire Interval (10-scarred lt 2,500 m)
• Fulé, P.Z., T.A. Heinlein, W.W. Covington, and
  M.M. Moore. 2003. Assessing fire regimes on
  Grand Canyon landscapes with fire scar and fire
  record data. International Journal of Wildland
  Fire 12(2).
• Fulé, P.Z., J.E. Crouse, T.A. Heinlein, M.M.
  Moore, W.W. Covington, and G. Verkamp. 2003.
  Mixed-Severity Fire Regime in a High-Elevation
  Forest Grand Canyon, Arizona. Landscape Ecology
  18465-486.

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• Fire and Climate
• Climate is the major factor influencing
  distribution of ecosystems and occurrence of
  fire weather.
• Southwest has frequent fires because climate is
  dry, hot, and windy nearly every summer.
• Climate causes synchrony in burning across
  landscapes, mountain ranges, states.
• Drought affects likelihood of fire.
• El Niño/Southern Oscillation affects likelihood
  of fire.

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Synchrony of Major Fire Years in the Southwest
Swetnam, T.W., and C.H. Baisan. 2003. Tree-ring
reconstructions of fire and climate history in
the Sierra Nevada and southwestern United States.
In T.T. Veblen, W.L. Baker, G. Montenegro, and
T.W. Swetnam (Editors), Fire and Climatic Change
in Temperate Ecosystems of the Western Americas,
Springer, New York, pp. 158-195.
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Fire-ENSO Relationship Across the Southwest
Swetnam, T.W., and C.H. Baisan. 2003. Tree-ring
reconstructions of fire and climate history in
the Sierra Nevada and southwestern United States.
In T.T. Veblen, W.L. Baker, G. Montenegro, and
T.W. Swetnam (Editors), Fire and Climatic Change
in Temperate Ecosystems of the Western Americas,
Springer, New York, pp. 158-195.
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Joe Crouse, Andy Meador, Coconino NF data
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Arizona 2002 Scar of the Rodeo-Chediski fire
468,638 acres
NASA Visible Earth CreditJacques Descloitres,
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team,
NASA/GSFC SatelliteTerra SensorMODIS Data Start
Date06-30-2002
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Does forest structure make a difference? This is
the Trick Fire, 1993, burning near the San
Francisco Peaks, AZ
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Effects of forest restoration on fire behavior
Grand Canyon, Arizona
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Restoration Techniques

• Overstory trees thinning, species composition,
  spatial pattern, old-growth.
• Understory herbs and shrubs natural
  regeneration, seeding, planting.
• Fuels accumulated fuels, canopy fuels, dead
  biomass as nutrient sources and habitat.
• Fire re-introducing fire, unique initial burn
  conditions, smoke.
• Monitoring and adapting evaluating results and
  making changes.

Covington, W.W., P.Z. Fulé, M.M. Moore, S.C.
Hart, T.E. Kolb, J.N. Mast, S.S. Sackett, and
M.R. Wagner. 1997. Restoration of ecosystem
health in southwestern ponderosa pine forests.
Journal of Forestry 95(4)23-29.
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Project Progress

• Goal is to reduce uncharacteristically severe
  wildfire hazard, restore forest structure and
  dynamics.
• Three experimental blocks measured 1997 (in the
  snow!)
• Grand Canyon NP draft EA 1998, protests of
  logging in canyon, no action taken.
• New environmental process completed in 2002 with
  5 diameter cap. Thinning completed by Northern
  Arizona Conservation Corps.

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Northern Arizona Conservation Corps members
thinning and piling slash with hand tools on
Grand Canyons North Rim, October, 2002
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Experimental Design

• Kaibab National Forest EA part of Scott,
  thinned 1999, burned fall 1999, remeasured 2000.
• Control continued fire exclusion.
• Three restoration alternatives.
• Full restoration thinning (1.5/3 Rx), fuel
  treatment, rx fire.
• Minimal thinning thinning around old-growth
  trees, fuels, rx fire.
• Burn-only no fuel treatment, rx fire --
  represents current management practice.

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Burned October 1999
Full Restoration
Minimal Thinning
Fulé, P.Z., W.W. Covington, H.B. Smith, J.D.
Springer, T.A. Heinlein, K.D. Huisinga, and M.M.
Moore. 2002. Testing ecological restoration
alternatives Grand Canyon, Arizona. Forest
Ecology and Management 17019-41.
Burn Only
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Forest structure influences fire behavior
Crown bulk density
Fuel model 2 or 9
Canopy base height
Fuel model 9 or 10
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PRE-Treatment torching at 21 mph, crowning at
33-40 mph.
POST-Treatment (FULL) torching at 35 mph,
crowning at 75 mph.
Comparison to reference (1887) fire behavior
torching 42 mph, crowning 55-80 mph
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Do model results hold up in real fires?
Untreated stand, high density/high fuel
Treated stand, low density/low fuel
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Rodeo-Chediski fire 2002 White Mountain Apache
lands
No treatment, killed by fire
Tree thinning and prescribed burning, survived
fire
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Rodeo-Chediski Fire, 2002
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Effects of Treatments
Treatments 1991-2001, forest above 6,560, 45
slope 76 of untreated area burned moderate or
high severity Only 4 (1000 acres) of cut
burn had high severity
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• Future Fires
• Increasing in size, intensity, and severity.
• Increasing fire suppression costs and loss of
  life.
• Firefighting priorities require focus on urban
  interface (lives property) ? sacrificing
  wildlands.
• Interaction with climate change drought
  beetles.

Great Basin Incident Mgt Team (above)
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Fuel hazards associated with bark beetle-caused
tree mortality in the Southwest.
forestfire.nau.edu/beetles.htm
University of Arizona
Arizona Public Service
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The most destructive fire was fed by more than
a million mature pine trees killed over the past
year by a bark beetle infestation and drought.
The fire front in the national forest was nearly
40 miles long John M. Broder, NY Times,
October 27, 2003 Even before the winds came,
the risk of fire in Southern California was
considered extremely high because several years
of drought had left trees vulnerable to the bark
beetle and other pests and diseases. Hundreds of
thousands of trees are estimated to have died,
making them easy to burn. Andrew Pollack, NY
Times, October 27, 2003
Pine Bark Beetle Attack
Forest Acres Ponderosa Acres Beetle Attack Percent Affected
Apache-Sitgreaves 729,306 129,895 18
Coconino 714,864 60,425 8
Coronado 6,916 10,255 100
Kaibab 432,023 6,010 1
Prescott 50,650 75,580 100
Tonto 140,128 66,585 48
Much of the piñon/juniper type forest
includes some ponderosa pine. Figures for 2003
from FS Forest Health Protection program.